Enhancing the involvement of philanthropic organisations in innovation ecosystems

Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes: Increase the collaboration of philanthropic organisations with higher education institutions, TTOs, innovative companies and Venture Capital (VCs) in supporting innovative projects and companies to develop and grow; Support the transition of academic research and innovations from higher education institutions to market-ready solutions. Scope: There are currently more than 33000 philanthropic organisations in Europe with EUR 50 billion of annual philanthropic expenditure and EUR 567 billion pool of philanthropic assets [1] . Philanthropic organisations and higher education institutions have been working together for many years in supporting the development of breakthrough research and technologies. At the same time, the EU still faces challenges in bringing technologies to the market. Therefore, this action aims at building on these established models of cooperation to support the transfer of developed technologies to the market by supporting facilities (like living labs and test beds) and/or engaging relevant stakeholders to further commercialize technologies with concrete common objective. The purpose of this topic is to incentivise philanthropic organisations support to projects with high-potential, not only through financial resources, but also by providing access to expertise and networks of like-minded stakeholders and investors, as well as by being themselves first users of new technologies, allowing for their testing. Higher education institutions are expected to propose a plan outlining how they intend to advance and commercialize the research and technologies they have developed. This plan should detail how they will engage with philanthropic organizations and/or venture capital investors to support early-stage companies, as well as with businesses that could adopt university-developed technologies. It should also include strategies for involving other relevant stakeholders who can help bringing these innovations to market. The cooperation could take place at the regional, national or European level with the participation of at least one higher education institution or network of such organisations, RTO and one philanthropic organisation or network of philanthropic organisations. Consortia could also include accelerator or investors networks and government organisations and/or other relevant innovation stakeholders. The role of the philanthropic organisation in the consortia could include, but is not limited to: Providing access to other investors and network…