Universities and higher education institutions have long been regarded as the cradles of knowledge and innovation. As we step into the future, the landscape of higher education is undergoing a profound transformation. With the advent of digitalization and the changing expectations of the new generation, universities must adapt to stay relevant and provide an effective learning environment. Which is why ViA is especially keen to be the part of Accelerate Future HEI team who is working on supporting and enhancing the capability of higher education to undergo the transformational changes.

From May 15 to 19, 2023, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences (ViA) will host the activities of International Week, which is given the following motto this year – Future university. Connecting regions. The week is designed to give the European University E³UDRES² partners and other ViA cooperation partners the opportunity to network, create long-term contacts for joint studies, research and innovation development, and share their experience with students, young people, and representatives of several organizations in the region.

E³UDRES² Ent-r-e-novatores project's second meeting of the General Assembly (GnA) was held at the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten, Austria, on the 9th and 10th of March. The E³UDRES² Ent-r-e-novatores project, which started in October 2022, is an initiative that aims to increase the research capacity of the European university alliance E³UDRES² - Engaged European Entrepreneurial University as Driver for European Smart and Sustainable Regions - and co-create a specific joint research strategy for the alliance.

On Thursday, February 23, the co-creation improvisation Question Factory about Sustainability took place at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences (ViA) marking the opening of the Open Innovation Hub. ViA researchers and students, as well as representatives from Vidzeme municipalities participated in the co-creation. The event consisted of three parts - questions, solutions and individual discussions with researchers.

In the first part, participants asked various questions about how ViA researchers could help municipalities to solve sustainability issues in towns and rural areas and how municipalities could help researchers.

“Questions allow us to understand the problem in more detail and help notice the subtleties that should be addressed. They are at the heart of research and innovation. If the question is formulated correctly, the solution becomes obvious,” said Iveta Putniņa, Administrative Vice-rector at ViA and the Head of the E3UDRES2 European University project. “Albert Einstein has said, 'If I were given one hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would spend the first 55 minutes identifying the right question to solve'. In this co-creation, we managed to ask 86 questions that can help the participants of the question factory to further develop new ideas for innovations.”

Yuliia Kovalenko from the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture has been involved in the implementation of the Baltic 100 project thanks to the additional funding granted by the Latvian Council of Science aimed at attracting research personnel from Ukraine. Various socio-economic and demographic data from the Baltic States during the last 100 years have been collected and analyzed in the project, including data at the level of current statistical and planning regions. The gross domestic product of the Baltic States is being calculated, and an interactive database has been created where the collected data will be available to the interested parties.

A new research and innovation project has been launched, Accelerate Future HEI, which focuses on supporting and enhancing the capability of higher education institutions (HEIs). Within it ViA aims to achieve institutional transformation and support more entrepreneurial activities to strengthen its role as a major actor in the regional ecosystem. Simultaneously, ViA will focus on achieving an institutional restructuring to encourage and cultivate more innovation on education and R&D.