Mobilising Europe’s universities for innovation, security and sustainability

Europe’s future depends on the strength of its universities. In a time of rapid technological change, geopolitical tensions, and global competition, universities must continue to evolve beyond their traditional academic role—they are crucial to Europe’s ability to innovate, compete, and stay resilient. If Europe is to close its innovation gap, lead the global green transition, and strengthen its strategic autonomy, it must fully mobilise the capabilities of its universities.

The Draghi Report, published in September 2024, underscores this urgency. Alongside other recent assessments, such as the 2025 Annual Single Market and Competitiveness Report^[1]and studies from institutions like the European Investment Bank^[2], the Draghi Report highlights three critical challenges where Europe must act—and where universities have a unique, essential role to play:

• Closing the innovation gap: translating research into real-world breakthroughs.
• Enabling decarbonisation: driving the green technologies and workforce development.
• Enhancing security and reducing dependencies: building knowledge and talent in strategic sectors.

Let’s look at each challenge—and how Europe’s universities can lead the response.

1. Closing the innovation gap: Universities as innovation engines

Despite strong R&D capabilities, the EU lags behind the US and China in key technological sectors, largely due to a lack of commercialisation and scale-up of innovations, e.g. ‘only about one third of patented inventions registered by European universities are commercially exploited’^[3]. Universities are already major contributors to R&D, but their role needs to become more entrepreneurial, connected, and applied.

Universities must lead by:

• Bridging research and industry: Establishing or expanding bridging functions, such as technology transfer offices, entrepreneurship centres, and incubators that help researchers commercialise their findings.
• Hosting innovation ecosystems: Forming innovation hubs that bring together startups, corporates, and public actors—similar to the model of Stanford in Silicon Valley or Food Valley in Wageningen. The University of Exeter^[4] has shown how this approach can succeed even outside major urban centres, by building an entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural Devon that connects local businesses, researchers, and investors to drive innovation and regional development.
• Supporting deep tech growth: Engaging actively in EU platforms for AI, quantum, semiconductors, and biotech, and leading EU-funded research consortia. For example, Eindhoven University of Technology^[5] has built a vibrant student-driven deep tech ecosystem, where student teams work closely with researchers and industry to develop cutting-edge solutions in areas like quantum computing, AI, and sustainable energy. By empowering students as active innovators and not just learners, their model shows how universities can accelerate deep tech innovation.
• Improving scale-up capacity: Developing MBA and executive education programs to train future founders and scale-up managers.

2. Enabling decarbonisation: Universities as climate solution catalysts

Achieving Europe’s green transition requires fundamental shifts in energy systems, materials science, mobility, and industrial processes. Universities are critical for researching and demonstrating new technologies, and for educating a workforce capable of delivering on this systemic change, e.g. ‘Clean technology manufacturing saw job vacancy rates double from 2019 to 2023, with 25% of EU companies reporting labour shortages in Q3 2023’^[6].

Universities must drive change by:

• Leading R&D on clean tech: Advancing research into renewables, battery storage, hydrogen, circular economy models, and carbon capture.
• Deploying Living Labs: Using university campuses as “living labs” for new energy systems, sustainable construction, and smart mobility. Initiatives like 3ID Labs^[7] demonstrate how universities can go further by combining living labs with social entrepreneurship training—giving students hands-on experience in designing, testing, and scaling real-world solutions for sustainability and community impact.
• Developing interdisciplinary education: Design and implement interdisciplinary green curricula that prepares engineers, economists, and policymakers to work in low-carbon systems.
• Shaping policy: Supporting local, national and EU-wide policy development by providing data and modelling for carbon pricing, energy regulation, and land use.

3. Enhancing security and reducing dependencies: Universities as strategic knowledge hubs

Europe’s strategic vulnerabilities span energy security, raw materials dependence and digital sovereignty and defence. Like other sectors, universities can collaborate with defence industries to help develop solutions. As part of this role, universities must also address research security risks, following the EU Council’s 2024 recommendation^[8] to enhance safeguards in sensitive research fields while protecting academic freedom.

Universities must strengthen Europe’s resilience by:

• Advancing research in strategic technologies: Developing capabilities in semiconductors, cybersecurity, AI, and quantum computing to reduce dependency on external actors.
• Developing resilience strategies: Providing expertise in geopolitics, international trade law, supply chain resilience, and economic security. For example, Charles University has launched the Supply Chain Resilience Centre^[9] in partnership with National Chengchi University in Taiwan. The Centre focuses on strengthening semiconductor supply chains, studying labour availability, chip manufacturing capacity, and the sustainability impacts of the semiconductor industry.
• Building the talent pipeline: Educating engineers and specialists in semiconductors, cybersecurity, aerospace, and nuclear energy. The GreenChips-EDU initiative^[10], led by TU Graz and partners exemplifies a proactive approach as it aims to train urgently needed specialists for Europe’s semiconductor sector, with a focus on sustainable and energy-efficient microchips, directly supporting the goals of the European Chips Act.
• Fostering dual-use innovation: Encouraging research that benefits both civilian and defence sectors, for example in collaboration with the European Defence Fund.

Universities are not on the periphery of Europe’s ambitions—they are at their core. As critical engines of innovation, talent development, and strategic research they must be placed at the core of Europe’s agenda for growth, security and sustainability. Addressing the challenges outlined in the Draghi Report will demand more than isolated initiatives; it requires a systematic empowerment of universities as full partners in Europe’s transformation. This means investing in university-driven innovation ecosystems, rethinking the way research translates into impact, and building stronger bridges between academia, industry, and government. It also means safeguarding the openness and autonomy of universities while equipping them to navigate an increasingly more competitive, fragmented world.

If Europe is serious about securing its future in an era of rapid technological advancement and systemic challenges, it must put its universities at the heart of its strategy.

References

^[1] The 2025 Annual Single Market and Competitiveness Report.

^[2] EIB Investment Report 2022/2023.

^[3] Former Prime Minister Draghi, The future of European competitiveness – A competitiveness strategy for Europe, Part B, p. 244.

^[4] Building an entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural Devon with the University of Exeter. UIIN, Case study, 12 July 2023.

^[5] Student-driven deep tech innovation at Eindhoven University of Technology. UIIN, Podcast episode, 19 October 2014.
^[6] Former Prime Minister Draghi, The future of European competitiveness – A competitiveness strategy for Europe, Part B, p. 128

^[7] Nurturing leaders of social entrepreneurship: The impact of 3ID LABS. UIIN, Article, 15 August 2025.

^[8] Council adopts a recommendation to enhance research security. Council of the European Union, Press release, 23 May 2024.

^[9] About SCRC.

^[10] Novel Education Programmes for Sustainable Microchips Made in Europe. TU Graz, Article, 31 October 2023.

Ready for more?

At UIIN, we know that true innovation doesn’t happen in isolation. It’s built on collaborations that fuse academic research with real-world application, propelling us toward a brighter, more inclusive future. That’s why we have created The Hidden Engine of Innovation: University-Partnerships in Action, a powerful new casebook showcasing the incredible potential of university-industry partnerships.

This collection brings together 15 case studies from across the globe, highlighting how universities and businesses are breaking down barriers to tackle today’s most pressing challenges. From strategic long-term collaborations to entrepreneurship development and technology-driven impact, this book reveals the models, strategies, and key success factors that make these partnerships work.

Rimante Rusaite (author) is a Senior Project Officer at UIIN and holds an MSc in Environmental Policy and BSc in Psychology. Dedicated to sustainability and innovations, she’s also a design thinking coach and systems thinking enthusiast.