The UCITYLAB Project consortium greets the autumn season with a special issue of the University Industry Innovation Magazine, dedicated to the role of universities in nurturing local and regional growth in Europe. In this publication, our guest authors from South Africa and Ireland discuss the role of universities in the effective regional ecosystems, while the contributors from the USA and the UK shed light on the issues of engagement and university impact in smaller markets and the rural environment. Additionally, we provide examples of successful collaborative initiatives embracing multidisciplinary challenge-based learning and dive into the exploration of collaborative living labs.

During its lifetime, the project will map the status-quo of university-city cooperation at the national and international level, launch UCITYLAB networks in the partner countries to start conversations with regional stakeholders for collaborative societal innovation, and prepare the UCITYLAB challenge course program and implement it in two phases of teaching and real-life projects, during which the students tackle challenges in their urban environment. While UCITYLAB targets the development of university-city cooperation in four major European cities – Porto, Paris, Ljubljana, and Barcelona – the project puts great emphasis on highlighting good practice initiatives from both within Europe and across the globe to facilitate knowledge exchange among the stakeholders.

Are you involved in a university-city initiative to tackle urban challenges via student projects, or research? Join our UCITYLAB Network through our LinkedIn page to share experiences, and contact us if you would like your initiative to be published in our project blog.