Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership Project University-City Action Lab (UCITYLAB) kick-off meeting has been held in Porto on 29-30 October, bringing together 5 consortium partners with representatives from Porto Business School, (Portugal); Institute for Innovation and Development of University of Ljubljana(Slovenia); Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain), Institut Mines-Télécom (France); and University Industry Innovation Network (Netherlands).

To be coordinated by Porto Business School (PBS) over the next 30 months, the UCITYLAB consortium will aim to embed Europe’s education and knowledge institutions into their urban environment to unlock their innovation potential and address metropolitan challenges. To achieve this, the project will first (i) map the status-quo of HEI practices involving city engagement at the national and international level, (ii) launch UCITYLAB Networks in the partner countries to start conversations with regional stakeholders for collaborative innovation, (iii) prepare the UCITY Challenge course program, and (iv) implement the program in two phases of theory and real-life projects the students will undertake together with city stakeholders.

The efforts will be put forward to strengthen the relationships between HEIs and their urban communities, build the understanding and practice of social innovation, entrepreneurship and urban development among HEI students, and in the long term to foster economic and social development in the cities where the partner institution are located. The role of the UIIN in the consortium will be prominent in the development of the knowledge base, supporting the development of University-City networks, as well as in the dissemination of the project outputs through its diverse range of channels.