Activities
2nd Consortium Meeting in Riga
1st – 3rd October 2025
The IMPACTWHEEL consortium held its second meeting with a three-day event hosted by the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (SSE Riga) from 1-3 October 2025. The event brought together project partners from across Europe to align on strategic goals, review ongoing and planned work packages, and co-create innovative approaches for advancing sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation within higher education institutions (HEIs).
The meeting marked a key milestone in setting the operational, academic, and collaborative framework for the project’s next phases. It provided an invaluable opportunity for partners to exchange experiences, strengthen cooperation, and define shared methods for achieving measurable impact across regions and disciplines.
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Day 1
The meeting opened with a warm welcome from Prof. Anders Paalzow, Rector of SSE Riga, who emphasised the importance of academic collaboration and innovation in addressing societal and environmental challenges. This was followed by an inspiring keynote by Prof. Arnis Sauka, Head of the Centre for Sustainable Business, titled “Impact making by bridging academia, media, policy makers and industry.” His presentation highlighted the importance of cross-sectoral partnerships and the role of HEIs in driving sustainable impact.
The morning and afternoon sessions were dedicated to focused discussions on several key work packages:
WP1 – Management and operational issues (UBI): Coordination, reporting, financial planning, and project governance.
WP2 – Consortium achievements, outputs, and challenges (NFE): Updates on partner activities, identification of best practices, and exchange of experiences regarding project implementation.
WP3 – Training and mentoring nuggets (UPNA): Presentation and discussion of the structure and progress of training and mentoring materials, focusing on challenges and next steps for partner contributions.
These sessions fostered productive dialogue, allowing partners to share insights and propose practical solutions to ensure efficient project delivery and high-quality outputs.
Day 2
The second day focused on impact measurement, data collection, and dissemination strategies:
WP6 – Evaluation of HEIs processes and performance (CEIPiemonte & UPNA): Partners explored methodologies for creating Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation Boosting Schemes using the Value Creation Wheel (VCW) Funnel. The discussion centred on identifying key input and output indicators for efficiency.
WP7 – Dissemination and quality management (Ambiom & INOVA+): Review of ongoing communication activities, visibility efforts, and partner responsibilities in maintaining consistent and high-quality outreach.
WP8 – Co-creation of efficiency metrics (INOVA+ & SSE Riga): Joint session dedicated to designing and refining metrics that will guide the project’s internal evaluation and ensure transparency and accountability.
The sessions were highly interactive, combining presentations, partner feedback, and collaborative planning to ensure coherence across all work packages.
Day 3
The final day provided an opportunity for reflection, networking, and inspiration. Partners had the opportunity to exchange ideas on Phase 1 activities and initiatives, discuss the future strategic direction of IMPACTWHEEL, and visit local entrepreneurial ecosystems in Riga. The atmosphere was dynamic and engaging, fostering closer connections between academic, business, and innovation communities.
Through these exchanges, partners identified new opportunities for cross-sectoral collaboration and shared their visions for how the project could support HEIs in becoming active drivers of sustainable economic and social transformation.
The Riga meeting set a strong foundation for the project’s upcoming phases, reinforcing the consortium’s commitment to creating measurable impact through collaboration, innovation, and sustainability.
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From Training to Practice – Advancing Innovation with the VCW
July – September 2025
Following the Kick-Off Meeting, the consortium has begun the implementation of Work Package 2 (WP2), which focuses on collecting, classifying, and piloting good practices in entrepreneurship and innovation across partner institutions. But what does this look like in practice?
Each partner received structured data tables with a wide range of ideas and potential filters gathered from stakeholders. To make sense of this input, the consortium applied the Poker Method, a collaborative decision-making technique designed to avoid bias and give equal voice to participants.
Instead of one voice dominating, every perspective is considered. This ensures that what rises to the top reflects a collective judgment, combining both objectivity and inclusiveness.
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Applying the Value Creation Wheel (VCW)
Once the long list of inputs was refined, partners turned to the Value Creation Wheel (VCW), an evidence-based innovation and decision-making methodology.
The VCW works in five flexible steps: first, you define the challenge, then gather ideas and filters, assess and narrow them down, and finally act on the most promising options.
The methodology has already been applied by global organizations such as IBM, Lego, McDonald’s, Nissan, Siemens, and Unilever, as well as governments and non-profits. By introducing VCW into our project, the consortium is drawing on a proven approach that balances innovation with feasibility.
Building the Value Creation Funnel
As the latest stage of activities, each Key Decision Maker (KDM) ranked the filters. Based on these rankings, the consortium prepared the Value Creation Funnel, a matrix matching collected ideas against prioritized filters, followed by a first assessment.
This process involved:
Aggregating the rankings of filters provided by the consortium
Applying these aggregated rankings to the ideas collected for each challenge (low, medium, high)
Building the Value Creation Funnel to create a prioritized list of resources, activities, and practices.
Do not forget to follow the project on LinkedIn.
1st Kick-off Meeting in Cascais Launches IMPACTWHEEL Activities
26th – 28th June 2025
The IMPACTWHEEL project was officially launched during a three-day, in-person kick-off meeting held between 26th and 28th June 2025 at the stunning coastal campus of Nova School of Business and Economics (Nova SBE) in Cascais, Portugal. The event brought together project partners from seven countries—uniting institutions across Europe in a shared vision of empowering higher education to generate real-world impact through innovation and entrepreneurship.
Coordinated by Universidade da Beira Interior, and backed by more than €1.34 million in funding from the EIT Higher Education Initiative, IMPACTWHEEL aims to create a step-change in how entrepreneurial skills, academic knowledge, and regional innovation intersect within and beyond universities.
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Over the course of the kick-off meeting, partners engaged in structured workshops, strategy sessions, and bilateral planning meetings. The agenda was carefully designed to align strategic objectives with practical next steps, ensuring that every institution left with clear roles, responsibilities, and immediate tasks to begin implementation.
Highlights from the event included:
Introduction of the Value Creation Wheel (VCW): Partners explored how the VCW methodology—developed at Nova SBE—will be used across all regions to guide decision-making, innovation design, and the development of entrepreneurial initiatives.
Work Package Planning: Coordinators led deep dives into each work package, from capacity-building and educational programme design to ecosystem engagement and sustainability planning. Deliverables, KPIs, and timelines were reviewed and agreed upon collaboratively.
Stakeholder Engagement Strategies: Partners discussed how to engage students, staff, entrepreneurs, and local innovation ecosystems—ensuring that the project’s impact reaches beyond academia into the wider society.
Community Building: Beyond the formal sessions, the meeting allowed for networking, beach dinners, informal knowledge exchange, and the strengthening of relationships among partner teams—building the foundation for a highly collaborative working culture.
🎯 What Comes Next
With the momentum built in Cascais, the IMPACTWHEEL consortium is now moving forward with the first set of activities, including:
– Developing and piloting entrepreneurial learning pathways tailored to students, researchers, and university staff.
– Organizing co-creation events with local stakeholders to address regional and societal challenges
– Preparing for the next on-site meetings in Riga (October) and Turin (December).
These activities will be rolled out progressively across partner regions, with a strong focus on local relevance, cross-border learning, and measurable impact.
💬 A Word of Thanks
A special thank you goes to Luis Filipe Lages and his team at Nova SBE for their outstanding organization and hospitality, as well as to all project partners for their active participation, insights, and commitment during the kick-off.
🌍 About IMPACTWHEEL
IMPACTWHEEL is a European project under the EIT Higher Education Initiative (HEI) that brings together universities, incubators, and innovation leaders to strengthen the role of Higher Education Institutions as catalysts for entrepreneurship, deep tech development, and regional transformation. At its heart is the Value Creation Wheel, a methodology that helps turn knowledge into actionable, high-impact solutions.
Stay tuned as we roll out the first set of project activities and begin translating strategy into impact!
Do not forget to follow the project on LinkedIn.
