Global UNIDO Network of University Chairs on Innovation
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), together with the Delft University of Technology, the Politecnico di Milano and the Graz University of Technology, have decided to promote a network of universities and university chairs, which would address the industrial human resources requirements in innovation, and would carry out industry – university cooperation projects benefiting industrial enterprises. UNIDO recognizes the importance of re-building university curriculums to better suit the requirements of industry, and realizes that practical cooperation of industry with universities constitutes an essential element hereof.
The proposal foresees to establish Chairs on Innovation, e.g. full- or part-time professorships, that will introduce UNIDO supported methods on Innovation in university curriculums, would work together with industrial enterprises on innovation projects, place PhD and Master students in innovation projects in industry, advocate innovation, and network amongst alumni associations. Based on the practical experiences of carrying out innovation in Industry, the Chairs will give feedback on their experiences to a UNIDO Consultative Committee on Innovation and Innovation Systems, which will reflect these findings in regular global forum publications.
The network is foreseen to be global, assuring that each member state is supported in building effective human resources in Innovation, involving 300 universities by the year 2013.
An initial phase for the network is proposed for 10 universities in Africa to be linked with three universities in Europe. An Expert Group Meeting was held in Vienna, from the 25th to the 26th of April 2007, to address the issues related to this initial phase and place this phase in a strategy for enlargement to a globally relevant capacity.
Subsequently, a Joint Technical Meeting was held in Nairobi, Kenya, to assess a draft Support Package for African Universities to undertake cooperation projects on innovation with industrial enterprises and to pu together an activity plan specifically for funds mobilisation.
