On 28 and 29 September 2026, the T-RISE project (Transforming Regional Innovation Ecosystem for Sustainable and Digitally Enabled Entrepreneurship) held its kick-off meeting in Porto, hosted by the Portuguese Catholic University.
T-RISE responds to the need for stronger links between universities and the environments in which they operate. Alongside education and research, universities also play an important role in transferring knowledge, supporting the development of new ideas and strengthening cooperation with businesses, the public sector and wider society. The project aims to reinforce this role by creating a more connected support environment for innovation and entrepreneurship.
The two-year project, funded under the EIT Higher Education Initiative, brings together eleven universities from the Transform4Europe European University Alliance. Over the coming months, project partners will deliver a wide range of training and mentoring activities, as well as incubation and acceleration programmes for innovative ideas and solutions. Students, university staff and representatives of the business and non-governmental sectors will have the opportunity to gain new knowledge and skills and receive support in developing their ideas and bringing them closer to practical application and the market.
Among the key expected outcomes of T-RISE are the establishment of a Joint Innovation Office, the development of a shared support system for innovation and entrepreneurship, and stronger links between actors from academia, business and the non-governmental sector.
The University of Primorska was represented at the meeting by Prof. Dr Simona Kustec, Assistant Klara Čalušić and Project Associate Kaja Race Per from the UP Faculty of Management and the Centre for Development and Knowledge Transfer. The meeting also provided an opportunity for partners to connect in person, exchange experiences and strengthen cooperation across the consortium. Several partners already work together within the BIKE-HEI project, while T-RISE builds on these existing links and expands them through new partnerships and activities.
During the two-day meeting, each partner presented the work package for which they are responsible, outlining its main activities, expected results and plans for the coming months. The discussions also helped align the first implementation steps and identify opportunities for cooperation across the different work packages. The Porto meeting laid the foundations for the next phase of the project and for the implementation of the activities planned across the consortium. In the coming months, partners will focus on developing shared support mechanisms, delivering training and mentoring activities, and bringing together different actors within the innovation ecosystem.