Launch of the European University Ulysseus

The European University Ulysseus is composed of the Universities of Seville (Spain), Genoa (Italy), Cote d'Azur (France); Kosice University of Technology (Slovakia), MCI | The Entrepreneurial University® (Austria) and Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences (Finland) and aims to become the European university for the citizens of the future by promoting mobility, joint degrees, business placements and the implementation of high-impact international research and innovation projects.

The European University Ulysseus will start its work on 17 December 2020 with a launch meeting attended by the six rectors of those partner universities involved in this alliance under the Erasmus Plus programme: Miguel Ángel Castro, Rector of the University of Seville (project coordinator); Federico Delfino, Rector of the University of Genoa (Italy); Jeanick Brisswalter, President of Université Cote d'Azur (France); Stanislav Kmeť, Rector of Kozice University of Technology (Slovakia); Andreas Altmann, Rector at MCI | Die Unternehmerische Hochschule® (Austria); and Teemu Kokko, President of Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences (Finland).

The meeting, which will take place online due to the current health recommendations, serves as a starting point for planning a project that will affect more than 180,000 students, academics and staff and is funded by the European Commission with five million euros. With this initiative, the project promoters aim to create a long-term alliance with a unified structure and strategy for education and research, linked to the priorities of the cities and regions of the universities involved in the project.

To create a dynamic and diverse alliance, diversity is considered the central force of Ulysseus. In this sense, the six alliance partners aim to contribute to their competitiveness, strengthen their innovative character and improve the employability of citizens in their respective spheres of influence, as well as to promote among their students and staff an active practice of social inclusion, cohesion and personal development. To this end, the project is supported by more than 95 partners, including local councils, regional governments, businesses, think tanks and NGOs.

Ulysseus' activities will be developed in a digital and regional campus that will include research centres, business incubators, living labs and open classrooms, as well as a digital platform for whole community interaction. To this end, there will be six Innovation Hubs, located in each of the participating cities, focusing on the following challenges:

- Ageing and Wellbeing (UCA, University of Cote d'Azur)

- Tourism, arts and heritage (Unige, University of Genoa)

- Artificial Intelligence (AI, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki)

- Energy, Transport, Mobility and Smart Cities (US, University of Seville)

- Digitalisation (TUKE, Technical University of Kosice)

- Food, Biotechnology and the Circular Economy (MCI | The Entrepreneurial University®, Innsbruck)

Ulysseus, the European University of the Future

Ulysseus is a European university and thus part of one of 41 transnational alliances funded by the European Commission that are shaping the universities of the future. It aims to do this by promoting European identity and values and revolutionising the quality and competitiveness of higher education in Europe.

Following the project's unveiling in February 2020 and subsequent approval in July, Ulysseus faces an ambitious 10-year journey with the same enthusiasm and determination as the eponymous legendary hero Ulysseus. In the first three years, covered by EU funding, the initiative will focus on designing and co-creating structures, governance and management, and pilot programmes of activities. By 2030, Ulysseus should already be established as a European, internationally attractive, open, people-centred and entrepreneurial university of excellence. This alliance, conceived as an innovation ecosystem providing solutions to local and regional challenges from its six innovation poles, is the unique and distinctive feature of Ulysseus.