The Africa-Europe Innovation Platform (AEIP), through The Youth Cafe, in collaboration with Youth Ideation, Inspiration and Impact (YI3), is hosting the Social Innovation Lab, a two-day co-creation online workshop bringing together young entrepreneurs, innovators, youth-led startups, and SMEs from across Africa and Europe. The Lab will explore how youth-led social innovation can advance SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), with a deliberate focus on young women entrepreneurs and inclusive innovation ecosystems.

Overview

The second day of “Social Innovation Lab – Solving SDGs Through Youth Entrepreneurship” focuses on collaborative approaches to advancing Sustainable Development Goal 5 on Gender Equality and Goal 9 on Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.

Building on the barriers and opportunities explored on Day One, the session brings together young innovators, youth organisations and entrepreneurship supporters to share practical models and develop ideas. Presentations include the AU-EU Youth Voices Lab mobile app and examples from ChildFund Alliance’s work supporting youth skills development and social entrepreneurship.

Through participant pitches and discussion, the workshop examines how digital platforms, mentorship, finance and community partnerships can help young people turn ideas into action. Particular attention is given to meaningful gender inclusion, ensuring that young women have decision-making authority and sustained support throughout their entrepreneurial journeys.

What You Will Learn

The workshop covers:

• Collaborative solution development: bringing together different experiences and perspectives to develop youth-led responses to challenges linked to SDGs 5 and 9.
• Connected barriers to entrepreneurship: understanding how gaps in finance, skills, networks and digital access interact, particularly for young women and underserved communities.
• Youth-led digital platforms: exploring how the AU-EU Youth Voices Lab app connects learning resources, peer networks, mentorship and entrepreneurship opportunities.
• Accessible digital engagement: considering multilingual content, low-data approaches and downloadable resources when supporting young people with limited connectivity.
• Comprehensive entrepreneurship support: combining technical and transferable skills with mentoring, career guidance and psychosocial support to strengthen young people’s readiness.
• Gender-responsive enterprise development: examining how tailored mentorship, community funding and local partnerships can support young women’s economic participation.
• School-based social entrepreneurship: using practical enterprise activities to help young people develop products and services, engage with markets and build leadership skills.
• Meaningful participation and leadership: ensuring women have authority, influence and decision-making responsibilities within organisations and programmes.
• Bias in funding and pitching: recognising how assumptions and selection practices can affect access to resources, and considering more equitable support approaches.
• SDG-aligned idea development: connecting proposed solutions to specific challenges and intended outcomes to clarify their contribution to sustainable development.
• Community-driven innovation: learning from participant ideas involving digital education, rural infrastructure, climate-resilient agriculture and waste-to-wealth solutions.
• Practical planning and continued collaboration: using resources such as the Youth Innovation Playbook to assess challenges, identify capacities and select actionable next steps.

Key Takeaway

Effective support for youth entrepreneurship combines opportunities to learn and connect with the resources and authority needed to act. For young women, meaningful inclusion requires influence over decisions, equitable access to finance and sustained support that addresses structural barriers.

Digital platforms, experiential learning and community partnerships can help create these conditions. By co-developing solutions, testing their relevance and building supportive networks, young innovators can strengthen their ideas and contribute to gender equality and inclusive innovation.

The Africa-Europe Innovation Platform (AEIP), through The Youth Cafe, in collaboration with Youth Ideation, Inspiration and Impact (YI3), is hosting the Social Innovation Lab, a two-day co-creation online workshop bringing together young entrepreneurs, innovators, youth-led startups, and SMEs from across Africa and Europe. The Lab will explore how youth-led social innovation can advance SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), with a deliberate focus on young women entrepreneurs and inclusive innovation ecosystems.

Overview

The first day of “Social Innovation Lab – Solving SDGs Through Youth Entrepreneurship” explores how youth-led innovation can advance Sustainable Development Goal 5 on Gender Equality and Goal 9 on Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.

Bringing together experts, youth organisations and entrepreneurs from Africa and Europe, the session examines barriers that limit young people’s participation in innovation. These include gaps in finance, skills, mentorship, infrastructure and market access, alongside gender bias and concerns about safe participation.

Through practical examples involving AI education for women and girls and accessible gender-based violence reporting services, the workshop illustrates how social innovation can respond to community needs. It emphasises inclusive design, evidence-based decisions and sustainable organisational models as foundations for turning ideas into lasting social impact.

What You Will Learn

The workshop covers:

• Youth entrepreneurship and the SDGs: understanding how youth-led enterprises can connect gender equality with inclusive innovation, infrastructure and economic opportunities.
• Barriers within entrepreneurship ecosystems: identifying how limited finance, training, mentorship, networks and market access affect young innovators’ ability to develop and sustain their ideas.
• Gender-responsive innovation: considering who participates, whose problems are addressed, who owns solutions and who benefits throughout the innovation process.
• Inclusive youth participation: adapting support to the needs of young women, youth with disabilities and other marginalised groups through accessible resources and meaningful opportunities to contribute.
• Safe and accessible programmes: addressing connectivity, language, digital literacy and safety concerns when designing entrepreneurship training and support.
• Innovation beyond technology: recognising new services, processes, financing approaches and business models as practical ways to solve social and economic problems.
• Problem validation and community needs: treating an initial idea as a hypothesis and gathering evidence from intended users before committing to a solution.
• AI education and digital empowerment: exploring how context-sensitive training and mentorship can help women and girls develop technologies that respond to local challenges.
• Technology for social support: examining how confidential reporting tools and accessible channels, including USSD, can help connect vulnerable groups with service providers.
• Sustainable enterprise development: planning costs, responsibilities, organisational systems and appropriate funding sources to support continuity beyond initial grants.
• Evidence and impact measurement: using data and feedback to refine solutions and assess changes in people’s lives, beyond counting activities or participants.
• Mentorship, networks and co-creation: building relationships and working with communities, peers and ecosystem partners to strengthen ideas and develop practical implementation plans.

Key Takeaway

Youth-led social innovation starts with a clear understanding of community needs and the barriers preventing people from accessing opportunities. Advancing gender equality and inclusive innovation requires young people—particularly those facing exclusion—to help shape solutions from the outset.

Turning ideas into sustainable enterprises also requires validation, practical skills, strong organisational systems and realistic funding plans. By combining inclusive design with mentorship, collaboration and continuous learning, young entrepreneurs can develop solutions that create lasting value for their communities.

Facilitated by the Association of African Universities (AAU).

Overview

This webinar explores how fair, transparent and timely recognition of higher education qualifications can support student, academic and research mobility within Africa and between Africa and Europe.

Bringing together perspectives from universities, academic networks and quality assurance organisations, the discussion examines barriers arising from fragmented qualification systems, different credit structures, uneven institutional capacity and complex administrative procedures. It considers how qualifications frameworks, quality assurance and reliable information can build confidence across education systems.

The session also identifies practical steps universities can take to improve recognition, including publishing clear policies, strengthening credit transfer procedures, introducing digital verification and providing accessible appeals mechanisms. Throughout the discussion, speakers emphasise cooperation, institutional ownership and equitable access as foundations for effective recognition.

What You Will Learn

The webinar covers:

• Recognition as an enabler of mobility: understanding how recognition of qualifications and credits supports further study, academic exchanges, research collaboration and joint programmes.
• Barriers across education systems: examining how differences in qualification structures, credit systems, regulatory capacity and administrative procedures can delay or complicate recognition.
• Trust and quality assurance: considering how credible evaluation processes and reliable information help institutions make informed recognition decisions.
• Learning outcomes and competencies: assessing what learners know and can do when comparing qualifications, rather than relying solely on programme titles.
• Qualifications frameworks: exploring how national, regional and continental frameworks provide common reference points for understanding qualification levels across borders.
• African credit transfer initiatives: examining efforts to improve compatibility between systems and support clearer pathways for recognising periods of study.
• Transparent institutional policies: developing accessible guidance on admissions, recognition criteria, credit transfer, required documentation and decision-making procedures.
• Institutional support for mobility: considering dedicated mobility offices, qualification databases and cooperation agreements that help students and staff navigate recognition processes.
• Digital verification and reliable information: using trusted sources and authentication tools to improve efficiency while addressing fraud risks and unequal digital access.
• Fair and inclusive procedures: considering affordability, recognition of non-traditional learning and accessible appeals mechanisms to support applicants from diverse backgrounds.
• Academic and professional recognition: distinguishing recognition for study purposes from requirements for professional practice, and exploring the potential role of bridging courses and micro-credentials.
• Cooperation and implementation: connecting universities, ministries, quality assurance agencies and employers through peer learning, shared practices and sustained institutional partnerships.

Key Takeaway

Effective recognition depends on trust in the quality of education and access to clear, reliable information about qualifications and learning outcomes. Qualifications frameworks and quality assurance provide important foundations, while universities translate these into practical decisions affecting learners and researchers.

By publishing transparent procedures, strengthening verification and working with partner institutions, universities can make recognition more accessible and predictable. These efforts can reduce barriers to mobility while respecting the diversity of education systems across Africa and Europe.

Facilitated by the Association of African Universities (AAU).

Overview

This webinar explores how qualifications frameworks and quality assurance can strengthen trust in African higher education, supporting the recognition of qualifications and the mobility of students, academics and workers across borders.

The session introduces the African Continental Qualifications Framework (ACQF) and examines how continental approaches can help make national and regional qualifications more transparent and comparable. It also discusses the African Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ASG-QA) and collaborative efforts to strengthen quality assurance systems.

A central theme is harmonisation that respects the diversity of African education systems. The discussion highlights the importance of African ownership, institutional capacity and participation by governments, quality assurance agencies, universities, students and employers in building a trusted and connected African Higher Education Area.

What You Will Learn

The webinar covers:

• Trust in higher education: understanding how confidence in educational quality supports qualification recognition, academic progression and professional mobility.
• The African Continental Qualifications Framework: exploring the ACQF’s 10-level reference structure and its role in making qualifications across different systems easier to understand and compare.
• National, regional and continental connections: examining how qualifications frameworks can relate to one another and support greater transparency across borders.
• Qualifications frameworks and quality assurance: understanding their complementary roles in describing qualification levels and evaluating whether educational provision meets agreed standards.
• African Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance: considering how common guidelines support internal quality assurance within institutions and external evaluation by quality assurance bodies.
• Cooperation among quality assurance agencies: exploring how shared approaches, agency reviews and exchanges of expertise can strengthen confidence between national systems.
• Harmonisation with respect for diversity: developing compatible approaches while recognising differences in national contexts, institutional structures and educational priorities.
• African ownership and contextual relevance: involving African experts and institutions in shaping approaches that respond to continental needs and support sustainable implementation.
• Student and stakeholder participation: recognising the contribution of learners, educators, policymakers and employers to transparent and accountable quality assurance processes.
• Capacity building and implementation: strengthening expertise, institutional resources and professional networks to translate continental frameworks into practice.
• Recognition beyond academia: examining how transparent and credible qualifications can help employers assess skills and support workforce mobility.
• Continental integration and Agenda 2063: considering how cooperation in higher education contributes to wider African development and integration goals.

Key Takeaway

Trusted qualifications depend on both clear information about what learners are expected to achieve and credible processes for assuring educational quality. Qualifications frameworks and quality assurance work together to support this confidence, providing a stronger basis for recognition and mobility across borders.

Progress requires sustained cooperation, institutional capacity and stakeholder participation. By developing compatible approaches that respect national diversity, African higher education systems can strengthen transparency and create better opportunities for learners, graduates and employers across the continent.

Facilitated by the Association of African Universities (AAU).

Overview

Part of the “Emerging Trends in Digital Education” series, this webinar explores how student-centred digital pedagogies can support active participation, collaboration and deeper understanding. It focuses on PhET Interactive Simulations as a practical tool for inquiry-based teaching and learning in STEM education.

The session examines the shift from teacher-led instruction towards learning experiences in which students investigate concepts, test predictions and discuss their findings. Through demonstrations involving electric circuits and capacitors, it illustrates how simulations can make abstract concepts visible and create opportunities for guided experimentation.

The webinar also considers the conditions needed for effective implementation, including clear learning objectives, inclusive design, teacher development and access to infrastructure. With particular attention to African and European contexts, it explores how offline resources, multilingual tools and collaboration can help educators adapt digital learning to different classroom needs.

What You Will Learn

The webinar covers:

• Student-centred digital pedagogy: designing learning experiences that encourage students to participate, investigate and take an active role in developing their understanding.
• The teacher’s role as facilitator: guiding inquiry, supporting discussion and providing feedback while giving learners space to explore and solve problems.
• PhET Interactive Simulations: exploring how interactive STEM resources can help students visualise concepts, manipulate variables and observe the consequences of their decisions.
• Inquiry-based learning: using simulations to encourage questions, predictions, experimentation and explanations grounded in observation.
• Whole-class inquiry: structuring shared investigations in which students contribute ideas, interpret results and develop explanations together.
• Interactive lecture demonstrations: combining simulations with prediction sheets and discussion to make demonstrations participatory.
• Concept questions and formative assessment: checking understanding, identifying misconceptions and using student responses to guide further teaching.
• Learning design and scaffolding: aligning simulations with course objectives and providing questions and activities that support purposeful exploration.
• The 5E instructional model: organising activities around Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate to connect investigation with conceptual understanding.
• Inclusive and accessible implementation: considering offline access, multilingual resources and supporting worksheets when adapting activities to different learning environments.
• Teacher professional development: building confidence through training, peer support and communities of practice that share teaching resources and experiences.
• Responsible AI use: guiding students to use AI constructively while preserving independent thinking, meaningful learning and academic integrity.

Key Takeaway

Student-centred digital education depends on how learning activities are designed and facilitated. Interactive tools such as PhET can support exploration and discussion when educators connect them to clear objectives, thoughtful questions and opportunities for reflection.

Starting with one relevant simulation and a structured classroom activity offers a practical route to adoption. With professional development, accessible resources and institutional support, educators can expand these approaches to create more engaging and inclusive STEM learning experiences.

Facilitated by the Association of African Universities (AAU).

Overview

Drawing on the experience of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana, this webinar explores how universities can embed digital skills across curricula and institutional processes to prepare students for evolving employment needs.

The session examines digital competencies ranging from basic literacy to advanced and discipline-specific applications. It considers how curriculum design, self-paced learning, professional certifications and responsible AI use can support skills development across different academic programmes.

KNUST’s experience also illustrates how everyday institutional processes, from student applications to graduation and alumni services—can reinforce digital learning. The discussion highlights the importance of leadership, infrastructure, faculty development and industry partnerships in building a sustainable culture of digital competence.

What You Will Learn

The webinar covers:

• Digital skills and employability: understanding why universities need to equip students with adaptable competencies for changing workplaces and everyday life.
• Levels of digital competence: distinguishing between basic, intermediate, advanced and discipline-specific skills to design appropriate learning pathways.
• Curriculum-wide integration: embedding digital competencies across academic programmes and learning activities, with opportunities for students to apply them within their disciplines.
• Institutional processes as learning opportunities: using digital applications, paperless workflows, online approvals and student services to reinforce practical skills through everyday participation.
• Self-paced digital learning: exploring how online courses and digital badges can support flexible skills development and recognise student progress.
• AI literacy and responsible use: incorporating critical thinking, ethical awareness, digital safety and an understanding of AI’s limitations into teaching and learning.
• Industry partnerships and certifications: working with technology providers to access training content, virtual laboratories and professional qualifications that complement academic learning.
• Practical learning at scale: using digital platforms and virtual labs to expand opportunities for hands-on skills development across large student populations.
• Faculty capacity building: supporting educators through training workshops, instructional design expertise and resources for developing digital teaching materials.
• Assessment in AI-enabled education: designing assessments that examine students’ reasoning, learning processes and collaboration to support understanding and academic integrity.
• Leadership and sustainable transformation: aligning institutional priorities, infrastructure investment and stakeholder engagement to sustain digital education initiatives.
• Digital alumni engagement: extending services through online transcript requests and certificate verification to support graduates beyond their studies.

Key Takeaway

Embedding digital skills requires coordinated changes to curricula, teaching, assessment and institutional processes. Students need repeated opportunities to develop and apply these competencies throughout their university experience, supported by educators who have the skills and resources to guide them.

KNUST’s experience demonstrates how digital services, flexible learning opportunities and industry partnerships can reinforce one another. With committed leadership, faculty support and responsible approaches to AI, universities can build a sustainable digital learning culture that strengthens graduate readiness across disciplines.

Facilitated by the Association of African Universities (AAU).

Overview

Delivered by Taku Angwa Otto, this webinar explores how educators, academic leaders and policymakers can design engaging hybrid and blended learning environments, with particular attention to African and European contexts.

The session examines how online and face-to-face teaching can be combined to support active participation, improve accessibility and respond to different learning needs. It introduces the Active Blended Learning (ABL) model, which connects pre-class preparation, in-class interaction and post-class reflection to create a coherent learning experience.

The webinar also addresses practical challenges, including limited internet connectivity, electricity supply, device availability and remote practical training. Through teaching strategies, technology examples and Africa-Europe collaborative initiatives, it highlights the importance of adapting digital education to local conditions and moving beyond access to meaningful learning.

What You Will Learn

The webinar covers:

• Hybrid and blended learning models: understanding how face-to-face, online, synchronous and asynchronous activities can be combined to support flexible learning.
• Active Blended Learning (ABL): organising learning around pre-class preparation, interactive classroom activities and post-class reflection to strengthen engagement and understanding.
• Intentional learning design: selecting teaching methods and technologies according to learning objectives, student needs and the resources available.
• Student engagement and instructor presence: using regular interaction, timely feedback and visible lecturer involvement to help students feel recognised and supported.
• Interactive lesson planning: breaking longer lectures into shorter segments and combining explanations with discussions, collaborative tasks and reflection.
• Inclusive digital education: incorporating captions, transcripts, mobile-compatible materials and flexible participation options to accommodate different learning needs.
• Low-bandwidth and offline learning: designing accessible activities and resources for students facing unreliable internet connections, limited data or electricity interruptions.
• Digital teaching tools: exploring learning management systems, videoconferencing platforms and content creation tools such as Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, H5P and Canva.
• Remote practical learning: examining the opportunities and limitations of virtual laboratories, simulations and augmented or virtual reality, particularly for engineering education.
• Africa-Europe collaboration: considering how shared expertise, open-source resources and virtual exchanges can support locally relevant educational innovation.
• Emerging technologies and sustainability: exploring the potential of AI-supported personalised learning and the institutional support needed to sustain digital education.

Key Takeaway

Effective hybrid and blended education depends on purposeful teaching design, accessible resources and sustained interaction between educators and students. Combining online and face-to-face instruction works best when each activity has a clear role in helping students prepare, participate, practise and reflect.

By applying approaches such as Active Blended Learning and adapting technologies to local infrastructure, educators can create more engaging and inclusive learning experiences. Africa-Europe collaboration offers opportunities to exchange expertise and develop practical solutions, while incremental changes, such as introducing short interactive lessons or offline-compatible materials, provide a useful starting point.

Facilitated by IQIB (Institut für qualifizierende Innovationsforschung und -beratung GmbH)

Bridging the gap between a promising laboratory project and a market-ready product is one of the most critical challenges in the research lifecycle. Designed to empower innovators to think like strategic project leads, this webinar provides an actionable roadmap to navigate early-stage commercialization. It introduces the key concepts bridging research management, tech transfer, and innovation management, helping participants adopt a proactive, user-centric approach to scale their scientific discoveries sustainably.

Facilitated by IQIB (Institut für qualifizierende Innovationsforschung und -beratung GmbH)

Moving beyond outdated, linear pathways of commercialization, this training course is designed to equip research institutions and public authorities with the strategic tools and processes needed to build modern, systemic innovation capacities. Focused on the priorities of the AU-EU Innovation Agenda, the course explores a holistic approach to knowledge valorisation. Participants will learn how to bridge the gap between academic research and practical application, helping cross-sector ecosystems co-create tangible societal, environmental, and economic value.

Overview

Delivered by Martin Mata, CEO of an innovation centre in the Czech Republic, this introductory training session explores how incubators, accelerators and other Business Support Organisations (BSOs) can better understand their innovation ecosystems.

Rather than presenting an ecosystem as a static collection of universities, startups, investors, government institutions and support organisations, the session encourages participants to examine the relationships and flows connecting these actors. These include flows of funding, information, talent, opportunities and decision-making power, which determine how the ecosystem functions in practice.

The session also addresses power imbalances, gatekeepers, bottlenecks and organisational positioning. Drawing on participants’ experiences from different regions, it highlights the importance of local context, collaboration and realistic data collection when mapping an ecosystem and identifying opportunities for intervention.

What You Will Learn

The training covers:

• Innovation ecosystems as dynamic networks: understanding ecosystems through interactions and flows rather than lists of institutions.
• Actor-centred versus flow-centred mapping: examining how money, information, people, opportunities and decisions move between ecosystem actors.
• Multiple centres of influence: recognising that leadership and influence shift depending on whether the issue concerns funding, talent, regulation, knowledge or market access.
• Power asymmetries and gatekeepers: identifying actors that control important resources, decisions or access to opportunities.
• Bottlenecks and blocked flows: diagnosing where ecosystem relationships are weak or where resources fail to reach the actors who need them.
• Organisational positioning: assessing an organisation’s actual contribution without automatically placing it at the centre of the ecosystem.
• The “disappearance test”: considering what would change in the ecosystem if an organisation ceased to exist as a way of evaluating its relevance and added value.
• Collaboration and competition: understanding how constructive competition can encourage innovation while cooperation and mutual support strengthen ecosystem resilience.
• Innovation as practical problem-solving: recognising new or improved products, services and processes that address real needs and produce meaningful results.
• Context-sensitive ecosystem development: adapting approaches to local political, economic, institutional and cultural conditions rather than directly copying models from elsewhere.
• Ecosystem data collection: combining formal information with insights into informal relationships, incentives and power dynamics that may not appear in public sources.

Key Takeaway

Innovation ecosystems are shaped not only by the actors they contain but, more importantly, by the relationships and flows between them. The presence of incubators, universities, investors or government programmes does not guarantee that funding, knowledge, talent and opportunities move effectively across the system.

By mapping these flows, identifying bottlenecks and understanding who controls key resources and decisions, BSOs can develop a more accurate picture of their ecosystem and their own role within it. This provides a stronger foundation for collaboration and for designing locally relevant interventions that generate measurable and sustainable impact.

Overview

This training session examines how ecosystem actors can move beyond mapping and understanding innovation ecosystems towards designing interventions that lead to meaningful and lasting change.

The session introduces the Theory of Change as a practical framework for explaining how interventions activate specific mechanisms, influence the behaviour of ecosystem actors and contribute to wider systemic outcomes. Using examples such as investor–startup Demo Days and experiences from African innovation ecosystems, it demonstrates why activities such as events, training and mentoring should be treated as triggers for change rather than as impacts in themselves.

The session also explores the role of collaboration, trust, incentives and adaptive learning in ecosystem transformation. Particular attention is given to how Business Support Organisations (BSOs) can influence change by connecting actors, reducing information gaps, strengthening capabilities and creating conditions for more effective interactions across the ecosystem.

What You Will Learn

The training covers:

• From ecosystem mapping to intervention design: using knowledge of actors, relationships, resource flows and structural challenges to identify appropriate interventions.
• Theory of Change: connecting interventions with mechanisms, behavioural changes and longer-term ecosystem impact.
• Activity-based versus change-based thinking: distinguishing activities and outputs from the behavioural and structural changes they are intended to produce.
• Ecosystem gaps and breaks: determining whether an ecosystem function is missing or exists but is not working effectively, and selecting the appropriate response.
• Mechanisms and leverage points: understanding how trust, information, incentives, capabilities, capital flows and power dynamics can influence actor behaviour.
• Assumptions and risks: making assumptions about mechanisms, behaviour and the wider context explicit so that they can be tested and revised.
• Measuring ecosystem change: complementing activity-level indicators with measures of behavioural change and longer-term systemic outcomes.
• Collaboration in African innovation ecosystems: learning from organisations that connect entrepreneurs, investors, universities, policymakers and markets.
• The role of BSOs: supporting ecosystem transformation through convening, capacity building, relationship development and reduced transaction costs.
• Resilience and sustainability: building partnerships, structures and capabilities that continue beyond individual projects, organisations or funding cycles.

Key Takeaway

Effective ecosystem interventions begin with a clear understanding of how change is expected to happen. Activities such as events, training programmes and mentoring can initiate change, but their value depends on whether they activate the right mechanisms and lead ecosystem actors to behave differently.

By developing a specific and testable Theory of Change, monitoring behavioural outcomes and adapting interventions as conditions evolve, BSOs can move beyond delivering activities towards contributing to systemic transformation. Collaboration is central to this process: reflecting the principle of Ubuntu—“I am because we are”—lasting ecosystem change depends on collective action, shared responsibility and strong relationships among diverse actors.

Overview

Delivered by Athziri Moreno, Manager of International Relations at the Central Bohemian Innovation Center, and featuring Jakub Pechlat, Chief Operational Officer at SIC, this best practice session brings together key concepts explored throughout the organisational-level training for Business Support Organisations (BSOs).

Through practical examples, case studies and experiences from innovation support organisations, the session examines approaches to strengthening organisational sustainability and performance. It connects sustainable funding and business models with talent management, digital maturity and data-driven decision-making, helping participants identify practices that can be adapted to their own organisational and ecosystem contexts.

What You Will Learn

The training covers:

• Sustainable funding models: approaches to diversifying income streams and reducing dependence on individual funding sources.
• Business model planning: using tools such as the Business Model Canvas to align value propositions, activities, partnerships, costs and revenue streams.
• Cost management: understanding fixed, variable and hidden costs and their implications for organisational sustainability.
• Financial forecasting and control: using realistic scenarios, budgeting, approval processes and monitoring mechanisms to strengthen financial resilience.
• Cost and impact assessment: considering the relationship between resources invested and impact achieved when making programme and organisational decisions.
• Talent management: connecting organisational sustainability with the ability to attract, develop and retain appropriate talent.
• Digital maturity: considering how digital capabilities can support organisational processes, management and service delivery.
• Data-driven decision-making: using organisational and programme data to inform planning, resource allocation and continuous improvement.
• Practical BSO experiences: learning from real-world examples and approaches used by innovation intermediaries in different contexts.
• Transferable best practices: identifying practices that can be adapted to strengthen the performance, resilience and long-term impact of BSOs.

Key Takeaway

Strong and resilient BSOs require an integrated approach to organisational management. Sustainable funding, effective talent management, appropriate digital capabilities and evidence-based decision-making need to reinforce one another rather than operate as separate areas.

By assessing their organisational model, understanding costs and impact, strengthening internal systems and adapting proven practices to their own context, BSOs can improve their performance while building greater resilience and long-term sustainability.