New publication: Open Innovation and the future of higher education

The Third Mission of universities, that is, contributing to society beyond teaching and research, has been on the table for years. The problem is that too often it fails to translate into action.

In a new Obreal paper, “Promoting Open Innovation and the transformation of higher education from an Obreal perspective” Project Managers Ángel Manuel Rafael and Jaume Fortuny propose Open Innovation as a concrete solution: transforming universities from closed knowledge producers into spaces of real collaboration with businesses, governments, citizens and the environment. And the change, they argue, must start in the classroom: moving from teaching for a diploma to learning to innovate.

Obreal already applies these principles through the AI Youth Incubator, the Julio Cotler Program, the Interregional Dialogue Process and the multilingualism approach that runs through all of these initiatives.

But the path is not straightforward: inequality between regions, intellectual property, and the challenges posed by generative artificial intelligence raise questions with no easy answers. The authors dig into all of this, and more, in the full paper. Read it and join the conversation