UCC to drive European innovation through €2M UNIC initiative

26 Aug 2026

University College Cork (UCC) will play a leading role in a new €2 million European initiative that will strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship across the European University of Cities in Post-Industrial Transition (UNIC) University Alliance.

Funded by the European Union, the BLENDS (Boosting Learning in Entrepreneurship through New and Deepening Alliance Synergies) project brings together universities, industry and regional partners to strengthen innovation ecosystems and create new opportunities for students, researchers and regional stakeholders to work together on real-world challenges.

BLENDS will support the UNIC Alliance in expanding entrepreneurial teaching and learning, strengthening knowledge and technology transfer, and increasing collaboration between universities and their cities through UNIC City Labs - physical and virtual spaces where students, citizens, researchers and city stakeholders come together to identify and solve societal challenges.

UCC expertise to shape innovation across UNIC

UCC’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation (OVPRI) will lead UCC’s contribution to the BLENDS project. The office will lead work to articulate city and regional challenges, helping to establish a strategic foundation for city challenge-driven innovation across the UNIC alliance.

UCC Innovation will lead the development of the new UNIC Alliance Technology Transfer Best Practice Implementation Guidance, supporting the adoption of six approaches to strengthen researcher engagement and commercialisation capacity across partner universities. UCC’s Entrepreneur in Residence programme and Digital Badge in Innovation and IP Management will be shared as examples of best practice across the alliance.

Connecting UCC with Cork and Europe

UCC Innovation will extend its collaboration with the City of Cork, particularly through the Cork Futures Initiative, and work to deepen the city’s innovation ecosystem. In addition, UCC staff and students will have an opportunity to participate in joint programmes being run by UNIC partners including entrepreneurship training, mentoring, collaboration and knowledge exchange.

Speaking about the BLENDS project, Vice President for Research and Innovation at UCC Professor John F. Cryan said: "BLENDS will deepen UCC's contribution to the city and region while advancing researcher engagement and commercialisation capacity across UCC and the UNIC Alliance. I am delighted that UCC’s Entrepreneur in Residence programme and our Digital Badge in Innovation & IP Management are featured prominently in the initiative."

Dr Jean Van Sinderen Law, Director of UNIC UCC added "BLENDS’ focus on innovation marks an exciting new direction for the UNIC Alliance, bringing our research, teaching, engagement and now innovation together for impact on the societal challenges facing our cities and regions. I am delighted that UNIC continues to be leveraged by colleagues across the University to enable advancement and delivery of key initiatives in alignment with the priorities in UCC’s strategic plan."

The BLENDS project was awarded funding through the EIT Higher Education Initiative Call 2025. Selected from 138 applications across Europe, the project received the maximum funding award of €2 million over two years. Alongside the ten UNIC universities, partners include the Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship, Polska Agencja Rozwoju Przedsiębiorczości (PARP), Climate KIC, 28DIGITAL and EIT Health. UNIC is funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.