This report offers a comparative picture of how deeply European universities are embedded in their national innovation ecosystems. Drawing on data from the European Higher Education Sector Observatory (EHESO) and its Scoreboard (EHESS), the study, authored by Inga Popovaite, Flávia Colus and Frans Kaiser, examines university-industry research collaboration, the building of entrepreneurial skills through internships and traineeships, and post-graduation entrepreneurial activity. It also compares the performance of universities belonging to European Universities alliances (EUAs) with non-member institutions.

The analysis is situated within the broader policy context of the European Commission's Union of Skills initiative, proposed in March 2025, which aims to align talent development and innovation investment with Europe's green, digital and industrial transitions.

Diverse national profiles in university-industry collaboration

The report finds that no single country leads across every form of university-industry partnership. Cyprus recorded the highest rate of industry collaborations in EU Framework Programme projects (494 per 1 000 academic staff, against an EU-27 average of 161). Finland topped the share of companies cooperating with higher education institutions at 19.3 % (EU-27 average: 10.5 %). Liechtenstein stood out for co-authored publications with industry at 37.5 % (EU-27 average: 7.9 %). Belgium, Estonia and Switzerland each recorded around 300 EU-FP collaborations per 1 000 staff. This variety underscores that innovation ecosystems take many forms, with smaller economies like Liechtenstein and Cyprus achieving strong results on particular indicators.

Building entrepreneurial skills

Domestic internships remain far more common than international Erasmus+ traineeships. Estonia (56 %), France (56 %) and Lithuania (54 %) had the highest shares of students completing an internship. By contrast, only about 4 per 1 000 bachelor's and master's students across the EU undertook an Erasmus+ traineeship in 2022. Doctoral students are roughly three times more likely to participate, though absolute rates remain modest (EU-27 average: 1.2  %). Lithuania stood out with a rate of 5.6%. Estonia and Lithuania emerged as consistent top performers across all degree levels.

Post-graduation outcomes

About 1 in 10 graduates across the countries founded their own company, with Estonia leading at nearly 15 %, followed by Czechia (11 %) and Slovakia (9 %). General self-employment – including freelancing – was most prevalent in Portugal (19.3 %), Czechia (18.3 %) and Greece (17.5 %). Interestingly, Portugal combined a high self-employment rate with a relatively low rate of company ownership, a pattern the report notes but cannot fully explain from the available data alone.

How the dimensions connect

A correlation analysis using country-level data from 2015 to 2022 reveals that countries with stronger university-industry collaboration tend to have higher shares of students completing internships. Erasmus+ traineeships are positively associated with graduate company ownership. A notable trade-off also surfaces: in countries where domestic university-industry cooperation is already strong, fewer doctoral students go abroad for Erasmus+ traineeships, suggesting that well-developed domestic opportunities may reduce the impetus for international placements.

The European Universities alliances

The report compares 366 alliance-member HEIs with 3 713 non-members using 2022 institutional data. Alliance members significantly outperform their peers in three areas. First, a typical (median) alliance university recorded about 10 EU-FP collaborations per 1 000 academic staff, compared to zero for the typical (median) non-member. Second, alliance members showed an average industry co-authorship rate of 6.6 %, with relatively even distribution, whereas the non-alliance average of 4.5 % was driven by a small minority of highly active universities – the typical non-member had no industry co-publications at all. Third, alliance members showed more widespread (if modest) doctoral-level Erasmus+ traineeship participation. No statistically significant difference was found in patent intensity or bachelor's/master's traineeship rates.

The authors stress that this is an observational, cross-sectional analysis. Universities are not randomly assigned to alliances – those that join are likely already strong in research and international collaboration. The findings show association, not causation. As EHESO expands its data collection, longitudinal studies may help disentangle the effect of membership from pre-existing institutional strengths.

Looking ahead

The report acknowledges the absence of indicators on specific educational offerings such as joint curricula co-designed with industry. For now, the picture is one of diverse innovation ecosystems across Europe, with the European Universities alliances occupying a distinctive position: they concentrate institutions more deeply embedded in formal research and innovation networks – precisely the characteristics that, at the national level, are associated with better outcomes for students.