Keywords: system-based collaboration; creativity; digital collaboration; youth engagement; empowerment

PROMETHEUS project is an initiative of Universities, Research Centers and Enterprises from Greece, the Netherlands, Italy, Romania and North Macedonia. The project’s vision is to foster institutional engagement and change in Higher Education, through developing innovative methods and sustainable systems and services. The project aims at accelerating innovation and entrepreneurship in higher-education and related ecosystems in the areas of Digital Transformation and Sustainable Development. It hopes to create positive impact on students, staff, faculty and on broader societal goals. The main scope of the PROMETHEUS project relates to fostering institutional engagement and change to develop innovative and sustainable services and programs to impact ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship in a Circular Economy’.

One of the activities of the project is based around an online platform that allows students to create, develop and share their business ideas. It is called the PROMETHEUS Entrepreneurship Acceleration Platform: A software platform for supporting innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, with emphasis in gathering ecosystem needs and providing extensive mentoring (https://hei-prometheus.eu/entrepreneurship-acceleration-platform/).

Yannis calls this approach a system-based collaboration, because it brings together a variety of actors and institutions – sponsors, incubators, mentors, starts-ups – which all play a role in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education.

Yannis sees his role in fostering creativity, facilitating exciting, innovative ideas through engaging civil participation in learning – doing good science, as Yannis states, without negatively affecting the good process, as scientific guidelines can sometimes make it hard for science to grow and flourish.