Cowork4EU aimed to create evidence-based best practices for university coworking spaces by publishing an open-access best practice report. This report provides an overview of the current coworking landscape in Europe and offers valuable recommendations and best practices to stakeholders, enabling them to effectively integrate coworking dynamics into university space design, transfer activities, and teaching. Further, Cowork4EU sought to pilot a joint coworking course to enhance skills like creativity and entrepreneurship while increasing the visibility of coworking spaces as hubs for innovation. It also aimed to increase international cooperation among students, as well as provide them with the experience to participate in teaching activities outside the regular working environments. Another goal of the project was to establish the European Academic Coworking Network (EACN). The network connects university coworking spaces to increase (inter-)national mobility and cooperation. It further aimed to provide university students and scholars with the opportunity to dive into the local university startup scene and exchange with like-minded peers to increase mutual learning and heighten the chance of fostering innovative cooperation.
Coworking has gained surging popularity over the last few years, offering benefits such as collaboration and inclusion. In the university context, coworking spaces have the potential to contribute to the university’s third mission by seamlessly integrating teaching, research, and innovation in a shared space. To date, however, universities lack verified knowledge and best practices to integrate coworking spaces into their teaching and transfer activities. Cowork4EU aimed to address the following needs arising from this: 1. Need for awareness on university coworking: Raise awareness about the concept and benefits of coworking within universities. 2. Need for an evidence-based overview of university coworking: Provide a comprehensive overview of the existing university coworking landscape in Europe based on thorough data collection and analysis. 3. Need for connection of university coworking spaces: Connect various university coworking spaces across Europe to enhance collaboration and facilitate student and staff mobility through a coworking space network. 4. Need for education on university coworking: Educate students about the advantages and challenges of coworking spaces and how to best design these spaces for universities.