The project sought to validate a scalable model that integrates Higher Education Institutions and Social Innovation Actors to strengthen social innovation capacity across the EU. Objectives included piloting Hybrid Value Chain methodology combined with Action Design Research to co‑produce user‑driven solutions, and delivering five case studies that demonstrate replicable workflows and measurable social impact. Further aims were to increase transnational access for local social innovators, foster non‑formal civic engagement for adult learners and students, and bridge academic and social value systems to enable sustained HEI–SIA collaboration. Outcomes were designed to be transferable across European University alliances and social innovation networks.
VALUEU was proposed to develop and validate a scalable model linking Higher Education Institutions and Social Innovation Actors to strengthen Europe’s social innovation ecosystem. The pilot applies the EUt+ Citizen Lab and Ashoka’s Hybrid Value Chain within an Action Design Research framework to produce a hands‑on proof of concept that integrates social value into university innovation infrastructures and advances the European Universities initiative’s goal of open, cross‑border collaboration. The project addressed persistent barriers: absent structures for sustained HEI–social innovation collaboration, unclear legal recognition of social innovation, and divergent academic and social value systems. It also tackles limited international access for local social innovators, a lack of non‑formal civic engagement pathways for adult learners and students, and gaps in conventional research that overlook lived experience and local problem framing.