Valorising the knowledge from research projects requires a broad set of skills – be it for identifying intellectual assets, developing a value proposition, or collaborating with different partners such as businesses, citizens, or investors. Researchers and students would benefit of having more opportunities to develop these skills in practice. This is why the European Research Area (ERA) policy agenda 2025-2027 supports strengthening the valorisation capacities and skills for research and innovation actors, including mapping and testing of new approaches.
To collect more information on the needs for knowledge valorisation training and existing practices, the European Commission launched a survey in October 2025. The survey resulted in 179 responses from 30 countries. Responses indicate that there is a clear need for further training in knowledge valorisation, especially for learning in collaborative and interactive formats. Such needs become especially evident in industry-academia collaboration, citizen engagement and the use of new technologies for knowledge valorisation.
The results also point out that Learning labs are a promising format to knowledge valorisation trainings, providing an engaging learning opportunity to researchers and students. However, respondents also noted that a lack of awareness, resources and skilled personnel can limit the establishment of Learning Labs.
Workshop on best practices of Learning Labs for value creation
The Learning Lab concept is rather new and currently tested in different forms across Europe. Learning Labs often provide experimental settings, guidance materials and mentoring for hands-on learning amongst students, researchers, and practitioners. Therefore, sharing best practices of the learning labs is essential to gather more knowledge on different formats, experiences and feedback on what works in practice.
To support this exchange, the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation organised an online workshop on 27 November 2025 to present and discuss best practices of Learning Labs that strengthen knowledge valorisation skills across the European research and innovation community. Around 60 participants took part in the workshop, representing a broad range of stakeholders such as universities, public research organisations, knowledge and technology transfer offices, innovation and funding agencies, ministries and private companies.
Key takeaways from the workshop
- Engagement is an important success factor and challenge at the same time: participants show the highest engagement when Learning Labs are tailored to their needs, balancing theoretical knowledge with practical experiences and providing incentives, for instance by organising competitions.
- Transdisciplinarity is a powerful approach: Learning Labs spark greater success when they bring together variety of disciplines such as social sciences and humanities (SSH), Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), and are engaging stakeholders from businesses, local administrations and citizens to collaborate on real-world problems.
- Successful Learning Labs can be scaled-up and applied in other contexts: Learning Labs can unlock wider reach and sustained learning by partnering with university associations, embrace ‘Train the Trainer’-models to bring their approach to different environments and contribute to the third mission of universities of incorporating valorisation as a core task, alongside teaching and research.
Slides on the best practice examples of Learning Labs presented at the workshop
In conclusion, the workshop and the survey results show that Learning Labs are a valuable format to support the development of skills needed for knowledge valorisation.
Background
Strengthening the valorisation capacities and skills of research and innovation actors is part of the ERA policy agenda 2025-2027. The workshop and survey contribute to this objective and will inform the piloting of pan-European Learning Labs for value creation under the Horizon Europe work programme 2026-2027.