'3 in 1' University: Innovation Experience from Europe and America

By learning from the '3 in 1' model in Europe, Vietnamese universities can build an innovative ecosystem where research, training and businesses together promote knowledge to the market.

On April 24, 2025, leaders of the University of Tennessee (in Knoxville), Volkswagen Group of America and Oak Ridge National Laboratory celebrated more than 10 years of cooperation and 5 years of establishing the Volkswagen Innovation Center in Knoxville - Photo: Utk.edu

In the context of artificial intelligence (AI) and green economy reshaping the global labor market, Vietnamese higher education is facing a key question: how to become a launching pad for knowledge and startups like innovation centers in Europe or the US?

International experiences - from the "Mission 3.1" model of European science and technology universities to innovation centers connecting universities and businesses in the US - are opening up important suggestions for Vietnam to shorten the gap and affirm its position in global education .

The core of innovation

In many countries, universities have gone beyond their traditional teaching role to become “core” drivers of innovation. The 2018 White Paper by the European Alliance of Science and Technology Universities (CESAER) highlights that science and technology universities play a central role in this vision of the future, taking an open and collaborative leadership position in regional innovation ecosystems.

According to Mr. Wayne D. Kaplan - Vice President of Innovation and Impact at CESAER, these schools not only train highly qualified human resources but also organize cutting-edge research, create start-ups and act as "pillars" in the regional innovation ecosystem.

The concept of "Mission 3.1" proposed by CESAER is particularly noteworthy. If the "Third Mission" of universities has long been understood as transferring knowledge to society, then "Mission 3.1" is broader: universities not only transfer technology but also play a coordinating role, connecting the government, businesses, incubators, investment funds and the community to create a complete innovation ecosystem.

In the US, the Innovate Carolina 2024 report found that university-linked innovation hubs have a significant economic impact.

According to a team of researchers at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, "university-linked innovation hubs" play a key role in shaping the future of work, by "driving economic growth; connecting academia, industry, government and the community."

These centers serve as both a place to commercialize research and provide a space to test new technologies while also training students in entrepreneurial skills.

A prime example is the Volkswagen Innovation Center at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. Since 2011, the University of Tennessee and Volkswagen have collaborated on a number of strategic research projects that have helped to advance the discovery and commercialization of new technologies in areas such as battery performance, materials science, power electronics, and mobility system design. Here, doctoral students work on their dissertations while also participating in research on electric vehicles and sustainable materials with Volkswagen engineers.

According to Innovate Carolina, the center “focuses on cutting-edge research in lightweight automotive structures, sustainable materials, and electric mobility, and allows doctoral students to engage in work-based learning while completing their dissertations.” This model closely connects education, research, and manufacturing, allowing knowledge to move from the lab to the marketplace.

Internationalization - a strategic tool

A prominent example of the internationalization role of universities is the "European Universities" initiative initiated by the European Union with the aim of developing long-term and sustainable cooperation in education, research and innovation.

The European Commission’s EU 2025 report says that more than 60 alliances have been established, bringing together hundreds of universities across the continent. These alliances go beyond “developing flexible training programs, establishing automatic credit recognition mechanisms and promoting student-teacher exchanges” to experimenting with entirely new governance and learning models.

In the field of science and technology, alliances have gone further by building common research platforms. The European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU University) has developed "XR Campus" - a learning and research platform based on augmented reality technology, remote research collaboration, encouraging students, lecturers and researchers from many countries to participate in joint projects.

With the aim of building a "transnational university" where students can study, research and receive credits and degrees recognized across Europe, the Una Europa Alliance establishes "joint research incubators" in the fields of AI, big data and sustainability.

Meanwhile, the Young Universities Alliance in Europe (YUFE) mobilizes groups of young scholars to collaborate on projects in health sciences and digital transformation, aligned with the priorities of the Horizon Europe programme.

YUFE’s uniqueness lies in its emphasis on openness, inclusiveness and community engagement. Rather than focusing on established, prestigious institutions, YUFE builds a network of young, dynamic universities to experiment with new approaches to education and research.

The European University Alliance (EUTOPIA) has developed a Science and Innovation Platform, which enables joint supervision of PhD students and sharing of research infrastructure between universities. The highlight of EUTOPIA is the combination of joint training and cross-border research collaboration, with an emphasis on practice and an orientation towards solving global challenges.

Most importantly, the European Commission report stresses that the alliances go beyond simply collaborating on training, to “promoting joint research and innovation activities across member institutions.” This is a move from sharing curricula to building joint research and innovation capabilities, helping European universities become truly cross-border innovation networks.

Research investment gap

A 2020 World Bank report shows that Vietnam's spending on research and development was only about 0.25% of GDP in 2015, much lower than the 2% of South Korea or China.

The proportion of lecturers with doctoral degrees is only about 25%, while public university revenue depends heavily on tuition fees paid by families, accounting for nearly 50% in 2016.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/dai-hoc-3-trong-1-kinh-nghiem-doi-moi-tu-chau-au-va-my-20250911102116618.htm