The job market of the future will be highly dynamic and dominated by short-term, digital, remote, part-time, collaborative and simultaneous jobs, mostly performed by freelancers and knowmads. Universities are therefore equipping the human capital of the future with entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial competencies, which are increasingly valued in the labour market.

At the same time, universities have great potential to act as incubators for science, technology and innovation-based companies, which can then be connected to the entrepreneurial ecosystem, by providing increasingly more support to their students and academics in creating innovative, sophisticated, transformative and sustainable companies (start-ups and spin-offs) with high added value and high growth potential.

In the context of a society facing major global social, economic and environmental challenges, universities have a crucial role to play in including these challenges in their research agenda, as well as in orienting skills towards the search for possible solutions. Interdisciplinarity and intersectorality are key factors in meeting these challenges.

Moreover, technological development, as well as the transfer and dissemination of knowledge and technology generated in the university itself, will be increasingly important for making a real impact on a multidimensional social progress.