Summary
By actively involving work field partners as innovative product-owners in the applied research at the ICT InnovationLabs, students have the opportunity outside their internship to develop ICT innovations and products for real companies. Dialogue between students, lecturers and innovation partners is essential in knowledge creation and learning. Not only among students, but also among partners and lecturers. Lowering the financial threshold for innovative collaboration increases access to the lab and thus reciprocity from different partners. With the birth of the Fontys ICT InnovationLab at Strijp TQ in September 2018, the concept of the Partners in Innovation has been implemented simultaneously. The Fontys ICT InnovationLab is an Open Innovative hybrid learning environment for semesters 5, 6, 7 and 8 of Fontys ICT education in which intensive cooperation takes place with the business community (Partners in Innovation) and the research groups to work on practice-oriented research assignments.

The developments in ICT occur at an incredible pace. No one knows what the ICT applications of tomorrow will be. It is therefore important that ICT professionals develop into critical professionals who continue to look for solutions to future challenges. The Fontys ICT InnovationLab is an Open Innovation environment with room for experimentation and for exploring all possible ideas for applied research questions within the ICT domain. The InnovationLab is designed to stimulate chance encounters between people with specific knowledge. This accidental meeting could produce surprising and new insights, products and knowledge.

In hybrid teams, students, lecturers, researchers research groups, knowledge centres, centres of expertise and Fontys ICT partner companies work together to develop talent and ICT innovation. Applied research from the work field and the research groups forms the starting point for learning and innovation. A sustainable research collaboration between education, applied research and business not only ensures a Lifelong Learning and Developing of the ICT professional, but also contributes to the Digital Transformation in the Brainport and Midpoint region.

Within the concept of the Fontys ICT InnovationLab, research is carried out in close cooperation with the business community and research groups. For this unique cooperation between Fontys ICT and its Partners in Innovation, a cooperative association has been established: Sharing Platform for Applied Research Cooperation (SPARC).

SPARC aims to initiate and accelerate ICT related innovations. In the cooperation, the Partners combine their innovative strength, which is strengthened by the cooperation with Fontys ICT. The members of SPARC (our Partners in Innovation) bring the research questions to the Fontys ICT InnovationLab and are an essential part of the research team of students, lecturers, researchers and professors. Through close involvement in research, physical presence on the InnovationLab and a high degree of participation of the Partners in Innovation, a sustainable relationship is created between education and research. In this way, the Partners take part in a unique innovation concept and work with young technical talent on ICT innovations.

The Partners in Innovation, led by its own board, not only contribute through intensive cooperation at the Lab, but also pay an annual contribution to the cooperative. By means of a cooperation agreement with SPARC, Fontys ICT may claim these funds in the form of co-financing of a long-term research project if this is based on an approved grant application from our professors. For example, the contribution can be seen as a grant to an innovation fund for (long-term) applied research carried out by Fontys ICT at the InnovationLab in addition to the practice-based and context-rich research of the Partners.

The partnership is interesting for business for several reasons:

• Partners may submit three innovative applied research questions per calendar year, with a maximum duration of 20 education weeks (semester);
• Partners in Innovation have a very intensive cooperation with third and fourth year students, lecturers and the researchers and professors of Fontys ICT;
• Access to the location, workplaces and facilities of Fontys ICT InnovationLab;
• Access to expertise/knowledge and materials of the Fontys ICT InnovationLab - within the framework of Lifelong Learning and Development;
• Access to/participation in the annual ICT research congress “ICT in Practice”;
• Collaboration opportunities with other Partners in Innovation within the Fontys ICT InnovationLab;
• The possibility to organise activities on site.

In addition, the Partners in Innovation may present themselves during Fontys open days, the Fontys ICT Career Day, participate in one of the Work field Advisory Committee (WACs) of the specialisations or in the Strategic Advisory Board for Fontys ICT.

When organisations become a member of SPARC by signing a membership agreement and thus become a Partner in Innovation, it gives them opportunities that are not accessible or available to other organisations. Besides non-partners they have other possibilities than our Partners in Education. Where our Partners in Education (PiE) participate in educational activities in the first and second year of Fontys ICT education, the Partners in Innovation (PiI) are intensively involved in (self-introduced) applied research in the third and fourth year of Fontys ICT education. There is also a difference in the degree of involvement; Partners in Innovation are continuously, intensively and closely involved in the research they bring in. They are in weekly contact with the student teams they work with and are in some cases even part of the project team (a so-called Shared learning teams).

Within Fontys ICT, the Manager Operations is responsible for partner policy. She is supported in this by the Manager Innovations and the Programme Manager Research and Work Field. The Programme Coordinators Research & Innovation fulfil the bridging function between research groups, education and the partners.

More information about our Partners in Innovation can be found at:

• Fontys ICT InnovationLab
• SPARC-Innovation

There is a meaningful relationship between the Partners and the employees of Fontys ICT within the framework of the HR policy. Fontys ICT encourages its lecturers to be active in the work field to keep the experience in the professional field up to date. Our cooperation with the PiE's strengthens this meaningful relationship with the work field in order to allow lecturers, in addition to the role of lecturer, to provide work outside the Fontys ICT context that is worthy of the level of higher professional education (hbo).