On November 12 and 13, 2025, UTBM will welcome representatives from our partner universities to the CrunchLab for the launch of the ambitious UPSIDED project (Unique Pedagogies Stimulating Innovation, Disruption, and Entrepreneurial Development): 

Dalarna University and Dalarna Science Park
John Are MYHREN and Jacob ODE

Windesheim University of Applied Sciences 
Koen GEERLINGS, Marjan POUTSMA, and Paul TOUW, 

Haute École Louvain en Hainaut – School of Engineering
Dominique Françoise LEFEBVRE, Vesna JERKOVIC, Charlotte SAUSSEZ, and Nicolas VELINGS.

After securing ERASMUS+ funding (the maximum amount available) for a “Key Action 220” project, our teams were able to meet this week to work together. This project is therefore co-funded by the European Union.

Key Action 220 (or “Key Action 220” in the language of Shakespeare) is one of the types of projects funded by the ERASMUS+ program in the field of higher education to support cooperation among institutions, associations, businesses, NGOs, local governments, and others through innovative, collaborative, and transnational projects.

The goal of the UPSIDED project is to collectively explore innovative educational formats and lay the groundwork for a model that can be shared internationally.

Each partner university found itself facing the same question: How do we teach innovation? It’s a question that’s difficult to answer within the traditional classroom setting. As a result, each university tried different approaches to rethink its teaching formats. At UTBM, this effort gave rise to “Crunch Time”; elsewhere, other experiments emerged.

With UPSIDED, the goal is not only to discuss the Crunch Time approach but also to reflect on how it might evolve. The first phase of the project will involve analyzing what each of the four partners has implemented in terms of innovation, and then examining what is being done around the world.

Next, we will need to identify the best tools that have been implemented to define a new roadmap and propose a new toolkit that will then be rolled out across Europe. In other words, while Crunch Time serves as an example and a starting point, it will draw on the insights of this working group to envision its own future developments. Similarly, each partner will use this toolkit to adapt the concept to its own context.

This kick-off meeting marks the beginning of three years of teamwork with our European partners. On the UTBM side, the Department of International Relations and Internationalization will be involved, specifically Pauline DOXIN, Alice FAIVRE D’ARCIER—who recently joined UTBM to work specifically on this project—and Franck GECHTER; and on the CrunchLab side, Marjorie BARCELLA, Charlotte BERTRAND, Laurent CACHALOU, Christine GROSJEAN, and Olivier LAMOTTE.

Ghislain MONTAVON was present on the first day to meet with our partners.

A big thank you to the local press for covering this event: *Le Trois* magazine and*L’Est Républicain*.