ACEploration Mission #5: “Designing Future Solutions for Sustainable Development”
The ACEploration Missions are taking place at each ACE²-EU partner, inviting educators from the whole alliance to discover the university and exchange with colleagues from across the alliance around a pre-defined topic, aiming to lead to the co-creation of learning opportunities for students. CUAS ACEploration, with a focus on “Designing Future Solutions for Sustainable Development”, was based on three key dimensions: technologically grounded; socially responsible; and environmentally sustainable.

On the first day, participants were welcomed by CUAS Rector, Peter Granig, ACE Institutional Coordinator, Julia Marinaccio, and the Alliance’s APP Factory Lead, Chelo Perez. Each CUAS faculty then showcased a few highlights, and participants had the opportunity to delve into the Sustainable Development Goals through a gamified activity. The afternoon was dedicated to pitching learning opportunity ideas and starting to look for partners to co-design them.
During the second day, CUAS’ Centre for Teaching and e-Learning was presented by the team (Carmen Oman, Angelika Zupan, Marvin Hoffland), before a keynote speech by School of Management’s professor Stefan Dreisiebner on “Experiences and Good Practices: BIPs, COILs, MOOCs”. Following a team-building & activation activity organised by Michael Suppanz, Physiotherapy Programme Director, and three of his students. The co-creation continued actively until the final presentation of each adapted pitch.

The event was coordinated by Carmen Oman, CUAS’ APP Factory coordinator, and moderated by Janet Brown, a professor in the School of Management.

ARC Knowledge Creation Team Workshop #1: "Collaborate for Climate, Design for Impact – Energy & Climate Resilience"
The ARC Knowledge Creation Team Workshops (KCTW) are organised by each Applied Research & Innovation Centre (ARC) within the Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support (ARIES) Incubator. They are meant to connect experts from the whole alliance and facilitate the development of joint research projects and funding applications, and to support the researchers share and expand their own ideas at the European level. This first KCTW was led by the Sustainable Technologies ARC, themed “Collaborate for Climate, Design for Impact – Energy & Climate Resilience”.

The first morning served as an introduction to the design and goals behind the KCTW. The participants were welcomed by the Head of the ARIES Incubator, Sangeetha Ratnayake, and CUAS Institutional Coordinator, Julia Marinaccio. Then, Martina Rattinger and Walter Singer from the Carinthian EU-Liaison Office in Brussels gave them an outline of the current EU priorities for energy and climate as well as the region’s innovation ecosystem and challenges; followed by a brief overview from CUAS research strategy with Claudia Pacher, Head of CUAS Research Department, and CUAS success stories by Mathias Brandstötter, Head of the ADMiRE Research Centre. This introductory part was followed by some icebreakers and a pitching session, allowing each participant to present their project ideas, share their local and research expertise and to start identifying potential synergies, on which they could then work together in the afternoon. The first day ended with an official visit from the Governor of Carinthia, Peter Kaiser.

During the next two days, the researchers continued refining their ideas, merged expertise and knowledge, and built concrete concepts of applied solutions. They also tried to identify additional stakeholders who could get involved and set milestones. In the end, four joint research proposals that addressed socio-economic challenges in Europe emerged from the KCTW, which will be finalised remotely. These projects are being developed towards national, bilateral and European grants.
The event was coordinated by Sangeetha Ratnayake, the head of the ARIES Incubator, and moderated by Sascha Fink, head of the Institute for Applied Human Movement Analysis.
In addition, an ACE-podcast was recorded on the side of the KCTW, with the Between Classes Podcast team from the Digital Marketing and Sales bachelor programme – stay tuned.

Joint social events + International Day
Beyond the intensive co-creation work in the ACEploration and KCTW, our ACE²-EU guests also enjoyed some cultural and socialising times, where both groups could mingle with one another. For instance, they could take part in a walking tour of Villach, made even more beautiful by the Christmas lights and decorations. They were also able to try out some mulled wine and cider offered by CUAS’ Student Union before experiencing regional and national specialities during the official welcome dinner.
Finally, the collaborative week ended on a high and festive note with CUAS’ 2nd International Day´, were they joined a hundred of CUAS staff, students and international guests. After a keynote speech from Jim Hetherton on the "7 Habits of Most Effective People", all participants could relax around culinary specialities from all around the world prepared by CUAS own international students and staff, accompanied by live music.

Acknowledgements
A warm thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of this week and to making our international guests feel welcome at CUAS. In particular, we are grateful to both events’ coordination teams: the European Universities Office, Didactic Centre; the ARIES & APP teams at CUAS; all speakers coming from our faculties and research; our Rectorate and Geschäftsführung for their support; and everyone working behind the scenes, such as the Marketing Department; International Relations Office; Facility Management; IT; Library; Student Union (ÖH), etc.
Special thanks as well to our events’ moderators and to the student volunteers (ACE²-EU Student Representatives; Between Classes Podcast team; Physiotherapy students…), and to the regional government (Land Kärnten) for their presence and general support with the alliance.