YUFE wants to generate knowledge to support social, environmental and economic transitions in response to local and global challenges such as the digitisation of society or the post COVID-19 recovery. The YUFERING project will work towards a socially responsible, connected European Research and Innovation (R&I) landscape.

YUFERING builds on the established cooperation between YUFE partners and has the following aims:

• Promoting and implementing Open Science as the new normal;
• Developing a common R&I agenda for YUFE institutions;
• Promoting a recognition and reward system in R&I and an open labour market for researchers;
• Strengthening collaborations between academia and industry that benefit research and innovation ecosystems across Europe and beyond.

YUFERING contributes to the transformations required to build the R&I dimension of European Universities. Together with all relevant stakeholders, YUFERING will create a blueprint for the European Research Area of the future. This R&I system will be based on excellence, inclusivity, improved knowledge transfer, community engagement and cooperation across countries and sectors.

Maastricht University is the coordinator of the YUFE alliance, a major strategic partnership between ten young research-intensive universities who have joined forces to create the leading model of a student-centred, non-elitist, open and inclusive European University based on the cooperation between higher education institutions, public and private sector, and citizens. Maastricht University's president, Prof. Dr Martin Paul, is currently the Chair of the YUFE alliance.