Certified Innovative University (CInU)®

Develop increasingly stronger capabilities for enabling innovation and entrepreneurship.
Reinforce a progressive culture empowering the university ecosystem to innovate.
Gain global recognition for your university’s innovation-enabling capabilities.

Certified Innovative University 'Mockup'

Overview

Certified Innovative University is a unique, globally recognized accreditation reserved for universities who have demonstrated a clear commitment to empowering and enabling innovation and entrepreneurship in their ecosystem. Through a process of independent third-party assessment, CInU establishes that your university has attained a specific level of maturity with regard to being capable of enabling innovation and entrepreneurship by its students, faculty, and other ecosystem stakeholders. This distinguishes the university among its peers as being capable of delivering student and other outcomes that produce a measurable impact on its region and the world.

Designation as a CInU® affirms that the university has developed the culture, environment, systems, and practices required to constantly empower innovation, entrepreneurship, and creative thinking among its students, faculty, and institutional stakeholders.

This is not just a recognition of potential. It is a designation earned through clear, demonstrated evidence of explicit innovation enablement capabilities – spanning operations, research, curriculum, pedagogy, faculty, facilities, and venture incubation.

What Universities Should Apply?

Any university that places an explicit, concerted focus on innovation and entrepreneurship in its operations, research programs, curriculum, pedagogies, faculty, and facilities – and thereby desires to be recognized for its achievements in this area.

Benefits

Attaining CInU designation establishes your university as a forward-thinking institution who is actively shaping the future of education and innovation.

CInUs enjoy:

International Recognition as a leader in innovation enablement.
Enhanced Reputation among students, faculty, funders, and policy-makers.
Clear Visibility into institutional strengths and areas for development through GInI’s Innovation Enablement Capability Assessment.
Access to GInI’s Innovation Ecosystem of global innovators and peer institutions.
Opportunities for Benchmarking and Shared Learning with other CInUs around the world.

Above all, CInU status reflects your university’s commitment to empowering its people to innovate —and to building a legacy of innovation that will inspire generations to come.

Obtaining

Achieving accreditation as a Certified Innovative University® involves a three-step process:

Submit your CInU® Application through a GInI Authorized Training & Assessment Provider (ATAP®).

The ATAP® will guide you through completing and submitting your application. They will also work with GInI to secure approval to schedule your assessment.

Complete the CInU® Innovation Enablement Capability Assessment.

This is conducted by independent GInI Authorized Innovation Assessors® (AInAs®) under the oversight of your ATAP®. These assessors will evaluate your university’s innovation capabilities across 24 weighted categories using GInI’s InECAT framework.

Pay the Administrative Processing Fee.

The final step in the accreditation process is payment of GInI’s administrative fee.

Once complete, GInI will make the final determination on whether to award your university CInU designation.

All final decisions rest solely with GInI and its Directors.

Scoring

GInI’s Innovation Enablement Capability Assessment is designed to evaluate a university’s maturity in enabling innovation across nine Group Sections and 24 Categories.

Each Category is scored based on:

Presence – Is the element in place?
Application – Is the element being used?
Effectiveness – Is the element working well?
Success – Is the element delivering outcomes?

Your university will receive a final overall rating score ranging from 0 to 10, and based on that, one of the following CInU designations:

Level	Score	Ranking	Details
Level 1 – Emergent	3.00 – 4.99	This is the starting level of recognition as a CInU®.	Universities near the start of their innovation-enablement journey. They show progress and commitment.
Level 2 – Advanced	5.00 – 7.99	This is the intermediate level of recognition as a CInU®.	Universities that have made strong progress in developing their innovationenablement capabilities across their ecosystem.
Level 3 – Leader	8.00 – 10.00	This is the highest level of recognition as a CInU®.	Universities with comprehensive and mature innovation-enablement systems that are producing clear and measurable impacts in their sphere of influence.

A score below 3.00 fails to qualify for CInU accreditation.

Maintaining

To maintain your accreditation as a Certified Innovative University®, your institution must:

Pay the annual GInI Administrative Processing Fee.
Undergo a full reassessment every two years (biennially) by a GInI ATAP® and AInAs®.

These reassessments ensure the continued accuracy and integrity of your accreditation, and they offer your university the opportunity to reflect on its progress, celebrate its achievements, and identify new areas for growth.

Investment

Achieving and maintaining CInU accreditation involves the following financial investment:

5,000 USD Administrative Processing Fee – paid annually to GInI.

This excludes the fees you will pay to your selected ATAP® and AInAs®, whom you will retain independently of GInI to carry out your assessment. Those costs are established directly with the Provider and will vary depending on the size and complexity of your university.