The European Commission’s latest Higher Education Modernisation Agenda emphasizes that higher education institutions (HEIs) should not only act as drivers of economic development but also take on a stronger civic role. However, mechanisms for societal engagement at HEIs are still underdeveloped—there are significantly more technology transfer offices than units dedicated to civic or community engagement. As a result, universities still tend to prioritize collaboration with industry over partnerships with civil society or community building, which ultimately limits their broader social impact. The Covid-19 pandemic has further highlighted the urgent need for HEIs to be socially engaged. In times of uncertainty and destabilization, universities can play a key role in supporting societal recovery by transferring scientific knowledge into practical, community-based solutions. The pandemic has also brought new societal challenges—such as the social exclusion of elderly citizens—that require collaborative, inclusive, and innovative responses. At the same time, digital forms of community engagement have emerged as a new opportunity for education, but these are often difficult to implement in academic settings. The CSI: CustomDigiTeach project addresses this gap by focusing on how digital teaching formats can be used to generate real social impact. It identifies three major challenges: the lack of easily applicable digital teaching formats, the lack of pedagogical skills among lecturers to create socially engaged content, and the absence of a one-size-fits-all solution for diverse societal contexts. To tackle these challenges, the project combines expertise in science-to-society knowledge transfer and digital pedagogy. It aims to develop a digital configurator that will support lecturers in designing customized digital teaching formats adapted to specific societal issues. Based on this tool, the project will create DSIG (Digital Social Impact Generator) courses, helping lecturers to embrace their role as socially engaged educators by offering flexible, impactful teaching solutions. Furthermore, DSIG courses will enable students to actively participate in solving real-life societal challenges, moving beyond traditional online lectures and fostering critical thinking, entrepreneurial spirit, and social responsibility. The project is based on an iterative development process involving constant feedback from users and stakeholders. It also includes a training and dissemination model designed to build capacity among lecturers beyond the project consortium, ensuring long-term relevance and transferability of project results across the European higher education landscape.

The project Creating Social Impact through Customized Digital Teaching Formats (CSI: CustomDigiTeach) represents an important contribution to the development of science, as it strengthens the role of higher education institutions as socially responsible actors. It emphasizes the need to improve the transfer of scientific knowledge to society, especially in light of the challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic. Through the development of a digital configurator that enables the creation of customized digital teaching formats with social impact, the project offers concrete tools for integrating scientific insights into educational processes. This empowers higher education teachers and students to actively engage in addressing current societal challenges, fosters innovative pedagogical approaches, and strengthens connections between academia and local communities. Thus, the project not only contributes to the development of digital competences and pedagogical innovation but also establishes a model for socially relevant science that responds to the complex needs of contemporary society.

The project Creating Social Impact through Customized Digital Teaching Formats (CSI: CustomDigiTeach) plays an important role in the development of Slovenia, as it enhances the capacity of the Slovenian higher education sector to respond to contemporary societal challenges and fosters active connections between science and society. The involvement of Slovenian partners, such as the University of Ljubljana and the Innovation and Development Institute of the University of Ljubljana, enables the direct transfer of European knowledge, tools, and best practices into the national educational context. The project supports the development of digital and pedagogical competences among higher education teachers and encourages greater student involvement in addressing concrete local challenges, thereby strengthening their sense of social responsibility, entrepreneurial thinking, and readiness to act in an ever-changing world. By designing teaching content tailored to the specific needs of the Slovenian context, the project also contributes to the goals of sustainable development, the inclusion of vulnerable groups, and the long-term strengthening of social cohesion. In doing so, it makes a significant contribution to building a modern, inclusive, and innovative Slovenia based on knowledge, collaboration, and social responsibility.