EUniverCities will address the issue how to frame co-operation between city and university, and arrive at smart, "next-generation" forms of city-university collaboration. The core idea behind the network is that more comprehensive types of collaboration and "co-creation" will bring significant benefits for both sides, and will strengthen the position of the city as "knowledge-based" city.

University-cities are key engines of Europe’s knowledge economy, and the prime loci of “smart growth”. They are powerhouses for the development of new knowledge, ideas, products and services that are at the basis of prosperity and well-being. They are “incubators”, attracting and educating talented young people in a crucial period of their life. They are breeding nests for entrepreneurship, and some attract knowledge-based companies that look for the brightest young people.