Start-up and Entrepreneurship
USTP – University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten strives to position itself as an Entrepreneurial University and to foster entrepreneurial thinking and acting not only among its staff, especially in research and teaching, but also among its students.
The UAS supports the (further) developing of start-ups, for example by providing infrastructure such as the campus media or by acting as a scientific partner in externally funded projects.
USTP – University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten bundles its numerous activities to promote entrepreneurial thinking and acting in students in its ‚7 steps to start-up model‘.
Students are guided and supported throughout all stages of the innovation process, from the basics to entrepreneurship and innovation, from brainstorming to start-up. This happens through various measures such as courses, projects, workshops, mentoring, partnerships and more.
The teaching and research staff are also engaged with entrepreneurship through a wide range of measures. These include a handbook for knowledge and technology transfer, a career model, ongoing training and by defining knowledge transfer as an important pillar in the strategy of USTP .
The Creative Pre-Incubator is USTP – University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten' start-up programme for its students.
The goal of the Creative Pre-Incubator is to individually supervise the projects and teams and to further develop their ideas. In addition to this, a business case is continually compiled, so that at the conclusion of the support programme nothing stands in the way of launching the start-up.
The Creative Pre-Incubator is a cooperation between USTP and the accent Gründerservice GmbH and is sponsored by the Province of Lower Austria (Economy, Tourism & Technology) and financed from the resources of the europäischen Fonds für Regionale Entwicklung / EFRE (European Regional Development Fund / ERDF).
Creative Pre-Incubator (in German)
SMARTUP -Comprehensive support programme for start-ups and regional start-up culture
The "SMARTUP" initiative promotes innovation and entrepreneurship and contributes to the revitalisation and enhancement of the innovation potential of the city of St. Pölten.
Existing support, know-how and expertise, such as provided by "ecopoint", the Marketing St. Pölten GmbH, the New Design University and USTP – University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten is combined to further strengthen St. Pölten as a location for innovative entrepreneurs.
The Startup project will support founders for instance through the possibility of using coworking spaces or opening pop-ups which will also contribute to create an innovative environment in St. Pölten's inner city.
Networks and platforms
USTP – University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten participates in numerous networks, platforms and cooperations for scientific exchange and to facilitate contact and cooperation with stakeholders.
AAL stands for Active & Assisted Living and can be described as "age-appropriate assistance systems for a healthy and independent life". Demographic change is one of the greatest challenges of the present and the future. Modern technologies that support elderly people and their relatives in their daily lives are becoming increasingly important.
The AAL AUSTRIA platform was founded on the initiative of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology. Its aims is to bring together the various stakeholders in the field of AAL in order to promote the establishment and expansion of an Austrian AAL community and the visibility of AAL at all levels of public perception.
The hub is a platform through which stakeholders from the areas business, education, research, politics and the public sector cooperate with the aim of promoting IT security awareness at an early age, counteracting the shortage of skilled workers and positioning Austria as a "Center of Excellence" in IT security.
House of Digitalization
Lower Austria is launching the first virtual house of digitalization in Austria, a regional ecosystem of education, science, business and administration that supports companies, conducts joint research and offers the population insights into the digital transformation. Physically, the House of Digitalization is to be built in Tulln after 2020. Currently, a network of institutions is working together digitally on this topic. Several nodes in Lower Austria are involved in the network, USTP – University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten being one of them.
Contributions of USTP to the House of Digitalization
USTP is one of the most research-intensive universities of applied sciences in Austria. Due to its expertise in connection with digitalization, USTP is an active partner and connected with industry and relevant institutions. The combination of the subject areas in teaching and research creates space for interdisciplinary scientific findings, products and solutions for business and society. USTP contributes to the House of Digitalization with focus on the following ten points:
- Cyber Security –detecting, analysing and combatting cyber attacks
- IT security consultancy - prevention and protection
- Data Science - collection, analysis and visualization of digital data
- Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
- Optimizing procedures and production processes using digital technologies (AR/VR, IoT, Blockchain, NFC, RFID…)
- Digital communications and business models for regional and global markets
- Interactive applications and presentations to increase customer loyalty
- User-centered developments (Human-machine Interaction, User Experience Design, Open Innovation, Citizen Science, etc.)
- Smart Environments - Models for increased flexibility and Individualization
- Assistive technologies for health, social care and mobility
The platform is the leading organisation for innovation and innovation management in Austria with members from industry, SMEs, research and science and offers members the opportunity for cross-sector exchange. Its goal is to measurably increase the innovative strength of its members.
The cooperation of USTP – University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten and tecnet equity within the framework of the "research-to-value" support programme is intended to support researchers in the valorisation of their research results - from licensing to business start-ups.