International
Europe as a hub for innovation in healthcare
Healthcare systems across Europe face similar challenges: demographic change, a shortage of skilled staff, digitalisation and the question of how new technologies can be put into practice more quickly. Solutions to these challenges are increasingly being developed outside individual institutions or countries. What is needed are networks in which universities, research organisations, industry and healthcare organisations share knowledge and jointly develop new solutions.
Salzburg University of Applied Sciences is currently making a concerted effort to expand these European links. The EduCare 5.0 university alliance and its associated projects, DigiCare Innovation and THRIVE, have different areas of focus but are driven by a shared vision: to bring together expertise across national and institutional boundaries and thereby create tangible added value for education, research and healthcare.
The Department of Health Sciences’ participation in the European university alliance EduCare 5.0 – alongside nine universities from Germany, Spain, Finland, Portugal, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic and Lithuania – is particularly forward-looking. Their aim is to link education, research and innovation even more closely and to develop innovative solutions to societal challenges. The alliance focuses on health, digitalisation, sustainability, and social inclusion. Students, researchers, lecturers and industry partners work together across national and disciplinary boundaries to develop new approaches to health, wellbeing and quality of life in Europe.
Promoting innovation in healthcare
Ten universities from nine countries within the European university alliance EduCare 5.0 are collaborating on the European THRIVE project (Transforming Healthcare Research into Validated Solutions through Alliance-KIC Cooperation). Led by the International University of Catalonia, researchers will spend the next two years working on the THRIVE project to bring healthcare innovations into practice more quickly. The Salzburg University of Applied Sciences is the only university in Austria taking part.
The international DigiCare project is already one step ahead: universities, healthcare providers, start-ups and researchers have been working since 2025 to develop digital solutions for more accessible, personalised and sustainable healthcare. In realistic test environments, applications ranging from virtual reality for mental health and smart-home technologies to digital oncology care are being trialled. At the same time, a shared, secure infrastructure for cross-border data exchange is being established.
Education and further training are central to this: more than 500 students have already completed the DigiCare online course on digital health, innovation and entrepreneurship, and a mentoring programme complements the offering. In this way, the project brings together research, teaching and practice across national borders and strengthens a shared European innovation ecosystem.
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