Strong Vision for European Campus Hainburg

The European Campus Hainburg is evolving into one of the most important future-oriented projects in the Lower Austrian higher education and innovation area. During a work meeting with USTP – University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten, Lower Austrian Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner satisfied herself of the project’s progress and emphasised its meaning for the province: “The European Campus Hainburg shows with how much commitment we invest in education, research, and innovation in Lower Austria. Here, we are creating a place where talents can grow, new technologies are developed responsibly, and the region is rendered visible in all its strength.”

Strong Impulse for Europe

“With the European Campus Hainburg, we pursue particularly ambitious goals: We want to establish an exemplary lighthouse for teaching, research, and innovation that is strongly anchored in this cross-border region – but will make an impact at the European level and beyond. We are convinced that we need to pool all available forces and contribute our complementary strengths to not only maintain the competitiveness of European regions but continuously expand it on behalf of a positive future. The fact that we have already received very positive feedback from numerous partners all over Europe is additional encouragement and motivation for us”, USTP CEOs Johann Haag and Hannes Raffaseder are convinced.

Jiri Nantl, former Vice Minister for Education in the Czech Republic and former Deputy District Governor of the South Moravian Region, manages the new campus’ development in terms of content and strategy together with Franz Fidler, Head of the Faculty of Engineering and Business at USTP and experienced university professor, researcher, and startup co-founder.

Guiding Principle: “Local Pulse, Global Waves”

The campus positions itself as a pioneer when it comes to applied sciences and practice-integrating higher education. Unter the guiding principle “Local Pulse, Global Waves“, a place is in the making that has strong roots in this cross-border region and exerts European impact at the same time. The European Campus Hainburg is meant to be a beacon for practice-oriented teaching, applied research, and societally relevant innovation – and an inspiring location for talents from all over the world.

In content terms, the development is making rapid progress. The first research groups are being established in the fields “AI for Sustainable Environments” and “Impact-Oriented and Human-Centred Technology & Inclusive Transformation”.

Collaboration with TU Wien

In parallel, USTP is working on the development of new bachelor and master degree programmes in Green Technologies and Smart Innovation together with TU Wien. Specialisations such as sustainable mobility, renewable energy systems, AI-supported circular economy, green engineering, security of critical infrastructure, human-centred technologies, social entrepreneurship, social technologies for sustainable societies, or European regional development are currently under evaluation and being coordinated with regional and international partners. The final decisions are expected for this autumn – after that, the curricula will be developed and submitted for accreditation.

Unique European Dimension

The project has a one-of-a-kind European dimension: The close collaboration between a university (TU Wien) and a university of applied sciences (USTP) as well as the integration of the European Universities EULiST and E³UDRES² coordinated by these two, respectively, with their partners from Brno, Bratislava, Budapest, Timisoara, Finland, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Latvia, and Germany  is without parallel in Austria so far.

From as soon as May 2026, the new campus will become visible and tangible through a series of events. The first of these is the Twin City Future Tech Bootcamp in May. More planned events such as the ECH Strategy Forum, the Leadership Hackathon, the big ECH Summit in September, and the first International Summer School will bring students, researchers, companies, and international partners to Hainburg.

Further workshops with schools and business partners as well as a presentation within the framework of the European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels are to follow in the autumn. “Step by step, the European Campus Hainburg  is evolving into a new European innovation and education hub – borne by a strong vision, international expertise, and a clear commitment on the part of the province of Lower Austria to the future of education and research”, says Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner with enthusiasm.

European Campus Hainburg