USTP Unites European Talents and Cultural Partners
In the E³UDRES² Intensive I Living Lab, students from all over Europe developed AI-supported solutions to challenges faced by Cultural institutions.
How can artificial intelligence help bring cultural heritage to life for new generations? Approximately 100 students explored this question from 14 to 18 September for the E³UDRES² Intensive I Living Lab at USTP – University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten. Working in international teams, they developed innovative solutions to specific challenges faced by cultural institutions and businesses in Lower Austria and Vienna. This led to new ideas for cultural outreach, digital offerings, and ways to make cultural heritage accessible to younger audiences.
How Can AI Create New Pathways to Culture?
Under the motto “How AI is Influencing Our Cultural Heritage”, the European University Alliance E³UDRES² brought students from several European countries to the USTP. For a week, they worked in interdisciplinary teams on real-world issues relating to culture, economy, and society. The focus was on cultural heritage, digitalisation, and the question of how artificial intelligence can create new ways of accessing cultural offerings.
The tasks were set by five renowned cultural institutions and companies from Lower Austria and Vienna: the Festspielhaus St. Pölten, Cinema Paradiso St. Pölten, the Vienna State Opera, Agrana Zucker Hohenau, and the Walzengravieranstalt Guntramsdorf. They presented the students with real-world challenges from their own fields of work and, in return, received innovative ideas and proposed solutions.
International Collaboration for Regional Challenges
The E³UDRES² Intensive I Living Lab was organised as an Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) and combines international mobility with practice-oriented project work. Around 40 students from the E³UDRES² partner universities worked alongside roughly 60 students from USTP on specific issues raised by regional partners.
The issues ranged from new ways of making cultural offerings more appealing to younger target groups to the question of how digital technologies and artificial intelligence can convey cultural heritage in a contemporary way. The teams thus developed ideas for new ways of accessing the cultural offerings of the Festspielhaus St. Pölten, the Cinema Paradiso, and the Vienna State Opera. Other challenges focused on communicating the industrial history of Agrana Zucker Hohenau to younger generations, as well as on new forms of museum experience for the Walzengravieranstalt Guntramsdorf.
“The European University Alliance E³UDRES² brings together universities from nine countries. Initiatives such as the Intensive I Living Lab combine this European perspective with specific local challenges. The students work together across national and disciplinary boundaries, developing solutions that open up new perspectives for regional partners”, says Gabriele Permoser, Head of the E³UDRES² Head Office at USTP.
From the Challenge to the Solution
During the intensive week, the teams visited their challenge owners on site and gained direct insights into the respective organisations. The programme was complemented by networking activities in St. Pölten and Vienna, including a reception at St. Pölten Town Hall and guided tours of both cities.
To round off the week, the international teams presented their concepts at USTP. In doing so, they demonstrated how AI and creative methods can open up new approaches to culture and cultural heritage. The results provide the participating organisations with concrete suggestions for the further development of their programmes and initiatives.
“We are delighted to have had the opportunity to work with international students as part of the Intensive I Living Lab. As a cultural organisation, we are constantly evolving and facing new challenges. The students took on our challenge and tackled it with interesting input, creative ideas, and a fresh outside perspective. We look forward to further joint projects”, said Viktoria Schaberger from Cinema Paradiso.
About the E³UDRES² Intensive I Living Lab
The Intensive I Living Lab is a format run by the European University Alliance E³UDRES² under the leadership of the USTP. It brings together students, lecturers, and external partners from various European countries to work collaboratively on real-world problems and develop innovative solutions for Europe’s regions. The programme is delivered as an Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) and is co-funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ programme.
