Measures to strengthen the link between basic research and application-orientated research and to promote innovation are crucial for the future of Europe.

"We are very pleased that the experts from the EU Commission's High Level Group have identified many measures in their latest final report that are based on the complementary value of basic and applied research. This aspect is supported by many research organisations and the FHK has also contributed to this through its European network. UAS4EUROPE We have raised this point with the EU Commission several times," says Kurt Koleznik, Secretary General of the Austrian University of Applied Sciences Conference (FHK) and FHK representative at UAS4EUROPE.

The European universities of applied sciences (HAW/FH) that are members of the network UAS4EUROPE see this aspect as a key success factor for the future of research in Europe. As application- and transfer-orientated research universities, they believe it is necessary to develop strategies and measures that promote the linking of basic research, applied research and the development of marketable innovations (products and services) and are reflected in future funding structures.

"We also demand this approach for future national RTI policy. Because the findings for Europe also apply equally to Austria. Current analyses, such as those on Austria's performance in the European Innovation Scoreboard, show that there is a particularly large gap in those groups of indicators that are intended to measure performance in the conversion of research results and innovation into economic effects (note: Austria's performance in the European Innovation Scoreboard is not as good as Austria's): employment impacts and sales impacts)," explains Koleznik.

"UASs can make a significant contribution to improving the transfer of innovations to the economy and society, as they focus on the implementation of research results in concrete products and services or marketable innovations. If the framework conditions for UASs/UTEs improve, this will have a direct positive effect on the added value that Austria generates from research. Funding for UASs that takes teaching, research and knowledge transfer into account in the long term, as well as the possibility of submitting independent doctoral programmes for accreditation in order to promote attractive career paths in application-oriented research, must be implemented quickly by the new federal government," demands Ulrike Prommer, President of the Austrian University of Applied Sciences Conference (FHK).

The FHK has published its demands on the occasion of the National Council elections in autumn 2024: https://fhk.ac.at/fhk-broschuere-zur-wahl/

UAS4EUROPE is a joint initiative of swissuniversities, Hochschule Bayern e.V., University Colleges Denmark, Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences, Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (ARENE), Hochschulen für Angewandte Wissenschaften Baden-Württemberg e.V., Hochschulallianz für den Mittelstand and Österreichische Fachhochschul-Konferenz (FHK). The initiative is committed to strengthening and increasing the visibility of universities of applied sciences (UAS) in the European research landscape. UAS4EUROPE represents 150+ universities.