Following twelve successful months under the presidency of Jens Schneider, the Alliance of Austrian Technical Universities has drawn a positive conclusion. With BOKU University and the technical and natural science faculties of JKU Linz and the University of Innsbruck, TU Austria has now had three associate members since 2025. This means that the voice of technical science in Austria and beyond continues to gain influence. This is demonstrated by TU Austria’s pioneering future cooperation with India on student mobility, research and innovation, as well as by the joint presentation by TU Austria and the German TU9 in the EU capital, Brussels, on the future EU Framework Programme for Research.
“We will continue to pursue this path of cross-university collaboration in research and teaching with determination. In this way, we will achieve critical mass, harness synergies, strengthen the competitiveness of Austria as a centre of knowledge and innovation, and generate impact for the economy,” says the new TU Austria President, Horst Bischof.
New Doctoral School on Battery Technologies
A concrete example of this consistent collaboration is the first TU Austria Doctoral School, which will launch in autumn 2026: Under the title TU-BRIDGE, outstanding early-career researchers will work alongside leading researchers from the TU Austria universities and industry partners to tackle key questions in modern battery technologies – a key area of the global energy and mobility transition.
TU Austria as Austria’s Deep Tech Driving Force
Numerous studies – most recently the ‘ Elsevier country report: ‘Austria as a science and technology nation’ ’ – demonstrate the particular importance of technical universities for Austria as a centre for research and business. According to this report, the close integration of industry and domestic technical research is particularly evident in the above-average number of co-publications with corporate partners in key technologies: Whilst the EU average stands at 3.9 per cent and the global figure at 2.6 per cent, TU Austria achieves 10.2 per cent. The alliance combines complementary strengths to form an ecosystem that individual universities could not achieve on their own – it creates critical mass, reduces transaction costs for large consortia and enhances Austria’s international connectivity.
“The application-oriented cutting-edge research carried out by TU Austria and its associated partners is indispensable for Austria as a centre of innovation,” says Horst Bischof. “To successfully continue along this path, we need sufficient and reliable funding. To this end, as a strong voice for Austria as a nation of technology, we will continue to press our case forcefully with the federal government.”
About TU Austria
TU Austria is an alliance of Austria’s technical universities founded in 2010 by TU Wien, TU Graz and the Montanuniversität Leoben. Since 2025, it has been joined by BOKU University, the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences at JKU Linz and the Faculty of Engineering Sciences at the University of Innsbruck as associate members.
Under the motto ‘feel. tech. europe.’, the members of TU Austria are joining forces to achieve more together in research, teaching and higher education policy. With its expertise, TU Austria is a reliable partner for industry and business and stands for scientific excellence, economic relevance, international networking and sustainable development in Austria.