Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

part of the university funding package for 2019–2021. 
Bids were invited in 2019 with the aim of supporting 
pioneering projects conducive to structural develop-
ment that would enable new development momen-
tum to be injected into the public university system, 
the university as a whole or, at the very least, multi-
ple faculties and study programmes in a way that 
was visible nationwide if not internationally. The fact 
that preferential treatment would be given at the se-
lection stage to projects that covered both aspects 
– i.e. both the digital and social dimensions – was 
highlighted.
The call for proposals was looking for content in the 
following areas: 
• digitalisation in teaching and learning plus learn-
ing analytics; 
• skills for the digital age – on the path to “Curricu-
lum 4.0”; 
• harnessing the digital transformation to benefit 
the social dimension; 
• Open Science; 
• e-administration – digitalisation in administration. 
A total of 71 projects were submitted in response to 
the call for proposals, with 35 being chosen follow-
ing an exhaustive selection process. These are proj-
ects that will make the Austrian university system fit 
for the 21st century in a focused manner by opening 
the door to digital and/or social innovation(s). As 
well as their potential for innovation, they were also 
picked for their integration with partnerships and 
networks facilitating structural change, systemic im-
pact and support for change management processes. 
International experts were among those who sat on 
the jury that made the final selection.
Two thirds of the 35 projects deemed worthy of 
funding (i.e. 23 projects) focused on both digital and 
the related social transformation, not least as the 
two areas often overlap closely in terms of their con-
tent. For example, digitalisation can help to reach 
out to those groups of individuals that are currently 
under-represented at higher education institutions 
and get them involved. In particular, this includes 
students with a migration background or a disability. 
Just under a third of the projects funded look 
solely at digitalisation. Many focus on Open Science, 
which is designed to guarantee as much freedom as 
possible for accessing scientific publications and re-
search data. 

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