In the German science community, the universities of applied sciences (UAS) with their application-oriented research and development make a major contribution to securing the prosperity and innovative capacity of our society. At the national level, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research supports application-oriented research at UAS through the Research at Universities of Applied Sciences programme. However, UAS are still underutilising their research potential within the European Research Area.

The Horizon 2020 European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation focuses on innovation-oriented projects aimed at taking on social challenges. It thus offers universities of applied sciences, with their strongly application-oriented research priorities, greater opportunities for funding in the future. An essential prerequisite for the successful and sustainable participation of UAS in Horizon 2020 is the development of suitable strategies at an institutional level.

In addition to EU-Antrag-FH, this funding of strategic positioning with regard to European research topics and increasing of visibility in Europe aims to prepare UAS both strategically and thematically for the challenges of Horizon 2020. The aim is to better exploit the existing research potential of universities of applied sciences in the European Research Area.

In order to ensure the successful participation of universities of applied sciences in Horizon 2020 and thus to increase their visibility in the European Research Area in the medium term, EU-Strategie-FH particularly funds the further development and honing of corresponding strategies at UAS with strong research capabilities.

Funding was provided to universities of applied sciences with the best concepts for strategic positioning and increasing visibility in the European Research Area. The prerequisites for funding were existing international experience and activities, research focuses and ongoing research projects with federal funding. With the strategy concept, the applying UAS specifically had to represent the added value of the concept generated for their own organisation and the research profile of the UAS, as well as conceptual ideas for ensuring the sustainability of the structures or developments initiated by this funding.