New EU Project to Transform Healthcare Education with Extended Reality and Entrepreneurship
In an effort to revolutionize healthcare education and research, the European Union has launched a new project titled LEAPXR – Linking Education and Applied Practice for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in eXtended Reality. With a budget of €1.3 million, the project brings together 16 partner institutions from across Europe, including the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten (USTP).
The aim of LEAPXR is to explore how extended reality (XR) technologies and entrepreneurial thinking can drive innovation in the health sector. As Europe’s population continues to age and chronic conditions increase, healthcare systems are facing growing pressure. XR technologies have the potential to provide powerful tools for training and collaboration, while entrepreneurship can act as a catalyst for sustainable innovation.
At a two-day on-site meeting in St. Pölten in October, representatives from partner universities and industry collaborators came together to exchange ideas, align goals, and strengthen interdisciplinary ties. During the meeting, the team recorded a special episode for the podcast “LEAPXR Talks” that captures the voices, visions, and collaborative spirit of the initiative. Available on Spotify, the episode offers insights into the project’s ambitions and the dynamic energy driving its development.
“Training is not one-size-fits-all. What the virtual environment can do is adapt to its user. We are trying to respond to physiological signals and the environment the person is in – either to calm it down or to stimulate it. That’s where XR becomes truly powerful,” says Vanessa Leung, Senior Researcher at USTP.
Annemarie Penders, project manager of LEAPXR, highlights the interdisciplinary nature of the initiative: “LEAPXR is, for me, the intersection of different disciplines – entrepreneurial as well as innovative. XR will become a standard tool in healthcare education and innovation.”
Through immersive, lifelike simulations, XR enables healthcare students and professionals to practice complex scenarios, refine care processes, and tailor training to individual needs. This hands-on approach improves learning outcomes and enhances the quality of patient care. XR also supports collaboration across locations, offering new opportunities particularly in nursing and therapy.
LEAPXR aims to strengthen entrepreneurial mindsets within higher education and stimulate innovation across the healthcare economy by establishing XR infrastructures accessible to research, practice, and industry, creating an XR Innovation Hub to bridge universities and the business sector, developing practice-oriented learning and training models building on successful EU projects, and promoting a collaborative innovation culture to support international cooperation and start-up initiatives.
The project is funded by the EIT Higher Education Initiative and the European Union, with a total budget of €1.3 million. The investment underlines the project’s strategic importance for Europe by nurturing talent, strengthening international networks, and boosting Europe’s innovation capacity in the health-tech sector. Through its participation, USTP reinforces its position as a European leader in forward-looking education and research.
The LEAPXR consortium brings together universities, research institutes, and industry partners from across Europe, including Saxion University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands – external project lead), Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences (Latvia), UCLL University of Applied Sciences Leuven-Limburg (Belgium), Fulda University of Applied Sciences (Germany), JAMK University of Applied Sciences (Finland), and others. Together, they are working to build a European center of entrepreneurial excellence in XR and healthcare, while promoting sustainable regional development at the same time.
For more information on the project, visit the LEAPXR project page or USTP’s project page. You can also listen to the “LEAPXR Talks” podcast on Spotify. More information on the EIT Higher Education Initiative can be found on their website or on the project’s LinkedIn channel.
Derick is an experienced reporter having held multiple senior roles for large publishers across Europe. Specialist subjects include small business and financial emerging markets.