LEAPXR - Linking Education and Applied Practice for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in XR

The LEAPXR project (Linking Education and Applied Practice for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in eXtended Reality) aims to position applied European Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as engines of innovation, tackling pressing challenges in healthcare and fostering regional and global economic growth. By harnessing the transformative potential of Extended Reality (XR) technologies, the project addresses critical societal needs such as aging populations, healthcare disparities, and regional innovation gaps, while fostering inclusivity and advancing gender equity in tech-driven entrepreneurship.

At its core, LEAPXR integrates entrepreneurship into applied education and research, creating pathways for innovation that extend beyond institutional and regional boundaries. Through its Innovation Vision Action Plan (IVAP), the project equips students, staff, and industry partners with entrepreneurial skills, enabling them to co-create impactful solutions in healthcare and technology. The LEAP Women in Entrepreneurship Programme further strengthens this vision, empowering women to lead in fields like XR and deep tech.

LEAPXR's ambitious objectives include:

• Establishing an inclusive entrepreneurship framework, integrating best practices and fostering systemic change across HEIs.
• Developing a European XR innovation hub to support startups and scale-ups, generating impactful solutions and creating sustainable employment.
• Creating state-of-the-art XR infrastructures to advance applied research and strengthen academic-industry collaboration.
• Translating proven entrepreneurial models from EIT initiatives into real-world training programs.
• Disseminating success stories and best practices to inspire innovation and expand regional impact.

During the project's lifetime, LEAPXR aims to support 25 start-ups, create two Health(Tech) startups, train 1,000 students and 330 staff, establish 12 partnerships focusing on RIS countries, and develop 6 structures for systemic entrepreneurship and innovation.

LEAPXR is part of the E³UDRES² European University Alliance and the EIT Higher Education Initiative, whose missions are to build a resilient European innovation ecosystem. The project will create sustainable partnerships, open learning materials, mentoring frameworks and scalable solutions to ensure LEAPXR's long-term impact on innovation and entrepreneurship development in different regions of Europe.

UAS Saxion and fifteen European partners are receiving a grant of more than 1.3 million euros to promote innovations in healthcare and the field of entrepreneurship. Jamk University of Applied Sciences (School of Business and School of Health) is one of the eight full partners and will be responsible e.g. communication and dissemination workpage. 

Project is supported by EIT Higher Education Initiative and funded by the European Union.

Implementation 1.4.2025-30.4.2027

More information Hanna Hauvala, [email protected]