An inspiring success story: Florian Gschwandtner and FH Upper Austria

Florian Geschwandtner, 41, founder and investor from Linz/Austria and well known to the general public in Austria and abroad through various articles, appearances and investor activities, completed an IT Bachelor's and Master's degree program at Hagenberg Campus and a Management Master's degree program at Steyr Campus. His break through came with the sucessful fitness app „Runtastic“ which was later bought by Adidas.

"I am delighted to be able to represent the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, which has personally prepared me for my future career," says Florian Geschwandtner. He continues: "During my studies in Hagenberg, I got to know my future fellow founders. For example, we lived together in the same dormitory or studied on the same degree program. So you could say that the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria was our starting point."

Gschwandtner studied "Mobile Computing" in the Bachelor's and Master's degree programs at Hagenberg Campus and supplemented his knowledge at Steyr Campus, where he completed the part-time Master's degree program in "Supply Chain Management". "In addition to the contacts with my later co-founders and the luck of being in the right place at the right time, the excellent support from my Mobile Computing program director was also very important!" he emphasises.

In the eyes of Florian Gschwandtner, who admits to being a fan of universities of applied sciences because of the practical relevance and the structured study programs, the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria stands out as one of the leading universities of applied sciences in Austria. For example, emphasis is also placed on current and good examples from the subject area that are used in teaching. He notes that the practical inputs were a huge plus point for him, as they help students to gain an understanding of the respective subject or problem.

In its teaching, the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria focuses on teaching of current and practical content by experts from the respective field. Florian Gschwandtner is also a regular keynote speaker at events where he passes on the knowledge he has acquired over the past decade. It is "super important" to him, and here he agrees with the FH Upper Austria, that: "we are focussing on education in our country so that we can maintain this high standard of living in the long term.“

About FH Upper Austria

The University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria is the most research-intensive university of applied sciences in Upper Austria and offers different specialisations at its four schools: Informatics, Communication and Media in Hagenberg, Medical Engineering and Applied Social Sciences in Linz, Business and Management in Steyr and Engineering and Applied Natural Sciences in Wels. With over 70 degree programs to choose from, there are plenty of options for every prospective student.

International, part-time and dual study programs as well as the further education opportunities offered by the Start-up Centre and the Centre of Lifelong Learning (COL3) round off the range.