Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

12
Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020
Thus the 
first steps towards implementing the 
monitoring
of the 
federal government’s ten key 
research funding and research performing insti-
tutions
called for in the Research Funding Act (Fo-
FinaG) have been taken. The overarching goal is to 
create a picture of the system as a whole while al-
so respecting the differences between the individ-
ual institutions in connection with their roles in 
that system.
Artificial intelligence
Technologies and applications from the field of ar-
tificial intelligence are becoming increasingly im-
portant thanks to the availability of large volumes 
of data and the constant improvement in the quali-
ty of algorithms.
 Artificial intelligence (AI) refers 
to artificial systems that demonstrate intelli-
gent, i.e. self-learning, behaviour and thus act 
with a certain degree of autonomy.
In the future, 
the use of AI will bring about fundamental changes 
in many areas of society and the economy and will 
also be able to help overcome the major societal 
challenges. 
Austrian research institutions cover the whole of 
the AI-related technological spectrum. Recognis-
able focal points can be found in the areas of ma-
chine learning, symbolic methods, robotics and au-
tonomous systems. 
Virtually all Austrian universi-
ties are engaged in AI research activities
. Besides 
the technical universities in Vienna and Graz, the 
University of Vienna and Johannes Kepler Universi-
ty Linz are also major centres of Austrian AI re-
search in the academic sphere.
At present, it is difficult to obtain a full pic-
ture of the AI-related activities being undertak-