Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

Fig. 1-1: Funding of research and experimental development carried out in Austria and research intensity,
2009–2019
0.0%
0.5%
1.0%
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Re
se
ar
ch
int
en
sit
y
R&
D e
xp
en
di
tu
re
in
€
b
ill
io
ns
Federal government
Regional governments
Research premium
Abroad
Other
Research intensity
Business enterprise sector
Source: Statistics Austria, global estimate as at 28 April 2020. Graphic: WPZ Research; the category “Other” combines the two cate-
gories “Other public funding” (incl. the higher education sector) and “Private non-profit sector”.

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16
Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020
gross domestic product. Looking back over the peri-
od 2009–2019, gross domestic product has grown by 
38.36% in terms of nominal values, while R&D expen-
diture has increased by 69.64% over the same period.
In the last ten years, all the funding sources shown 
in Fig. 1-1 have grown more substantially than gross 
domestic product. In contrast to previous years, re-
search premium in line with the guidance in the re-
vised Frascati Manual, is no longer included under 
government funding in international comparisons, 
but is regarded instead as funding from the business 
enterprise sector. 
Using this new classification, funding from the 
business enterprise sector shows a particularly sharp 
rise, with growth of 80.10%. Business enterprise 
funding increased from €3,775 billion to €6,798 bil-
lion, while public sector funding grew by only 58.16%, 
from €2,449 billion to €3,874 billion. This discrepan-
cy arises from the respective volumes as depicted in 
Fig. 1-1: the amount provided by the business enter-
prise sector is by far the largest, which means the 
effect of adding the research premium is smaller, rel-
atively speaking. This gives the impression, as can be 
seen in Fig. 1-2, that the contribution from the public 
sector is on a downward trend, but this is an issue of 
definitions. Regardless of what definition we use, it is 
clear that in terms of both definitions (classifica-
tions) it is the funding contribution from the business 
enterprise sector that has grown the most substan-
tially, and the conclusion that Austrian companies 
are contributing more and more to funding remains 
valid.
The increase in funding from abroad was much 
smaller than from other sources. This category in-
cludes not only funding contributions from interna-
tional organisations including the EU, but also R&D 
funding from foreign firms, with the latter providing 
the largest share. In terms of absolute figures too, 
the amount of funding from abroad grew less than 
from other sectors, increasing from €1.256 billion in 
2009 to €2.017 billion in 2019. Since the “Abroad” 
category consists largely of funding from for-