Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

1. Current Trends
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1.2.1 Development of Austria’s position in 
terms of the key performance RTI indicators
Based on the Austrian Research and Technology Re-
port 2019,
21
the trend in R&D intensity is used as an 
input indicator, while patent applications and scien-
tific publications serve as a basis for determining 
R&D output.
One of the main indicators from the research sta-
tistics is research intensity, which measures gross 
domestic expenditure on R&D as a percentage of 
gross domestic product (GDP). Fig. 1-11 illustrates re-
search intensity levels in 2011 and 2018. It shows 
that, in 2018, Austria was second in the EU behind 
Sweden, with R&D expenditure making up 3.17% of 
21 See Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology 
(BMVIT) and Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW) (2019).
22 R&D intensity (“research intensity”) measures R&D expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). Several R&D 
intensity values are used in this report due to different data being available at different times. Under its mandatory duty of disclo-
sure, Statistics Austria calculates official data as part of its R&D survey every two years (e.g. 2013, 2015 and most recently 2017). 
R&D intensity stood at 3.05% in 2017 according to Statistics Austria. The OECD produces annual estimates of R&D intensity to 
enable international comparisons. This was 3.17% in 2018. Meanwhile, Statistics Austria also makes annual forecasts as part of its 
global estimate, which put R&D intensity at 3.19% for 2019 and at 3.18% following the estimate’s revision. Due to the COVID-19 
pandemic, it was not possible to prepare a global estimate for 2020.
23 See Schiefer (2020).
its GDP. There are four countries in all – these two 
plus Germany and Denmark – that spend more than 
3% of their GDP on R&D.
22
As had also been the case in previous years, 
Austria significantly increased R&D expenditure as a 
percentage of its GDP – back in 2011, it had been a 
mere 2.67%. Although the data for 2018 are still pro-
visional, the trend of the past few years shows that 
R&D in Austria is on the rise and that the country is 
currently one of the European leaders in terms of its 
R&D intensity.
Government funding for R&D via public spending 
by EU member states has flatlined for several years 
now and stood at some €99 billion in 2018.
23
Re-