Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

1. Current Trends
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lent Science” pillar are significantly below the aver-
ages for Austria under Horizon 2020, which stand at 
2.8%, 2.9% and 2.6% respectively.
Austrian companies played a significant role in the 
country’s success in Horizon 2020, making up 37.6% 
of all participating Austrian institutions; almost two 
thirds of these are small and medium-sized enter-
prises. Looking at the total amounts of funding ac-
quired, it is evident that the majority of funding is 
awarded to a comparatively small number of highly 
successful companies. Overall, more than 60% of the 
funding secured was allocated to the top 10 compa-
nies. The most successful Austrian company is in-
volved in 71 projects. Overall, more than 500 Austri-
an companies participated successfully in the Hori-
zon 2020 programme.
In addition to the enterprise sector, it is primarily 
higher education institutions and non-university re-
search institutions that are the most significant con-
tributors to Austria’s successes in Horizon 2020. The 
universities acquired €518.0 million in funding (pre-
dominantly in the “Excellent Science” pillar, followed 
by “Societal Challenges”), while the non-university 
research institutions were allocated €358.1 million 
(amongst which the “Societal Challenges” pillar was 
the most significant). The success rates for participa-
tion in Horizon 2020 are also above the relevant Eu-
ropean averages both for universities/higher educa-
tion institutions and for non-university research insti-
tutions. The universities/higher education institutions 
enjoyed a success rate of 14.4% (compared with the 
corresponding EU average of 13.6%) and the non-uni-
versity research institutions one of 20.0% (as against 
18.8%).
The next EU Framework Programme for Research, 
Horizon Europe, will continue the emphasis on indus-
trial R&D and solutions-oriented research and inno-
vation. To this end, Pillar III of Horizon Europe in-
cludes corresponding priorities such as the estab-
lishment of the European Innovation Council, with 
the programme lines “Pathfinder for Advanced Re-
search” and “Accelerator”, as well as an intervention 
to develop European innovation ecosystems.