Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

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Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020
3. Performance and financing agreements 
The ministerial departments responsible for RTI then 
conclude three-year performance and financing 
agreements with the central research and research 
funding institutions based on the RTI Pact. By secur-
ing resources in this way, the FoFinaG provides the 
necessary planning certainty for Austria as a centre 
for RTI while also enabling new priorities to be re-
sponded to via a flexible (annual) implementation 
plan. In addition, the performance and financing 
agreements enable responsibilities to be shared out 
in a nuanced manner between the federal ministries 
and the central research and research funding insti-
tutions. Close coordination within the federal gov-
ernment ensures that RTI matters are structured 
more efficiently, reducing the administrative outlay 
required.
4. Funding
If Austria is to be strengthened as a leading country 
for research, it will need to be able to plan its alloca-
tion of resources over the long term on top of having 
an efficient framework. The new act thus stipulates 
that each of the budgetary sub-divisions relevant to 
non-university research and research funding are to 
be fixed for three years and can no longer be reduced. 
5. Monitoring and evaluation
To ensure that the focus remains squarely on out-
comes and impacts, performance and financing 
agreements are to be covered by a consistent, im-
pact-oriented monitoring and evaluation system and 
the corresponding results are to be published in the 
Austrian Research and Technology Report, which is 
enshrined in law. 
1.4.2 The RTI strategy and other strategic 
initiatives
With the RTI Strategy 2020 approaching the end of 
its term, the process for drawing up a new RTI strat-
egy has already begun. The following provides an 
overview of the events to date.
• Presentation of the OECD Review of Innovation 
Policy: Austria 2018 on 14 December 2018 at the 
Europe conference of the Federal Ministry of Edu-
cation, Science and Research (BMBWF). The re-
view provided key input for formulating the new 
RTI strategy.
• Austrian government resolution 25/63 in August 
2018 on “The action plan for the future of research, 
technology and innovation”. This government res-
olution and the new government programme for 
2020–2024 form the basis for devising a new RTI 
strategy; the high-level Research, Technology and 
Innovation Task Force (RTI Task Force, led by the 
Federal Chancellery (BKA) and featuring represen-
tatives from four federal ministries – the Federal 
Ministry of Finance (BMF), Federal Ministry of Ed-
ucation, Science and Research (BMBWF), Federal 
Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, 
Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK), and 
Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs 
(BMDW)) has been tasked with preparing the RTI 
Strategy for 2030.
• To draft the RTI strategy, the RTI Task Force has 
set up a drafting group involving these ministries 
as well as five working groups (WGs):
– WG 1: Research Infrastructure;
– WG 2: Human Resources;
– WG 3: Internationalisation;
– WG 4: EU Missions and EU Partnerships;
– WG 5: Applied Research and its Impact on the 
Economy and Society.
The RTI strategy is also incorporating the Research 
Funding Act and the excellence initiative. The pro-
cess for determining an RTI strategy is concentrating