Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

Motivation 2: optimise data, service and knowledge 
management
This underlying information is based on high-quality 
data records. In order to understand the geological 
subsoil and the atmospheric processes involved, 
these data have to cover a large enough area and be 
collected, interpreted and made available over long 
periods. This work would be nigh on impossible for 
university research departments to handle as the 
kind of research projects with which they are familiar 
have a limited time horizon and involve a high staff 
turnover. It is therefore important that government 
services (including the research institutions of the 
ministerial departments) are structured in such a way 
that they can tackle long-term topics with practical 
relevance on an on-going basis while also possessing 
scientific expertise that can be lent for research and 
practice at short notice.
Motivation 3: create the necessary institutional 
and legal framework for government services that 
are fit for the future
In providing this information and data, both institu-
tions need to keep pace with the state of the art, 
which is advancing at speed as a result of scientific 
progress and the opportunities afforded by modern 
digital technologies and their use. This requires staff-
ing and budget levels commensurate with the prob-
lem as well as a flexible structure. The current legal 
and institutional profile of the subordinate offices is 
well suited to performing long-term data gathering 
Fig. 1-37: The time lag between information being 
needed and made available following a disaster
Time
Facts & 
data
Area of the Global Disaster 
Alerting Coordination System
Need for information
Information 
available
Disaster
Source: Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research 
(BMBWF) (2019b).

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