Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

170
Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020
Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Tech-
nology (BMVIT) – now the Federal Ministry for Cli-
mate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innova-
tion and Technology (BMK) – analysed various data 
sources to identify some 600 companies in Austria 
that are involved in AI issues. This means that only a 
relatively small proportion of companies in the coun-
try overall (at least to the extent that can be verified 
based on available data sources) are active in the AI 
field. 
The largest group (around one third) of these com-
panies are software developers and users of (propri-
etary) solutions as well as providers of relevant data 
processing solutions (ranging from business intelli-
gence to imaging analysis in the medical industry), 
often in combination with consulting services. Man-
agement and market consultants, most of whom de-
velop their own software and use it to analyse corpo-
rate data, stock market prices, etc., are also particu-
larly significant, making up around a quarter of all 
companies identified as engaging in AI activities. In 
some cases, analysing these companies’ customer 
profiles reveals that they specialise in areas of 
strength for Austria such as automotive and mechan-
ical engineering. Companies from the following eco-
nomic sectors are also relevant to Austrian AI activi-
ties: R&D (4% of companies identified), financial and 
insurance services (also 4%), telecommunications 
(2%), manufacturing (mechanical engineering, plant 
engineering, automotive engineering, electrical equip-
ment, computers, pharmaceutical products, sensors, 
etc.). Taken together, this last category accounts for 
around 28% of the companies identified as undertak-
ing AI activities, with the most common segments 
being computer manufacturing (around 7% of all AI 
companies) and mechanical engineering (4%).
The greatest concentration of AI companies (i.e. 
percentage share of all companies in the relevant 
economic sector) can be found in the pharmaceuti-
cal products manufacturing segment (20%), oil pro-
164 See Schaper-Rinkel et al. (2019), Prem and Ruhland (2019).
165 See Seifert et al. (2018).
166 See Accenture (2019).
cessing (20%), insurance (8%) and the manufacture 
of computers, electronic appliances and optical 
products (4%). However, the first three of these sec-
tors are much smaller in terms of the number of 
companies.
AI is a technology with the potential to find a use 
in all sectors of the economy and all departments of 
a company. As there are always question marks over 
how fast innovation in the technology will progress, 
the question of which precise niches and highly prom-
ising areas of application AI will occupy in future is 
not that easy to answer. Nevertheless, there are some 
clues in terms of subject areas and potential uses: 
amongst others, these will be applications that [Aus-
trian] firms are already developing and/or have al-
ready launched or, as the case may be, various areas 
in which growing potential for AI has been identified 
and that also hint at possible future applications.
164
A German study analysing the extent to which AI 
could accelerate annual growth in gross value added 
in selected economic sub-sectors identified manu-
facturing as offering the most potential, followed by 
agriculture and various services segments (financial 
and insurance services, wholesale and retail, etc.). 
Potential was regarded as relatively low in health 
and social care, building and the education sector.
165
This finding very closely matches those made by 
Prem and Ruhland (2019) for Austria, in which, 
amongst other things, construction and healthcare 
were also cited as sectors using no or only a few AI 
applications. A further study, which considered the 
potential impact of AI on economic sub-sectors in 
Austria, highlighted those of goods manufacturing, 
professional/technical services and wholesale/retail 
as being capable of making a particularly strong con-
tribution to Austria’s future economic clout in 2035 
thanks to AI.
166
The main motivation for companies in Austria to 
use and/or develop AI for innovative products and 
services lies above all in automating and optimising 

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