Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

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Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020
EU project in around 15% of cases and approximate-
ly 20% of cases result in direct follow-up orders 
from companies. 
In terms of the impact of the projects within the 
sphere of the scientific community, the evidence 
shows that 2.4 theses are produced on average for 
each funded project, and the additional financial re-
sources allow scientific staff to continue working at 
the research institutes in around 55% of the projects. 
For each project, around 3.6 articles are published in 
scientific journals together with the project partners, 
and another 3.8 articles are published by the re-
search institution alone. The transfer of research re-
sults is advanced further through additional activi-
ties within the scope of conferences, specialist 
events, articles in industry journals and through so-
cial media. The findings from around two thirds of 
the projects can also be used in other applications, 
thereby resulting in knowledge and technology spill-
overs. 
Cooperation, contacts and networking also con-
tribute to the transfer of knowledge among compa-
nies. New contacts were established in 80% of the 
funded projects. Universities are traditionally the 
most important partners for companies: 83% of these 
companies made new contacts with Austrian univer-
sities and 58% with international ones. Universities 
of applied sciences are more relevant in a national 
context, while non-university research institutes also 
play a role at the international level. Interestingly, 
small enterprises have the highest proportion of con-
tacts with international research institutions. Small 
companies are also highly active in terms of contacts 
with other companies, particularly along the val-
ue-added chain (customers and suppliers), with this 
being an indicator of the important role that compa-
nies have along the value chain for R&D activities.
Conclusion
The monitoring of the research funding provided by 
the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) de-
207 See Nindl and Kaufmann (2018).
velops on an on-going basis, reflecting the changes 
to the funding environment and addressing topics 
that are politically, economically and socially rele-
vant. At the same time, new scientific trends and 
best practices must be taken into account in terms of 
survey methods and the preparation of question-
naires, in order to make clear statements that are as 
representative as possible on the impact of the inter-
ventions. Statements on medium to longer-term de-
velopments in the portfolio are of particular interest 
here, along with specific statements on individual 
programmes on a case-by-case basis. Some state-
ments can also be made regarding the structural 
change in the Austrian research-related industry.
207
Further development of the impact monitoring of 
funding provided by the Austrian Research Promo-
tion Agency (FFG) should include a precise and struc-
tured record of the content at the most suitable 
points (project applications, application evaluations, 
final project reports, impact monitoring), and this 
could increase the depth of future analyses even fur-
ther by combining these sources of information.