Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

expenditure on research and develop-
ment (R&D) in Austria amounted to €12.69 bil-
lion
, 4.8% above the figure of 2018 (€12.11 billion). 
Estimated research intensity
(percentage of 
gross domestic expenditure on research and devel-
opment relative to gross domestic product) was 
3.18%
according to the revised global estimate for 
2019, which constitutes a slight increase over 2018 
(3.14%). This is the 
sixth time in a row that Austria 
has exceeded the European target value of 3%
. 
The federal government spent about €3.12 bil-
lion on R&D in 2019
, around 
a quarter (24.6%)
of 
all R&D conducted in Austria. In the same year, the 
regional governments
contributed approximately 
€0.55 billion (4.3%)
in R&D funding, putting total 
public-sector R&D expenditure at €3.66 billion. 
Austrian companies
provided 
€6.04 billion, or al-
most half (47.6%) of all R&D funding.
This is 
slightly less than previous years in percentage 
terms (2018: 48.0%; 2017: 49.0%). 
€2.02 billion 
(15.9%)
of R&D funding 
came from abroad
and 
mainly comprised R&D funded by foreign compa-
nies on behalf of their Austrian subsidiaries as well 
as return flows from the EU’s research programmes. 
The 
research premium
contributed 
€758.0 million
in 2019, some 6% of R&D expenditure. Other public 
funding and the private non-profit sector played 
only a relatively minor role in 2019 with a combined 
total of 1.6%.
R&D survey 2017
According to Statistics Austria’s 2017 R&D survey, 
€11.29 billion was invested in R&D
. R&D expendi-
ture had thus