Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

Fig. 1-29: Radar chart showing evaluated indicators compared with the EU-28 average
Patent intensity
Scientific articles
Scientific articles 
(engineering + computing)
Availability of ICT
Use of ICT
Online creativity
Degrees in tertiary studies
STEM & ICT
Social mobility
Economic complexity
Knowledge-intensive tasks
Inter-company collaboration
Cooperation with other companies
Cooperation with 
higher education institutions
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
AUT
Ø EU-28
Note: RTI indicators are marked in red, digitalisation indicators in blue and innovation capability indicators in grey.
Source: Graphic: iit. 

---

1. Current Trends
57
graphic illustrates the results explained above and 
highlights how Austria enjoys a relatively strong po-
sition compared with the EU average for many of the 
elements that make up its capability to innovate. 
Fig. 1-30 presents an analysis of the indicators 
from a different perspective, showing Austria’s score 
in relation to the highest score in the EU for each 
indicator. Instead of comparing Austria with the EU 
average, it indicates how far behind the European 
“champion” the country is. The graphic makes it clear 
that Austria is very close to the top spot, particularly 
in terms of social mobility and the percentage of its 
STEM and ICT graduates.
1.3 Austria and the EU Research, 
Technology and Innovation Policy
The achievements of Austrian institutions and re-
searchers within the current European RTI Frame-
work Programme, Horizon 2020, are outlined in Sec-
tion 1.3.1. Austria’s participation in the RTI Framework 
Programmes is a long story of success that has been 
continued in Horizon 2020. Now, as the end of the 
current, eighth programme period approaches, the 
total amount of funding acquired through the various 
programme lines has reached almost €1.5 billion.
A report on the latest developments and structur-
al aspects of the next EU Framework Programme for 
Research, Horizon Europe, follows in Section 1.3.2. In 
comparison to Horizon 2020 there are some chang-
es, such as the establishment of the European Inno-
vation Council (EIC), the introduction of Missions, 
and the new format for partnerships, on which more 
detail is provided below.