Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

In the area of digitalisation
, the European 
Commission’s Digital Economy and Society Index 
(DESI) for 2019 places Austria
 
13th, 
midfield
among 
the EU-28. Austria is only slightly above the EU av-
erage, while the field is led by the Nordic countries 
of Finland and Sweden alongside the Netherlands 
and Denmark. With regard to its digital strengths, 
Austria fares relatively well in an international com-
parison particularly in terms of people’s digital 
skills, international e-commerce by small and medi-
um enterprises (SMEs) and the use of information 
and communication technologies. The European 

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Executive Summary
11
Commission’s E-Government Benchmark for 2019 
puts Austria 
in third place
for e-government
in 
Europe, behind Malta and Estonia. However, it 
could still do more in the areas of ultra-fast fixed 
broadband networks and companies’ use of big da-
ta and cloud services.
Austria in Horizon 2020
Participation in Horizon 2020, the eighth EU Frame-
work Programme for Research and Innovation, can 
be counted as a success for Austria. 
Total ap-
proved funding for Austria
amounts to 
€1.46 bil-
lion
. With a success rate of 18.2% in terms of par-
ticipations, Austria ranks significantly above the 
average success rate of 15.7% for Horizon 2020 
and is second only to Belgium (19.2%) amongst the 
member states of the European Union. The largest 
volume of funding for Austria was acquired under 
Pillar III, Societal Challenges. This amounted to 
€564.5 million, or 2.8% of the total for Europe. The 
largest budget share, in relative terms, was allocat-
ed under Pillar II, Industrial Leadership, with 3.3%.
All major types of institution contributed to this 
success. Austrian companies were able to obtain 
total funding worth €465.9 million over the pro-
gramme’s term (with a particular emphasis on the 
Industrial Leadership pillar). Overall, more than 
500 Austrian companies participated successfully 
in Horizon 2020, with funding concentrated on the 
largest successful companies (of which a few man-
aged to carry out no less than several dozen suc-
cessful funding projects).