Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

Current priorities for ACR and outlook
To raise its profile as a service provider and further 
develop its range of services for SMEs on an on-go-
ing basis, the Austrian Cooperative Research (ACR) 
network is pooling its RDI expertise in interdisciplin-
ary, strategically aligned RDI priorities formed by 
clustering its institutes’ core areas of expertise. The 
RDI priorities are to be understood as cross-industry, 
cross-cutting themes headed by the relevant staff 
responsible at different Austrian Cooperative Re-
search (ACR) institutes. Current 
RDI priorities
in-
clude:
101
• sustainable building
• environmental technology and renewable energy
• products, processes and materials
• food quality and safety
• innovation and competitiveness
• digitalisation.

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1. Current Trends
87
Companies, and particularly SMEs, are seeing their 
environment being transformed constantly and at an 
ever faster pace as a result of digitalisation. It is 
opening up many new paths to innovation, acting as 
an important driver and increasingly becoming an in-
tegral part of RDI projects. Austrian Cooperative Re-
search (ACR) institutes are also increasingly support-
ing SMEs on their journey into the digital age and are 
converting the potential offered by digital change 
into tangible applications for the direct benefit of 
SMEs and their customers. The following two proj-
ects exemplify the ’s digitalisation activities of Aus-
trian Cooperative Research (ACR):
n
A virtual glimpse inside materials and components
As well as being a proven tool in medicine, X-ray 
computer tomography (CT) is also becoming increas-
ingly widespread in industry, such as when perform-
ing quality assurance on cast parts. It permits a 
glimpse “inside” and thus opens up new possibilities 
in materials research, component development and 
process optimisation. A research project conducted 
at the Austrian Foundry Research Institute (Österre-
ichisches Gießerei-Institut – ÖGI) enabled CT data 
to be experienced in virtual reality for the first time. 
In other words, users put on data glasses to get a 
true 3D representation of the interior of an object 
they are studying. If necessary, they can magnify this 
view to such an extent that they can even enter the 
object and walk around inside their virtual space. 
Borrowed from the gaming industry, the technology 
offers genuine added value in terms of representa-
tion and understanding for the evaluation of 3D data, 
while interactions between users for the purpose of 
conducting advanced analysis within the 3D space 
are also conceivable and feasible.
n
Smart City Sensing 
At present, most methods for simulating an urban cli-
mate or individual buildings are based on macroscop-
ic data, which are taken either from satellites (or 
high-altitude aircraft) or from an imprecise network of 
102 See 
https://www.aee-intec.at/smacise-intelligente-stadtvermessung-n-thermografisches-screening-von-gebaeud-
en-und-luftqualitaet-im-staedtischen-massstab-p230
103 See Austrian Cooperative Research (ACR) (2019b).
fixed measuring stations. New kinds of sensor heads 
for airships, drones and pilotless aircraft enable tem-
perature and air quality to be measured comprehen-
sively and precisely in urban areas and low-altitude 
aerial photographs to be taken with an unprecedent-
ed level of data quality. Together with Austrian and 
Chinese project partners, the Austrian Cooperative 
Research (ACR) institute AEE INTEC has studied how 
these data can be efficiently processed, analysed, 
evaluated and integrated into 3D microclimate and 
air quality models in an international project funded 
by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). 
The investigations are focusing on urban heat island 
effects and the small-scale recording of pollutant 
concentrations. This allows potential sources of pollu-
tion, interdependencies and improvement measures 
to be identified and assessed and the information 
made available to planners and decision-makers by 
being linked to a 3D model of the town or city.
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Experience from previous funding periods and cur-
rent economic and societal challenges facing Austri-
an industry and SMEs in particular, such as those 
caused by digitalisation, have influenced Austrian 
Cooperative Research (ACR)’s strategic orientation 
for the next few years (2020–2023). As members of 
the same Austrian Cooperative Research (ACR) net-
work, the individual institutions are all pursuing the 
same