Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

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Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020
Sciences Villach, the Graz University of Technology and the Johannes Kepler University Linz, employees of 
SAL are already collaborating with the universities to research a variety of technologies. These Uni-SAL 
Labs establish the scientific foundation for subsequent application-oriented research carried out in coop-
erative projects with industry partners. 
In the Linz, Graz, Villach research triangle and through cooperation with (inter)national partners from 
science and industry, Silicon Austria Labs (SAL) is raising Austria’s profile in the field of electronics-based 
systems. By 2023, the staffing at all three locations should be increased to a total of 360 employees and 
roughly €23 million will be invested in systems and laboratory equipment. 
2.5 Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws)
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2.5.1 Profile and key figures 
As the federal promotional bank and central point of contact for the promotion of entrepreneurial growth 
and innovation, the Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) is charged with meeting the challenge of keeping 
pace with entrepreneurial trends, staying attentive to change and innovating within its own services and 
offerings. To fulfil this duty in the best possible way and actively contribute to strengthening Austria’s 
competitiveness on the international stage, the Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) regularly defines its stra-
tegic orientation. The strategic focal points of digitalisation, innovative transformation, scalable new en-
terprises, sustainable growth and internationalisation reflect the current environment, circumstances and 
future challenges. 
Making access to the services of the Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) as simple and efficient as possi-
ble for companies is a key goal for the coming years, as laid out in the ninth multiannual programme for 
2020–2022. The programme structure of the Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) has been simplified, and the 
most relevant programmes that directly address companies have been merged from 44 down to 18. 18 
special programmes are additionally directed at specific target groups such as universities and incubators. 
This new structure is intended to considerably improve the transparency for companies, make the most 
commonly used offerings more visible and put customer needs in the foreground. 
The relaunch of the website of the Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) reveals a clear, comprehensible 
programme architecture for customers with four clusters. At the same time, the contents of the offer are 
not restricted by this. The “Developing ideas” cluster contains all programmes focussed on the pre-forma-
tion phase – with the goal of strengthening entrepreneurship as a career option in Austria. In the “Setting 
up a business” cluster, the Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) supports new enterprises with loans, guaran-
tees, equity, grants and coaching. Established firms are supported by the “Sustainable expansion” cluster 
in developing new products and production methods, scaling business models and internationalising tech-
nologies. With the “Connecting services” cluster, the Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) acts as a neutral 
intermediary to offer companies a number of networking services where solutions may be lacking on the 
market.
Measures have also been taken to reduce the complexity of the processes for monitoring and con-
trolling the activities of the Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws), and the system has been focussed on three 
impact goals. Alongside the assessment of economic effects gained from the monitoring indicators, the 
118 Performance figures for 2019 are provisional, pending submission of the performance report to the Supervisory Board of 
the Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) (26 March 2020).

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