Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

Table 3-1: Austrian universities’ AI publications and projects
University
Publications
(2016-2018)
EU projects 
(2007-2018)
FWF projects 
(2007-2018)
University of Vienna
125
7
5
University of Graz
40
7
2
University of Innsbruck
77
13
3
University of Salzburg
68
4
4
Johannes Kepler University Linz
124
13
7
University of Klagenfurt
59
1
1
Vienna University of Technology
243
28
18
Graz University of Technology
172
18
19
University of Leoben
7
2
2
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
3
2
0
University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna
5
0
0
Vienna University of Economics and Business
11
1
0
Danube University Krems
10
0
0
Medical University of Vienna
116
5
1
Medical University of Graz
43
2
0
Medical University of Innsbruck
24
3
2
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
0
0
0
University of Applied Arts Vienna
0
0
1
University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
0
0
0
Mozarteum University Salzburg
0
0
0
University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
0
0
0
University of Art and Design Linz
2
1
0
Source: Heller-Schuh et al. (2019).

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3. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
167
employing AI methods in retinal research to improve 
the diagnosis of diseases affecting the human eye.
155
To further improve Austria’s research performance 
in the AI field, the topic of AI has also already been 
anchored for various projects in the performance 
agreements concluded between the universities and 
the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Re-
search (BMBWF) for 2019–2021. Whilst these perfor-
mance agreements focus on the brief period from 
2019 to 2021, the development plans for 2019–2024 
have a longer planning horizon, meaning that, in 
some cases, much more extensive measures are be-
ing lined up for AI as an area of future thinking. Ex-
amples include:
• University of Vienna: new momentum is being in-
jected into the field of machine/deep learning 
through the university’s collaboration with the 
Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelli-
gence (OFAI).
• University of Graz: the Business Analytics and Da-
ta Science-Center (BANDAS), which is currently 
being set up, is using big data analysis and ma-
chine learning to study societal and economic is-
sues from an interdisciplinary and application-spe-
cific perspective.
• Medical University of Vienna: research activities in 
the field of digital medicine, including machine 
learning, data mining, bioinformatics, etc. are be-
ing expanded by setting up new professorships.
• Vienna University of Technology: the new Vienna 
Center for Technology and Society is conducting 
research into topics such as automated deci-
sion-making and artificial intelligence.
• University of Leoben: research into implementing 
smart logistics is being undertaken using the tech-
nologies of automation, sensor systems and cyber- 
physical systems. The creation of a professorship 
for cyber-physical systems (CPS) is placing em-
phasis on automated or automation-supported 
155 See Heller-Schuh et al. (2019).
156 See 
https://claire-ai.org/?lang=de
 
157 See 
https://ellis.eu/
 
158 See uniko (2019). 
control, monitoring and fault detection for ma-
chinery and components.
• University of Art and Design Linz: the Creative Ro-
botics robot laboratory provides a research infra-
structure that creates a space for unconventional, 
innovative research at the interface between the 
digital and physical worlds.
In their role as key drivers of AI research, the Austri-
an universities have produced a joint position paper 
that contains the following tangible measures for 
promoting and further developing AI: International 
networking, especially involving the two European 
initiatives the Confederation of Laboratories for Arti-
ficial Intelligence Research in Europe (CLAIRE)
156
and 
the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent 
Systems (ELLIS),
157
which aim to strengthen academ-
ic research and its transfer to industrial areas of ap-
plication, is to be supported both intellectually and 
financially in Austria. A national AI network for coop-
erative research and for developing and exchanging 
joint teaching programmes also needs to be estab-
lished in Austria, with the various institutions to work 
together in a targeted way, both within and across 
disciplines, to leverage synergy effects. To be able to 
compete in AI research, especially with private re-
search institutions and multinational IT corporations, 
Austria will need a better infrastructural framework. 
For instance, Universities Austria (uniko) recom-
mends setting up a shared cloud infrastructure for 
research data or a GPU cluster (computer cluster) in 
order to increase universities’ processing capacities. 
These efforts could build on the Vienna Scientific 
Cluster (VSC) or the European Open Science Cloud 
(EOSC), for instance.
158
Many of these proposals have recently been im-
plemented, resulting in two Austrian research insti-
tutions – the Johannes Kepler University Linz and 
the Institute of Science and Technology Austria 
(IST Austria) – being chosen at European level as 

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