Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

At 18.1%, the success 
rate of Austrian companies was well above aver-
age
(EU average: 14.2%), with Austrian companies 
even leading the country comparison.
Besides companies, however, the universities/
higher education institutions and non-university re-
search institutions were the most significant con-
tributors to Austria’s successes in Horizon 2020. 
The universities acquired €518.0 million in funding 
(predominantly in the Excellent Science pillar, 
followed by Societal Challenges), while the non- 
university research institutions were allocated 
€358.1 million (chiefly for the Societal Challenges 
pillar). The 
success rates for participation in 
 
Horizon 2020
 are also above the relevant Europe-
an averages both for universities/higher educa-
tion institutions and for non-university research 
institutions.
The universities/higher education in-
stitutions enjoyed a success rate of 14.4% (com-
pared with the corresponding EU average of 13.6%) 
and the non-university research institutions one of 
20.0% (as against 18.8%).
Key players in research funding and non-
university research 
When the 
Research Funding Act (FoFinaG) is 
passed
, it will fundamentally change the 
circum-
stances surrounding the central research and re-
search funding institutions
. As well as providing 
planning security for three years, the amendment 
and the subsequent Research Funding Act are in-
tended to strengthen the strategic steering and 
monitoring responsibility of the federal ministries 
involved while giving the research and research 
funding institutions more flexibility in their day-to-
day activities. For this reason, for the first time the 
Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020 is 
presenting the ten key players in research funding 
and non-university research in a monitoring sec-
tion. The ten players are:
• Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH (AIT)
• Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST 
Austria)
• Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW)
• Silicon Austria Labs GmbH (SAL)
• Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH (aws)
• Christian Doppler Research Association (CDG)
• Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
• OeAD-GmbH (OeAD)
• Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)
• Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft (LBG).
They are each showcased with a general profile and 
selected indicators devised in collaboration with 
the competent federal ministries. The report also 
looks ahead to future developments.

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