World Champion Austria 2024

2024 WORLD CHAMPION AUSTRIA – The yearbook on the business location

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World Champion Austria T HE Y E AR B OOK ON T HE B USINE S S L O CAT IO N

2024

FOCUS

Interviews with leading CEOs

Impressive start-ups

Influential economic experts

A glimpse into Austria’s top companies

Austria’s founders on their formulas for success

How Austria withstands crises

Wir brauchen immer mehr grünen Strom.

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Wir alle leisten einen Beitrag zur Energiewende, indem wir fossile Brennstoffe durch grünen Strom ersetzen. Deswegen investieren wir bei VERBUND in die Erzeugung und Verteilung von immer mehr grünem Strom. Denn es ist wichtig, dass er überall bereitsteht, wo er gebraucht wird. Gemeinsam sind wir die Kraft der Wende.

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VERBUND erzeugt mehr und mehr davon – für alle.

World Champion Austria

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Preface

Dear Reader,

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“World Champion Austria 2024 – The Yearbook on the Business Location” is also available in German.

Sabine Bretschneider Editor-in-Chief

© medianet

hings are still not quite up to speed again: After record inflation and the upheavals caused by the Ukraine war, Austria remains in a state of economic fatigue. Austria’s economy shrank in the second quarter of 2023. For the third quarter, early indicators pointed to a further GDP decline at the beginning of September. However, according to forecasts, Austria as a business location should overcome this kink as early as next year and return to a path of growth. Austria’s exports rose surprisingly strongly in the first half of 2023, reaching a value of more than 100 billion euros for the first time. At the same time, imports fell compared to the same period last year. The usual deficit in the trade balance was reduced by almost six billion euros. In figures: The value of exports rose by 5.9 percent to 102.17 billion euros in the first half of 2023, while imports fell by 0.2 percent to 105.59 billion euros.

Away from the economic data, the economic world has been spinning faster for several years: The Digital Decade (© EU Commission) is claiming its victims, but at the same time it is also opening up completely new worlds for small countries and medium-sized enterprises. “We must succeed in ensuring that our humanistic, humane, European values remain valid in the digital world,” warns Georg Krause, CEO of the digitisation specialist msg Plaut. “The digital world must not tip in a direction where these values no longer have any meaning, and we end up in a Wild West scenario.” (Read more in our interview with Georg Krause.)

It will be essential that solid economic expertise, entrepreneurial courage and resilience continue to be brought into the spotlight!

Vienna UP’24 The Startup Festival.

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3.6. – 9.6.

2024

From Technology to Beyond.

From Now to Future.

From Vienna to Global.

viennaUP.com

World Champion Austria

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Foreword by Minister Martin Kocher

Austria’s central location in Europe is a key factor for our country as a business location. This strategic position has helped us play an important role in the export of goods and services to Western, Central and Eastern Europe.

However, geopolitical conflicts, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine and the resulting consequences, lead to economic uncertainties. Therefore, it is now particularly important to continue to support Austrian exporters in their internationalisation efforts in the best possible way. Through our internationalisation programme “Go International”, business delegations to future markets and joint international business commissions, we support companies in opening up new markets and expanding existing business relations.

For a smaller, export-oriented country like Austria, it is also of great importance that the European Union pursues an active trade policy. This involves in particular dismantling existing trade restrictions and avoiding trade conflicts.

In addition, Austrian companies and especially SMEs need support, for example in the green and the digital transformation, to remain internationally competitive. Against this backdrop, the Austrian government has launched the Climate and Transformation Offensive, which will provide 5.7 billion euros by 2030.

The transformation to a sustainable, digitised and future-oriented economy requires a corresponding adaptation of the world of work so that we keep having all the skilled workers that we need. The promotion of our Skills Cheques is only one of numerous measures to strengthen the competitiveness and resilience of Austrian companies. The Climate and Transformation Offensive also supports, among other things, transformative business projects – i.e. the development of products – which contribute significantly to making the Austrian economy more sustainable, crisis-proof and independent.

Our goal is to sustainably strengthen Austria as a business location and the domestic labour market.

Martin Kocher Federal Minister of Labour and Economy

© BMAW/Holey

Dear reader,

Discover aspern Seestadt.

Where international business meets quality of life, innovative strength and pioneering spirit.

The Smart City with Viennese charm.

A business hub with heart and mind.

www.aspern-seestadt.at

High tech Production

craftsmanship innovation

World Champion Austria At a glance

At a glance Austria 12

20

66

70

74

38

80

84

Visual computing among the world’s best

Lower Austria 90

The latest technology in the field of visual computing – and walking on Mars.

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Digital humanism in the fast-paced world of AI

State-of-the-art biotechnology from Biomay Programmable bacteria and genetic scissors create the basis for Covid vaccines and individual cancer therapies.

56

The story behind Deepassist How an artificial intelligence from Vienna became a global top 5 product.

Plans for the future Maintaining the attractiveness of the business location and strengthening the competitiveness of companies.

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Georg Krause, CEO of IT service provider msg Plaut, on the imperative of digitisation with people at its centre.

52

Office furniture to make you feel good Office furniture from Neudoerfler is not only found in offices, but also in schools and universities.

A perfect example of a new urban district A magnet for new research institutions and companies – Seestadt Aspern.

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Furniture that is even on display in museums Series-produced furniture and individual designs are the secret of success for Braun Lockenhaus.

Vienna has a lot to offer The Vienna Business Agency makes the city a great location for start-ups and established companies.

40

Burgenland

A think-tank for Austria’s economy The Senate of the Economy wants to be a driving force in shaping the (economic) future.

Extremophiles replace syringes From the Vienna University of Technology to a biotech start-up that could revolutionise medicine: NovoArc.

Vienna 34

A trailblazer in IT The Huemer Group is one of the most important providers of data centres, innovative IT solutions and IT consulting.

“What could be better?”

Astrid Steharnig-Staudinger heads the Austrian National Tourist Office and is in charge of promoting tourism.

Europe’s leading rail logistics Rail Cargo Austria: Transport companies in 13 European countries move 88.4 million net tonnes of cargo every day.

The danger of losing out on technologies Maximilian Scherr, strategy consultant and partner at Arthur D. Little, issues a warning.

Artificial intelligence and digitisation in hospitals The Order of the Brothers Hospitallers operates a wide variety of medical facilities with state-of-the-art technology.

Of secret winners and famous champions A compendium of domestic success stories told in exclusive interviews.

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Everyone is a VIP at the airport Services used by stars and state guests are available to everyone in the new VIP Terminal at Vienna Airport.

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Children’s bikes from Klosterneuburg go global On peak days, up to 1,000 children’s bicycles are ordered from Woom, helped by IT solutions from Microsoft.

102 Tractors for farmers all over the world Low fuel consumption, great efficiency and a high degree of automation make Steyr and Case IH machines top sellers.

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104 These skylight domes are everywhere Sadler-Lichtkuppeln relies on self-generated, green electricity in its production of skylight domes.

Styria 112 Cooperation as secret of success No other province sees as many investments into universities and research as Styria.

116 A jack-of-all-trades: from PCR analysis to razors The Payer Group is an international player – from medical products to consumer healthcare.

120 Going big with tool management solutions Do not buy tools, only pay for each use: The concept of TCM International Tool Consulting & Management.

150 Austria’s secret hotspot for IT and creatives Away from the Mozart image, Salzburg has developed into a tech location with the help of Innovation Salzburg.

154 Innovative photovoltaic systems for Europe Alumero: from substructures for solar systems and carport roofing to mobile solar power plants.

160 Denios: the specialists Keep the environment clean: Hazardous substances are best stored in products from Denios.

164 Making the visions of start-ups come true In Radstadt, the Make Visions Group makes it possible for great ideas to bear fruit.

168 A unicorn from Austria Machines worldwide use software from Copa-Data.

124 Premium windows from Styria for the world Windows and doors made of sustainable materials and not manufactured on an assembly line: Kapo Windows.

Upper Austria 130 Innovative capacity and the courage to change Plastic packaging materials, foam for mattresses and medical products brought Greiner to the top.

134 Electrification at the leading fire equipment supplier Electrification has reached heavy vehicles: Rosenbauers „Revolutionary Technology“.

Carinthia 140 Silicon Alps: Chips make the world go round The tech cluster is driving world market leadership in electronics.

Salzburg

Tyrol 174 Feratel: „Window to the World“ From weather cameras on TV to marketing, advertising and logistics – Feratel conquered the market with completely new concepts.

178 The most efficient heat pump comes from Tyrol Two young engineers are shaking up the scene and construct their own heat pumps of the latest generation.

Vorarlberg 184 From Vietnam to Florida: ropeways from Vorarlberg The transport solutions of the future are being created in Feldkirch, as ropeways are increasingly conquering urban areas and not only mountains.

Sonstiges 192 Austria’s most important funding agencies

146 Setting the stage for Salzburg’s tourist magnet The Salzburg Festival is looking into a bright future and is already planning up to 2032.

Contacts for business settlements and support in Austria’s provinces.

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Imprint

Imprint PUBLISHER Germanos Athanasiadis EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Sabine Bretschneider PROJECT DIRECTOR Erich Danneberg GRAPHIC CONCEPT Grafik medianet WRITER Alexander Haide PICTURES see embedded picture credits MEDIA OWNER MN Anzeigenservice GmbH, 1110 Vienna, Brehmstraße 10/OG 4, Tel. +43/1/919 20-0, Fax +43/1/298 20-2231, medianet.at

ADVERTISMENTS Thomas Parger, Michael Stein ADVERTORIALS Alexander Haide PROOFREADING Christoph Strolz MARKETING & SALES Alexandra Otto PRINTER Druckerei Bösmüller Gesellschaft mbH, Josef-Sandhofer-Straße 3, 2000 Stockerau, Austria

ISBN 978-3-903254-66-4 SALES PRICE 27,50 Euro SALES Buchbote, Tuersgasse 21, 1130 Vienna, Austria MAIL ORDER HOTLINE www.medianet.at or Tel.: +43/1/919 20-2115 or Fax: +43/1/298 20-2231 COPYRIGHT © 2023 by MN Anzeigenservice GmbH. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including translating, photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

The author Alexander Haide, born in 1968, has worked for Wienerin, Wiener, ORF (Radio NÖ, Ö3, Blue Danube Radio, Zeit im Bild foreign desk), Standard, Kronen Zeitung, Kurier Freizeit, Wien1 TV (presenter) and Styria, among others.

With more than three decades of professional experience, Alexander Haide has contributed to or written for countless Austrian media outlets. For ten years he headed the pop music desk of Kronen Zeitung and interviewed the world’s biggest stars, from Prince to Paul McCartney, through to Mick Jagger and Madonna.

He also rummaged through Egyptian tombs and the cellars of the Habsburgs in Vienna for his research. Haide was the first journalist in Austria to experience weightlessness during a parabolic flight aboard a Russian military plane. Contributions to international magazines – including Marie Claire, Blick, Sky Magazine, Vox Magazine and Time – round off his career to date. Haide has published several books, including a non-fiction book about the “Schirach Bunker”, several cookbooks with recipes by famous musicians and the crime novel “Tot im Tor”.

In 2003, Haide founded the “Walk of Stars”, where celebrities leave the imprints of their hands and feet. After more than ten years at Gasometer, the imprints are currently on display in a museum in Vienna’s Prater.

Since January 2022, Alexander Haide has also been a freelance writer for Medianet and Die Presse, and is the author of “World Champion Austria – the Yearbook on the Business Location” 2023 and 2024.

World Champion Austria Editorial

Of secret winners and famous champions A lot is happening in Austria as a business location: A yearbook full of domestic success stories told in exclusive interviews.

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ising interest rates, inflation and anti-taxation packages worth billions continue to shape the economic reality. According to the latest figures from Statistics Austria (as of September 2023), the domestic economy suffered more than expected in the second quarter of 2023. The gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 1.1 percent in real terms compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Nevertheless, and this is one of the good news, Austria’s economy is 3.2 percent above the pre-Covid levels. In addition, there is a downward trend in inflation. In foreign trade, Austria even shows an increase for January to May: Imports increased by 0.1 percent, exports by 6.2 percent. Compared to the pre-Covid levels, exports even increased by a remarkable 26.6 percent!

Austria’s foreign trade in billion euros 250

215.3

+20.6%

200

Imports

194.7

+17.6%

150

113.7 100

50

Exports

Balance –20.6

109.4

2010 ’11

’12

’13

’14

’15

’16

’17

’18

’19

’20

’21 ’22

Source: Statistik Austria

Nevertheless, the time of fair-weather managers is over for the time being. What is needed now are real leaders who come with constructive optimism, ability, integrity, resilience and innovative capacity. This book is dedicated to them.

The secret pioneers …

Hidden champions – these are economic pioneers and world market leaders who rarely appear in the media. And no, most of them are not located in Silicon Valley, but in Germany, Switzerland – and Austria. In Vienna, in Klosterneuburg, in Traiskirchen, near Eisenstadt, in Salzburg, in Kremsmünster or in Wolfurt.

Management mastermind Hermann Simon coined the term hidden champions for the top medium-sized companies in niche markets 30 years ago. Since then, many things have changed: “Direct investments are displacing exports, the flow of goods is increasingly giving way to digital services, sustainability offers opportunities but requires a rethink.”

How do the hidden champions, the secret world champions, deal with the “new normal”, with digitisation, artificial intelligence, structural changes, the gyroscope of economic change that is turning faster and faster? With skills shortages, economic crises, inflation and climate change, with a new world map that outlines Chinese dominance, with an unpredictability that is as unfamiliar as it is challenging? … and the internationally leading corporations Of course, for “World Champion Austria 2024 – The Yearbook on the Business Location” we not only asked the “hidden” champs for an in-depth interview, but also all those companies that are already in the spotlight, that are strong in exports, that have made a name for themselves around the globe – the world champions in their industries: From the Alumero Group in Salzburg, which is at the top in Europe with innovative photovoltaic systems, to Woom in

© Panthermedia.net/NASA

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Klosterneuburg, which has grown from a garage company into an international player and the largest children’s bicycle manufacturer in the world within ten years.

on the Business Location”. On the following 190 pages you will read exclusive interviews with 35 of the country’s most exciting decision-makers: Read how crisis management goes hand in hand with growth. In the interviews conducted for this yearbook, they talk about their very personal approach to Austria as a business location, about architecture, tourism, traditional crafts, humanism, biotech, artificial intelligence, R&D, skilled workers, digitisation, logistics, medicine, mobility, innovative strength, sustainability and measures against climate change.

Digitisation, AI and automation Economic uncertainty has been joined in recent years by the digital upheaval that is breaking all the traditional rules. And not only since the world discovered ChatGPT, artificial intelligence (AI) is – slowly but surely – making its way into almost all industries. Automation and data-based decisions by AI need new concepts and new From Vienna to Vorarlberg: A Guide structures.

The division of this yearbook on the business location into the nine “World Champion Austria” author Alexander Haide asked the federal provinces shows that the economic excaptains of the large exporters, the managing pertise in Austria is widely spread. Innovation directors of the long-standing medium-sized com“Economic uncerand creativity run like a leitmotif through the panies, the heads of the tech clusters, the foundtainty is being small and large enterprises between Lake Neusers and leaders. What are the future prospects of iedl and Lake Constance. the companies and which strategies, which new joined by digital In addition, we have not only researched the rulebook will bring them forward? disruption, which most exciting personalities and the most interestis breaking all the ing companies for you, but also the most imporInterviews with the best in their industries tant key figures and the central points of contact In this spirit, we have also continued the concept traditional rules.” for business settlements and subsidies. of “World Champion Austria 2023 – The Yearbook ◆

World Champion Austria Austria

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Austria Austria in figures Size Number of inhabitants Gross regional product per inhabitant* Disposable income of private households* Income per employee* Research ratio in % of the GDP Number of enterprises*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of employees*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of lodging establishments** Overnight stays**

83,883 km² 9,129,652 45,400 € 24,400 € 48,400 € 3.13 %

32,002 38,581 80,298 728,187 348,331 619,331 69,242 136,912,168 Source: Statistik Austria; *2021, **2022, ***2020

World Champion Austria Arthur D. Little

The danger of losing out on technologies Maximilian Scherr, strategy consultant and partner at Arthur D. Little, does not see the future of Austria as a business location through rose-tinted glasses.

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© Arthur D. Little

cience scepticism, oversleeping dramatic changes in the world, an energy supply that is no longer up to date – these are just a few of the points where Maximilian Scherr, partner at Arthur D. Little, the world’s oldest strategy consulting agency, sees need for action. A native of Graz, he leads ADL’s cross-sector Strategy, Organisation & Innovation Practice Group in Austria and is co-author of the global ADL CEO Insights. He sees a prosperous future for Austria as a business location at risk if fundamental changes are not introduced quickly.

Maximilian Scherr at one of his numerous lectures to experts.

If you believe the experts, Austria’s economic situation is not worrying. Do you agree with that?

Maximilian Scherr: No, I don’t. However, you have to differentiate.

Firstly, measured by purchasing power and especially the purchasing power of the top 80%, we are doing very, very well in Austria.

This is probably also the case with the purchasing power of the bottom twenty percent because we as a country, including the social institutions, have done many things right. Secondly, we are privileged: Our favourable geographic location, pleasant climate and rich culture allow us to be a successful tourism nation and bring money into the country; we have done this smartly. In addition, we have many companies, especially successful small and medium-sized enterprises, and overall, we have achieved a level of prosperity that allows us to have good universities and a very good apprenticeship system. We thus have many of the ingredients that help us to be successful. At the same time, I see the danger that Austria is losing out on key technologies, both in research and in application. Austria is one of the most science-sceptical countries and we need to find out why. There are good researchers, and they also stay in the country, but we should not rely on that. One example is the computer scientist Sepp Hochreiter, a German-born AI luminary who conducts research at the University of Linz, and who is convinced that he has a better language model than Open AI/ Chat GPT but is not funded accordingly. Other European countries provide much more funding, and we should not underestimate the Middle East. I was recently in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai and Saudi Arabia, among other places. In these countries, completely different amounts of money are invested in technology. We are lagging behind significantly.

Consequently, there are fewer opportunities to study and grow in such fields. Science and applied technology need an eco-system around them. Like in Silicon Valley. There was nothing there for a long time until investments, especially by pension funds, in venture

© APA-Fotoservice/Pichler

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Maximilian Scherr (far right) with Alexander Schallenberg and former Mossad boss Efraim Halevy (2nd from right), among others.

capital were made possible. We don’t have this venture capital to the same extent. Besides the scepticism about technology and research, this is also an issue of the pension system.

Where do you see the greatest threat to the future of Austria as a business location?

Scherr: I rather wonder where the greatest leverage lies. I see the biggest threat in the fact that we are still sufficiently aware of how drastically the world is changing – precisely because we are still doing so well. But if we don’t sufficiently try to stay on the ball and get things going, we run the risk of no longer keeping up.

Has Austria not yet arrived in the 21st century? And is the Austrian mentality of being rather laid back and “let’s see” also an obstacle?

Scherr: I don’t want to engage in Austria bashing, but there are too many people for whom the preservation of the status quo, of

their old networks, their existing political environment and so on is much more important than understanding what is really happening in the field of AI and new energy systems. When I look at how many Austrians complain about energy prices on the one hand, and on the other hand they vote against a wind turbine being erected in their community, it won’t work. I am not in favour of expropriation and coercion. But I dare to predict that if we take the issue of the energy transition in Austria seriously, we will reach the point where the question of whether we want it or not will no longer arise. Instead, a wind turbine will simply be erected where the right location is. Then the distribution grid of the energy suppliers will be built where it is necessary. We can’t demand to be more “green“ on the one hand, but on the other hand not want any grid expansion or wind parks and photovoltaic projects.

Do we need a stronger hand of government and more regulations again?

World Champion Austria Arthur D. Little

Scherr: You have to differentiate. A nation like the United States, Scherr: In my view, it is not a question of more or less government, which is large in terms of population, companies and surface area, but where do you need the government? It is a question of “intelcan more easily afford to be self-sufficient because, among other ligent governing”. Thesis one is that there needs to be more asserthings, it has a lot of technology in its country. A nation like China tiveness on large infrastructure projects that the country needs. can also afford it more easily. The leadership of Russia had the idea These include the transmission grid for the energy transition, more that it could afford to be self-sufficient, which doesn’t work. Togethwind farms and the like. There also needs to be less regional and er, Europe would have a lot, even if not everything, like energy, rare local peculiarities. Whether another University of Technology in Linz earths and more. But Europe is still fragmented into many nation is important, although you already have a very good university in states and Euroscepticism has even increased in some countries.

Linz, I don’t know. Especially a small country like Austria should As much as I would like Europe to have this common language and probably have a manageable number of excellent centres for certain power, this is rather wishful thinking and a subjects instead of distributing funds as much dream that cannot be fulfilled in the foreseeable as possible. The public sector needs to acknowl“Not everyone who future. In Austria, too, I miss the general consenedge that the energy transition also costs the would like to have sus that existed before EU accession, that the owners of the energy grids money and that they country must be part of a larger whole. Here I have to pay for it. These are often the provinces a better work-life am even pessimistic, because many are crying or indirectly the federal republic when it comes balance performs out for more self-sufficiency without knowing to Verbund and APG (Austrian Power Grid). enough to what it costs and what sacrifices it entails to be Thesis two: There have to be regulations so self-sufficient. The best cautionary example has that the energy suppliers can capitalise differjustify it.” been set by Great Britain. The majority of voters ently on and charge for the necessary grid exMaximilian Scherr have fallen for the narrative of some politicians pansion. Austrians cannot expect everything to that de-risking through separation is the stratebe as cheap as possible and countless billions gy of choice. They are now learning that separation is not de-riskof euros to be poured into grid expansion out of thin air in the ing, but rather the road to disaster. If even an economically imporyears to come. The calculation is relatively simple. Investing more tant country like Britain can’t do that, how can we? in both generation and transmission results in a lower electricity price. However, investments take a long time to pay off.

So, federalism kills?

Scherr: Federalism can also go too far. I believe that Austrians, with What does the transformation of the energy sector need to look their mentality, need a bit of federalism. But when it comes to big like? challenges like the energy transition, investments in future technolScherr: We need more decentralised production and thus more ogies, the reorganisation of the pension and health system, we decentralised feed-in with much more decentralised grid manageneed more national cohesion. ment. That only works digitally. This includes solutions such as ensuring that car batteries from electric vehicles are not only Has Austria already missed the boat in terms of AI? charged when the user wants them and discharged when they are Scherr: I believe that we still have top researchers in Austria. The driving. This decentralised energy storage can be used. Solutions social environment also attracts people who like to stay here. In the are needed to limit the peaks of the feed-in from photovoltaic sysfield of cyber security there are some luminaries in Graz around tems because otherwise a transformer station can overheat and the Prof. Stefan Mangard, in the fundamental questions of AI Sepp power then fails completely. This control must also be digital. That Hochreiter is leading the way, in AI in dermatology Harald Kittler is why digitisation is a very essential core for the transformation of from the Medical University Vienna is a trailblazer... so there are energy suppliers and energy networks. some – and these are only three examples. Therefore, it would be unfair to say that we have missed the boat, but we are not promotDoes Europe need to become an isolated island – de-risked, so ing enough focus. In addition, I believe that there is a considerable to say? Is it even possible to reverse globalisation?

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will be eliminated. Everywhere where data is stored relatively consistently anyway, where research takes place that is documented, in journalism and many other areas, it won’t be long before models have selective access to this data and employees can use it all. Much of today’s knowledge will be distributed more democratical“I don’t pay good wages ly. Drawing the right conclubecause I have a lot of money, sions from this and not just but I have a lot of money beusing statistical probabilities cause I pay good wages,” said Maximilian Scherr in the control room of the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant, will still be a great art. Getting Robert Bosch. Does that still which was never put into operation – where is the focus in the energy transition? to the heart of what this means apply or where does the focus for companies is a question that concerns many CEOs and that we lie in future recruitment? discuss with them.

Scherr: I would modify this quote from Robert Bosch. I would say The second topic is still, how do you create growth? Many are that I have work and life because I also enable others to have a currently asking themselves how they can deal with increased work-life balance and thus manage to keep the good employees. At costs and reduce them. But they don’t always discuss that with us the end of the day, we are successful because we enable these because we know primarily about how to deal with growth in valthings. ue chains. Responsible companies take care of cost reduction in good times to be able to invest in growth in bad times. Especially So, the paradigm shift, that money alone isn’t everything has those who have already done their homework, we can help them long since taken place? to grow.

Scherr: It is already a reality for many. But not everyone who The third topic is cyber security. This is still a topic that many would like to have a better work-life balance performs enough that CEOs are a little bit concerned about every now and then and it is it would be justified to simply give it to them. In sports, the hisso omnipresent that they are worried from time to time. But being tory books are full of people who were born with talent but squanworried is not enough. Many companies have good people in their dered it because they wanted too much life, and an imbalance security departments, such as their Chief Information Security occured.

Officer. But not all of them have the power and the strength to be able to discuss with the board at eye level. If nothing has happened What are the most common issues that clients ask Arthur D. for a while, nothing has been updated and not much money has Little for advice on? been spent on training and technology, there is also an expectation Scherr: There are three main issues. Firstly, what does AI mean that things don’t have to change dramatically. Of course, many for them and their company? This is not a question to which there CISOs know that they are not safe just because the company has is a single answer. With many things that represent a paradigm not yet been successfully hacked – but they often do not have the shift – and the publication of such language models represents business transparency, i.e. quantified risks, to be able to successsuch a paradigm shift – many people experience a gold rush. Not fully lead board discussions. That’s where we help to gather coureveryone will survive it, but in this gold rush there will be develage and facts and get the CEOs to listen. And in other cases, we opments that are not even foreseeable today. This is exactly what help boards get an independent second opinion on how their secompanies have to prepare for. At the end of the day, this will also curity is really doing. strongly influence the activities within each job and some activities ◆ © Arthur D. little

need to catch up, especially in schools, in the primary school and the grammar schools. If we have more hours of religious education than IT in some years, that is not particularly forward-looking. Unless you think foremost about life after death.

World Champion Austria Austrian National Tourist Office

“What could be better than marketing your home country?”

Astrid Steharnig-Staudinger has headed Österreich Werbung, the Austrian National Tourist Office, since May 2023 and is in charge of promoting Austria’s tourism.

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ultilingualism – five languages in all – is just one of the qualifications Astrid Steharnig-Staudinger brought with her for one of the most important jobs in the country.

After all, the 45-year-old Carinthian who lives in Vienna is responsible for the image and advertising presence that wants to convince tourists to spend their holidays in Austria. Before that, the mother of two worked successfully for WienTourismus, the Falkensteiner Group and at her own company Linking Brands. Steharnig-Staudinger allows insights into her philosophy, how she assesses and wants to shape the future of tourism.

Skills shortages, climate change, inflation – would you have wished for calmer waters when you took office, or do you enjoy the challenge?

Astrid Steharnig-Staudinger: The situation you describe did not just suddenly occur this year. Tourism thrives on change and challenges. The industry is characterised by its ability to adapt and reinvent itself. This also gives rise to innovations. We saw that during the Covid pandemic. And yes, I am an enthusiastic advertiser of Austria and look forward to this wonderful task and the challenge. Otherwise, I would not have ventured into self- employment 15 years ago. I believed in myself, and I was successful. And it is with this view that I also approach the management of Österreich Werbung.

© Pamela Russmann

Why did the job as head of Österreich Werbung appeal to you?

Steharnig-Staudinger: What could be better than marketing your home country? In this job you can make so much happen. Together with the entire industry, you can shape the image of Austria as a tourist destination abroad and inspire people for this great country.

I think it is necessary to bring the entire diversity of Austria into the spotlight. Because there are so many different target groups with different demands in the various markets we serve. To support tourism in Austria on its path to success with contemporary communication is a great task that excites me very much.

Astrid Steharnig-Staudinger is Managing Director of the Österreich Werbung

Minister for Tourism Susanne Kraus-Winkler described you as a strategic mastermind. Do you agree and if so, what are your strengths?

Steharnig-Staudinger: I am a visionary with wise foresight and think outside the box. I am convinced that in today’s working world and especially in tourism, three aspects are essential: Adaptability, an open mindset and empathy. These are three qualities that I see

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In times of sweltering heat in typical summer destinations, Austria can offer holidays in cool mountain environments.

Tyrolean tourist region. This has resulted in a very successful cooperation. I would like to carry this idea forward. Because only through the joint use of our strengths is it possible to bring out the best for our tourism. I would like to establish a culture of cooperation, which is the only way to be competitive. We at Österreich Werbung can act as a platform and catalyst; provincial tourism associations, tourism boards and businesses can use their individual strengths where it is most effective. In addition, there are numerous projects in the field of digitisation and sustainability where we must work together rather than side by side. Here, too, cooperation must be the order of the day to “We have to make bring Austria as a tourist destination to the top of the world. sure that there

in myself, in all modesty. And I am a good bridge builder. Our everyday life is becoming more and more technological, changes are now happening every week. That’s why it’s important to retain the ability not to perceive change as a threat, but to integrate it into everyday life and to deal with it. In addition, it is essential, especially for our industry, to put the human element in the foreground. Technological innovations may make us more efficient, but the personal experience, the conversation with the host or the charm of the friendly service staff cannot be replaced by machines. We as an industry will only be able to navigate these challenges and the partial contradictions together.

With your company Linking Brands you have embraced the idea of networking and cooperation. Can you now also use this at Österreich Werbung?

Steharnig-Staudinger: With my company I have brought together very different players who at first glance had little to do with each other, for example a well-known car manufacturer with a

are sustainable tourism offers in Austria.”

Astrid Steharnig-Staudinger

One of the current trends is cycle tourism. Is there a nationwide strategy or is this the task of the regional tourism offices?

Steharnig-Staudinger: This year, for the fifth time, Österreich Werbung has launched the ‘Cooperation on Cycling’. We work together with

World Champion Austria Austrian National Tourist Office

the provincial tourism associations, this year for the first time with eight of them, on the design and implementation of the campaigns.

The cycling experts of the federal provinces are contributing their knowledge from everyday practice, which is an essential factor for success. This year, for the first time, we have taken up the trend sport of gravel biking, which already has a large and growing community behind it. Together with the provincial tourism associations, we designed an Austria-wide gravel tour under the name ‘Gravel Austria’, which has its own landing page online. This is an example of how we deal with current trends and integrate them into campaigns, but above all how we develop them further.

Many target markets are overseas. Do you see any problems here due to flight shaming and rising energy costs?

Steharnig-Staudinger: About ten percent of our guests travel by air. The recent rise in air fares has not yet had any visible effect.

The affluent target group that travels by air from the United States or Asia, for example, continues to be able to afford holidays. This is the same effect that we see in our local markets: Travelling is a valuable commodity that people do not want to be deprived of, even in a difficult economic environment. As far as sustainability is concerned, a lot is happening in the aviation industry. Aircrafts consume less fuel, and the incipient use of so-called Sustainable Aviation Fuels, which are supposed to enable CO2-neutral flying, lead to less energy consumption in air traffic overall.

Apart from that, our mission at Österreich Werbung is to market Austria as a tourism destination worldwide. This is very important for the creation of value in Austria. And, of course, we also have to make sure that there is a sustainable offer in Austria.

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Österreich Werbung has also been using artificial intelligence for a few months. How do you use AI and what can the AI-based chatbot do?

Steharnig-Staudinger: The ‘Austria Concierge’ on our b2c website is intended to serve potential guests as a source of inspiration for their holiday in Austria. It answers the most common questions about holidays in Austria and draws on the content of our b2c website, enhanced by generative AI services. That is one thing.

On the other hand, it also helps us to learn – namely from the questions of our guests. In this way, we recognise what is important to the guests and what potential trends there could be. The chatbot is currently still in development, but it is really impressive how well it works already.

Steharnig-Staudinger: “Österreich Werbung can act as a platform and catalyst.”

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Österreich Werbung is developing campaigns with provincial tourism associations – in 2023, for example, the focus is on gravel biking.

Some low-lying ski resorts will have to consider alternatives in How do you see the future of congress tourism since many events the coming decades. Here, a joint effort of the entire industry and are now held online or as hybrid events? incentive systems are needed so that the potential loss of added Steharnig-Staudinger: From our Meeting Industry Report Austria value that they face without classic winter sports tourism can be (MIRA), published in June in cooperation with the Austrian Concompensated by alternative offers. These include, for example, vention Bureau, we know that last year we almost reached pre-Covhiking or mountain biking. There are already id figures again in terms of events and congresssome regions that offer great alternatives. es. Congress tourism has proven to be resilient “There is someand innovative. During the Covid pandemic, How can Austria remain an affordable holionline events and hybrid events have of course thing for every day destination? shown us what is possible, how efficient we can budget, there is Steharnig-Staudinger: The inflation of the past be, and many aspects of this will certainly reaccommodation for months has not only affected Austria, but also main. However, I assume that at events where every need.” other countries. In an international comparison, the intensive exchange within the industry, Austria is still a holiday destination with an exnetworking and also the entertainment factor Astrid Steharnig-Staudinger cellent price-performance ratio – there is someare in the foreground – the human aspect, so to thing for every budget, there is accommodation speak – a physical meeting cannot be replaced. for every need. Our country is not only multifaceted in terms of its That is why I believe that congress tourism has a great future ahead countryside. of it, even if it is different than before the pandemic. We are currently working together with the countries and the Austrian ConThe best three reasons for a holiday in Austria are… vention Bureau on a convention strategy for the future.

Steharnig-Staudinger: … the countryside, the people and the attitude to life.

Does winter tourism have to reposition itself, reinvent itself?

Where do you see the potential here?

Where and in which season do you like to go on holiday in AusSteharnig-Staudinger: The effects of climate change are noticeable tria, and where will your next winter holidays take you? and visible. But as far as winter sports tourism in general is conSteharnig-Staudinger: Basically, I enjoy travelling in Austria at any cerned, public perceptions do not necessarily correspond with the time of year. That also has something to do with the fact that I am facts. In the worst-case scenarios, winters in the mountains are exregularly on holiday in Carinthia and visit my husband’s family in pected to be warmer by 1.4 degrees Celsius by 2050. This correTyrol. This covers a large part of Austria, as we also make stops in sponds to an increase in the snow line of about 200 metres – winter the other provinces. Our winter holidays take us to Tyrol and Salzsports are thus secured for the next decades in most classic ski reburg. I’m an avid skier and I’m sure I’ll stop off in all provinces where sorts. In addition, about 70 percent of Austria’s ski slopes can be skiing is possible. covered with artificial snow. ◆

World Champion Austria Companies introduce themselves

Resilient infrastructure for greater security of supply The expansion of the economy in times of great global challenges is the central topic of the next few years in Austria and the entire European Union.

Contact Federal Ministry of Finance Section VI Platform for Infrastructure Development Austria 2030 Coordination Broadband werner.weidlinger@bmf.gv.at Coordination Mining peter-johannes.kroeger@bmf.gv.at

Every economic growth and every innovation also requires an expansion or reconstruction of the infrastructure. A functioning infrastructure is the basic framework for location development. In order to remain competitive as a business location, the expansion of the digital infrastructure is crucial and thus an important component of any future strategy. Above all, the nationwide expansion of broadband internet is a major challenge. The workplace models that emerged during the pandemic, such as working from home or on the go, are now fixed components of the working world. A solid digital infrastructure can promote rural areas and reduce migration into cities.

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Broadband Strategy 2030 Therefore, the major goal of the Federal Ministry of Finance’s “Broadband Strategy 2030” can be defined as follows: “By 2030,

Austria will have nationwide coverage with symmetrical gigabit-capable access networks. A tightly meshed fibre-optic network combined with universally available mobile coverage will enable every citizen, every company and all public institutions to use the opportunities and technological possibilities of digitisation everywhere in the country on equal terms.”

The Ministry and the Federal Government are therefore consistently pushing ahead with the expansion of broadband coverage, and in April 2021 presented an investment package of 1.4 billion euros for nationwide broadband expansion by 2026. In autumn 2022, the first tender round of the Broadband Austria 2030 initiative was concluded with a funding volume of more than 850 million euros. In addition, the amendment to the Telecommunications Act creates the best possible framework for companies to invest.

Challenges of the energy crisis The latest manager survey on infrastructure confirmed that the issue of energy prices is one of the top 3 challenges and that, in particular, a secure and affordable energy supply is a decisive prerequisite for our competitiveness. Energy policy needs investment security, stable framework conditions, an investment-friendly climate, faster approval procedures and a factual political discussion without ideological blinkers. By investing in new technologies and solutions, we can sensibly and efficiently protect the climate.

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Elements of the security of supply

Expansion of mining Mining needs to be expanded globally to move closer to these goals. Europe is the only continent where raw material extraction is declining. Austria, too, should increasingly push the extraction of resources

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such as lithium, gas and other raw materials to increase energy independence on its domestic territory. In this context, the importance of domestic extraction of construction raw materials for the expansion and maintenance of our transport and building infrastructure must also be taken into account.

Domestic raw material extraction guarantees sustainable raw material management with the highest environmental standards.

Resource-efficient management also means recycling secondary raw materials, i.e. raw ls materials that have already ria e been used once. Intelligent t a m recycling-friendly product dew a sign makes us a little less dependR ent on raw material imports. That is why we have carried out a comprehensive analysis in the “Master Plan Raw Materials 2030” and developed measures on how we can best close the cycle from primary raw materials to the recycling process.

The premise must always be to be open to innovations in a fact-based and technology-neutral manner and subsequently to promote forward-looking technologies. Investments in infrastructure bring benefits for the state, society and the economy. We must actively address the major challenges of the future, find solutions and implement them consistently in order to ensure the security and expansion of Austria as a business location.

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Food- and drinking water supply

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Natural gas will also play an important role as a transition technology in the Green Transition. Securing and diversifying our gas supply and developing the existing infrastructure as well as our natural gas storage facilities for the future should take place with utmost attention to security of supply. This also means making the best possible use of domestic resources.

The economic strength of Austria is thus linked to the sufficient availability of natural gas, in addition to the supply of p M heat and electricity. Gas he rod edi alt uc ca is and will therefore remain h s ts a l indispensable, which is preer nd vic cisely why further considerations es must be given to procurement and transport.

As a result of the energy transition, the mobility transformation, the decarbonisation of the industry and digitisation, the demand for raw materials is increasing drastically and consumption patterns are changing.

Due to recent global developments, the shift to renewable energy needs a strategic roadmap that prioritises security of supply.

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More sustainable raw materials for Austria Mining provides important minerals for the industrial sector and businesses.

The latest crises have shown the high importance of a regional supply.

Austria has ◆ the largest tungsten deposit in the

Western hemisphere ◆ the largest talc deposit

in Central Europe ◆ one of the largest underground

magnesite mines in the world ◆ the world’s largest siderite deposit

and the largest open pit mine for ores in Central Europe As a result, Austria occupies the following places in the global extraction of mineral raw materials: ◆ 6th in magnesite and tungsten ◆ 14th in talc ◆ 17th in graphite

Open-cast mining has been going on at the Styrian Erzberg since 1820.

Mining is essential for the supply of our industry and our economy. The valuable minerals are the basis for countless products such as computers, medicine, buildings, roads and more. The current crises in particular have shown how important it is to have a supply of raw materials as close as possible. Without them, many areas of the economy would come to a standstill. There are many arguments in favour of maintaining and expanding mining in Austria. Only in this way can emissions be prevented by means of short transport routes, and compared to many regions of the world, Austria offers significantly higher environmental and occupational health and safety standards. In Austria, a lot is invested in innovation to make mining more efficient, safer and more environmentally friendly.

Ensure supply Since mineral raw materials are important for covering a large number of basic human needs such as housing, the production of food and medicines, mobility and communication, a sufficient supply of these mineral raw materials must be ensured. They are thus an essential basis for economic activity. But also projects that are particularly important today, such as the green transformation, climate protection and, of course, the supply of the Austrian population with essential items for everyday life, depend on the provision of the necessary raw materials. In Austria, we are self-sufficient in construction raw materials such as sand and gravel, but there is a threat of shortages due to competing uses of areas.

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High dependence on imports Therefore, we are highly dependent on imports for metals and energy raw materials, which still cover more than half of the final energy consumption in Austria. The Covid pandemic at the beginning of this decade and geopolitical upheavals such as the ongoing war in Ukraine have shown Europe quite clearly how fragile and disruptive raw material supply chains can be. To counteract these dependencies, innovative solutions must be found.

Master Plan Raw Materials 2030 The Master Plan Raw Materials 2030, Austria’s raw materials strategy, specifically addresses these issues. The promotion of domestic extraction, the transition from a linear to a circular economy, an efficient use

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Mining as an economic factor There are about 950 active sand and gravel pits and 350 quarries in Austria. The entire raw material extraction sector employs about 15,000 workers and thus covers the annual demand for mineral raw materials in Austria of 100 million tonnes.

Recycling where possible Some of these raw materials can be obtained from recycling, especially those raw materials that have already found other applications in the past, such as concrete, iron and copper. However, recycling alone is not enough to cover the demand for these “old” raw materials for energy production.

“New” mineral raw materials, such as indium or germanium, which have had no alternative applications so far, cannot yet be reused, as they have not yet entered the raw material cycle.

The future of Austrian mining The future of Austrian mining requires decisive improvements in the framework conditions. Above all, this means accelerated licensing procedures. If we want to ensure sustainable development, it is essential that the goals of the Master Plan Raw Materials 2030 are fully implemented. Future mining, which wants to be a global trailblazer, must be innovative, technologically safe and environmentally friendly.

The change in the natural environment can also have positive consequences for animals and plants. For example, rugged and steep extraction walls in quarries and bar-

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of resources and automation and digitisation along the entire raw materials value chain will lead to a reduction in Europe’s and Austria’s dependencies and thus secure our prosperity.

ren areas in sand and gravel pits are habitats that can hardly be found in the wild anymore. Post-mining landscapes can thus become “survival areas” for endangered animal species, as an environment is created for species that are threatened due to intensive agricultural use and water regulation.

Andreas Reichhardt, Head of Section VI Telecommunications, Post and Mining at the Federal Ministry of Finance, says: “In Austria we have already proven that this type of mining has become reality and that we have the potential to play a pioneering role in Europe. By consistently pursuing the goals we have set ourselves, we can ensure that mining in Austria continues to play a central role in the supply of raw materials while at the same time meeting the highest standards for people and the environment.”

Andreas Reichhardt, Head of Section VI – “Telecommunications, Post and Mining”

World Champion Austria Companies introduce themselves

Cybersecurity research from Austria Austrian security research is growing. The new Kybernet-Pass programme focuses on cyber security and supports research, companies and authorities in making Austria’s digital future more secure.

annual budget: € 19 million target group for funding: research institutions and companies KIRAS: civil security research € 9 million www.kiras.at Kybernet-Pass: cyber security research € 5 million FORTE: defence research € 5 million www.forte-bmf.at application phase 2023: open from Oct. 2023 to March 2024 average project funding from € 200,000 to € 500,000 (max. 85% of project costs) project duration: up to max. 3 years TRL (Technology Readiness Level): 4–6 Contact: Staff Department for Security Research and Technology Transfer Email: post.vi-st@bmf.gv.at

Threats coming from the digital world are now part of everyday life. Anyone can become a victim – companies are blackmailed digitally and citizens receive calls from fraudsters. In order to better protect the population and to raise awareness, the national security research funding framework named Austrian Safety Pin was created, consisting of the civil security research programme KIRAS, the defence research programme FORTE, and will be completed in 2024 by the cyber security research programme Kybernet-Pass (K-PASS). Together they fund research projects with an average of 19 million euros per year to keep Austria ready for the future in terms of security policy in unstable times.

Research for security Be it the constantly growing field of cyber security, the support of first responders, the protection of critical infrastructures or concepts for securing the supply chains that ensure the supply of the Austrian population with staple foods as well as the most impor-

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The Austrian Safety Pin at a glance

tant raw materials – it is crucial that the research projects contribute to preparing the actual but also the economic security and well-being of Austrians for future challenges.

An essential means to this end is to make the research results usable. Only if findings are applied in a timely manner can they unfold their full benefit and help in overcoming current crises or even prevent the emergence of future crisis. Successful solutions such as cybersecurity from Austria can strengthen the domestic economy, not least if they are exported as concepts to other countries by means of technology transfer and thus contribute to increasing value creation and securing jobs in Austria. To provide some examples in addition to theory and figures, we would like to present some Austrian-led projects we supported recently.

KIRAS projects with added value SINBAD Security and prevention of organised online order fraud for users through digital forensics measures. The SINBAD project is re-

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SAFETY PIN

searching the automated detection of fake shops in order to pro-actively protect consumers from internet fraud.

Prevention and speed are key instruments to protect consumers from fraudulent offers in e-commerce. However, reports from affected consumers come in too late and often the damage is done before a warning can be published. The Austrian initiative Watchlist Internet of the ÖIAT is working on intensifying the technological applicability of integrated procedures of automatic detection based on machine learning. Significant suc-

cesses have already been achieved in preliminary projects with consortium partners under the leadership of the AIT’s Center for Digital Safety and Security: These include the classification of fake shops by fingerprints in the source code with machine learning detection rates of over 90% and the publication of a comprehensive corpus data set.

Safe space: Online violence against women in (former) relationships With the increasing digitisation of all areas of social life, the number of abusive uses of

KIRAS, FORTE and Kybernet-Pass offer funding to all researchers and entrepreneurs who want to tackle today’s challenges of security policy with innovative ideas.

World Champion Austria Companies introduce themselves

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creasingly disappearing. Thus, even a spatial separation – such as fleeing to a women’s shelter – cannot exclude that the affected women will not continue to be exposed to online violence. The current situation for women who are affected by online violence from their (ex-)partner shows that despite high estimates in prevalence figures, there is a lack of social science knowledge to be able to develop handling strategies in relevant fields of practice (social work, police, justice) that meet the need of the affected women for security in their private sphere.

This reveals a gap between the current state of knowledge and the current state of technology.

Ralph Hammer, Director of the Staff Department for Security Research and Technology Transfer

technological developments is also rising.

Thus, it is also evident in cases of domestic violence against women that the perpetrators increasingly use technological means to exert violence in order to threaten, harass, defame, control or expose their (ex-)partners.

The study (K)ein Raum: Cyber- Gewalt gegen Frauen in (Ex-)Beziehungen aims to capture the role of technologies in violence in intimate relationships.

With the abundance of information and increasingly sophisticated technology, it is often difficult to distinguish “fake news” from serious news. The KIRAS project Defalsif-AI tackles this and uses artificial intelligence to detect false information, especially politically motivated disinformation.”

Those affected often do not find a safe space where they could protect themselves from the permanent threat and control. Previous research results show that the sphere of violence is increased by technological means. Spaces that can potentially offer protection for the affected women are thus in-

Defalsif-AI Detection of false information by means of artificial intelligence. Defalsif-AI addresses in the context of media-forensic tools (hybrid threats / fake news) in particular politically motivated disinformation, which weakens or threatens political and state institutions of our democracy – e.g. influencing elections – and thus ultimately public trust in political and state institutions. The research focuses on audiovisual media forensics, text analysis and their multimodal fusion with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The focus is on the comprehensible and interpretable presentation of the results in order to reach and optimally support the broadest possible user base. The aim of the project is to demonstrate a proof-of-concept tool for the analysis of digital content on the internet, which enables an initial assessment of the content (text, image, video, audio) for credibility/authenticity and thus creates the basis for further recommendations for action. A comprehensive analysis and assessment of the media forensic tool from a legal and social science perspective, the derivation of application-oriented, technological and organisational measures as well as an exploitation plan for the future operation of disinformation analysis platforms that conform to the rule of law round off the project.

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Companies introduce themselves

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Digital innovation through gigabit connectivity Exchange with experts, founders, researchers and entrepreneurs at the Gigabit Academy launched by BMF & FFG.

New ecosystems are emerging In order to fully exploit the opportunities of 5G, new cooperation models and innovation systems are needed. This is where the Gigabit Academy comes in: It brings together everyone who is interested in developing gigabit and 5G use cases. With the Gigabit Academy, the Austrian Ministry of Finance (BMF) and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG not only offer two days full of exclusive insights into the world of gigabit and 5G applications. The Gigabit Academy sees itself as a knowledge platform, an information and ideas laboratory that brings together companies, organisations, scientific institutions and interested individuals.

Going by the motto “Explore - Connect Cooperate - Innovate”, it’s goal is to launch new approaches and concretise existing ideas. This idea lab, where participants come together to develop solutions for gigabit and 5G applications, is the main event of the Gigabit Academy 23 from 21–22 November in Vienna. In terms of new cooperation approaches, this will lay the foundation for a whole new 5G ecosystem from which dif-

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5G is the new generation in mobile communications and creates the technological basis for new customer experiences such as augmented reality games, digital or interactive learning, efficient networking of machines in industry and intelligent devices as well as innovative IT services. The much-cited Smart City also benefits from the 5G standard. Austria is well on its way; 5G will be available nationwide by 2025.

ferent stakeholders can benefit – and ultimately the whole of society.

The focus of the GigaLab is on networking with the international gigabit community and the joint development of ideas for applications that require gigabit-capable infrastructure and connectivity. GigaLab participants will therefore explore different ways to develop digital innovations inspired by a very specific motto: “Driving digital innovation through gigabit connectivity”.

The BMF is currently preparing the second edition of the BBA2030: GigaApp tender. For more information scan the QR code on the left.

Facts & figures GIGABIT ACADEMY AT A GLANCE ◆ Learn and experience how ideas for gigabit challenges are created ◆ Support from experts and mentors from event partner AustrianStartups ◆ Networking with national and inter­national start-ups & companies ◆ Pitching and presenting ideas as a team during the Future Forward event ◆ Chance to win the GigaLab Award ◆ Efficient support for the further development of gigabit projects ◆ Get to know funding programmes and networks

More at: gigabit-academy.b2match.io/

World Champion Austria Vienna

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Vienna Vienna in figures Size Number of inhabitants Gross regional product per inhabitant* Disposable income of private households* Income per employee* Research ratio in % of the GDP* Number of enterprises*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of employees*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of lodging establishments** Overnight stays**

414 km² 1,992,654 53,000 € 22,700 € 53,800 € 3.65 %

2,967 6,512 15,825 65,675 55,044 108,173 4,408 13,204,666 Source: Statistik Austria; *2021, **2022, ***2020

World Champion Austria Senate of the Economy

A think-tank for Austria’s economy The Senate of the Economy is a non-partisan organisation that wants to be a driving force in shaping the (economic) future.

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eing a non-partisan business organisation, the Senate of the Economy sees itself as a driving force for shaping an eco-social and sustainable economy and society. It offers concrete and practical know-how for entrepreneurs and political decision-makers. The Senate does not only see itself as a think tank but also an action group, especially in the fields of economy, ecology, education and health. Chairman Hans Harrer, Mahdi Allagha and Ludwig Stepan, Members of the Executive Board, explain how the Senate works.

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What does the Senate of the Economy do Mahdi Allagha: The Senate of the Economy is Austria’s largest, independent and cross-sector business organisation for the promotion of a strong and resilient business location and serves as the

The Senate of Economy’s triumvirate: Allagha, Harrer and Stepan

mouthpiece of Austria’s small and medium-sized enterprises. We focus on constructive, sustainable and long-term foundations, free of any particular interests. When political actors commit to only one side, this leads to a lack of diversity in the political debate and impairs democratic discourse. Since we do not allow ourselves to be taken in by any side and stand for expertise and integrity, the Senate has developed into a recognised voice of the Austrian business community since its foundation in 2005.

Who is appointed to the Senate? On the internet you can find the description that the Senate is “an exclusive business organisation”.

Hans Harrer: Fundamentally, we are very inclusive, we represent the centre of the entrepreneurial society. With us, the focus is on the sovereign, the citizens, the doers, the entrepreneurs. The Senate stands for an eco-social economy, a society in balance. People who want to face the challenges of society outside political convictions and particular interest groups. Most companies and their creators are appointed to the Senate because other entrepreneurs who have already identified with the Senate’s tasks recommend them to our entrepreneurial community sharing the same values.

That is why we ask, ‘who fits in with us?’. Admission requires a personal interview with our management to determine whether our values match.

Ludwig Stepan: Due to this admission procedure, you notice quite quickly, especially at Senate events, that we are a special community of values. A partnership in the Senate is not an alliance of convenience of a lobbying association, but a connection out of conviction. There are synergies, cooperation, an unlimited transfer of knowledge and know-how.

You describe the Senate itself as a think tank, but “above all as a do tank”. What is the process like from thinking to doing?

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There is no generational change in the Senate of the Economy, but a generational alliance: Mahdi Allagha, Hans Harrer and Ludwig Stepan

Allagha: Our task as an organisation is to promote innovation at all levels of our society, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, free of ideologies and party politics, to point out pressing problems and to discuss them in a solution-oriented manner. In this way, we can provide politicians with concrete proposals for solutions and act efficiently and excellently for the benefit of the economy and society. We bring the actors into the companies and advocate for knowledge transfer at European and international level.

The problems of the future can only be solved together. It is important that this is done with respect and at eye level!

What do you mean by “practical support for companies and politicians to ensure future viability”?

Harrer: The Senate’s partners are primarily entrepreneurs, personalities from Austrian companies from the SME sector, but also from corporations. The expertise of these drivers and shakers makes it possible to enrich practically all socio-political and entrepreneurial

concerns through solutions with user knowledge. The Senate is essentially also a communicator at eye level, in order to bring the data and facts precisely and efficiently to bear where the highest degree of effectiveness for solutions can arise.

How do you prioritise your fields of economy, ecology, education and health?

Ludwig Stepan: There is no prioritising between the four pillars of the Senate, because all areas are necessary to shape a healthy society and economy. Prioritising only arises when focal points are worked on, such as cooperation with universities, universities of applied sciences and teaching institutions, with which the Senate works on topic-driven projects for the future. In all the areas mentioned, the Senate of the Economy has its experts who support and stimulate each other with their practical knowledge. These are, for example, the MittelstandsAllianz, the KlimaAllianz, the HospitalityAllianz, the Bildungsallianz or the Allianz für Ethik in der Wirtschaft.

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Senat der Wirtschaft

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law on flexible incorporated enterprises) is needHow can you support your members with ed. your international business network?

“We need doers Allagha: Our broad thematic positioning and the with expertise, Only recently, there was a generational cooperation with other network partners and courage and change at the top of the Senate. What changes internationally operating organisations create are in store? many opportunities. For example, we maintain a sense of Stepan: There is no generational change, there an extensive, qualified, factual and thematic responsibility for is a generational alliance not only within the knowledge transfer to Senates in other counthe future.”

Senate itself. This reflects what the Senate is tries, both at European and international level. doing for our partner companies as well. A genThis is reflected in expert studies, delegation Hans Harrer erational alliance always has the task of making trips, congresses and project cooperation. The the best of youth and experience available to the Senate’s goal is to initiate and support the effisovereign, i.e. the organisations or the companies. When it comes cient, solution-oriented exchange between our partner companies to shaping a sustainably balanced future, all decisions, freed from at eye level. The Senate places great emphasis on an appreciative the sensitivities of individuals, must be subordinated to the foundexchange and understanding of cultures. After all, they are the ing culture and the greater good. Functioning generational adjustfoundation for long-term successful professional and system-orientments and changes never happen in assessments of yesterday and ed business relationships. tomorrow. They only work when they are almost unobtrusive in their processes.

It is often said that Austria is in danger of losing out in the areas of IT and AI. Is this issue on your agenda?

What are the greatest challenges for Austria as a business Harrer: Of course. It is our fundamental mandate of every entreprelocation? neur, every politician and every institution to promote education Harrer: Many problems are home-made and have the same causes. and research. Investments in educational institutions, universities We need doers with expertise, courage and a sense of responsibility and research centres specialised in IT and AI must lay the foundafor the future. The rampant bureaucracy can only be contained by tions for innovation and skilled labour. Collaboration between acaprofessional management, for example. At the same time, we must demia, industry and policymakers must help to promote joint refight the deplorable particularism that kills every good idea before it search projects and expand knowledge in IT, AI and all other has even been discussed, just because it was formulated by a polittechnology fields nationally and internationally. The establishment ically different group. The trust of of collaboration platforms and netentrepreneurs and the population in works must facilitate knowledge political processes is crucial for a exchange and the development of balanced, stable democracy. When best practices. It is necessary to actors are perceived as puppets of create a conducive environment certain interests, public trust is unfor a founder and start-up scene, dermined and damages our social especially in the field of future order. Every action of an economic technologies. This includes a modand political actor must therefore be ern financing and capital culture, scrutinised for its meaning and its the provision of practice-oriented added value for the citizens. Experincubators and technology centise, transparency and a sense of tres, as well as the complete reproportion, and above all common duction of bureaucratic hurdles by sense, are the foundation for decipolitics and its institutions. Continsions that serve the people. ued reform of the FlexKap law (NB: Allagha, Harrer and Stepan reading the in-house Senate Magazine. ◆

World Champion Austria Vienna Business Agency

Vienna offers things that other cities dream of The Vienna Business Agency makes Austria’s capital a great location for international start-ups and established companies.

This year the ViennaUP start-up festival was held for the third time. Please explain the idea behind it and how ViennaUP works.

Gerhard Hirczi: ViennaUP is an international location and innovation festival that we created. We are a kind of founding father and curator at the same time, because we organise the festival with about 35 national and international partners. Therefore, there is a multitude of organisers that are held together by us. In this way we pursue two ideas: On the one hand, we want to position Vienna internationally as a location for innovation. On the other hand, we offer our local start-ups an international stage to present themselves and bring them together with investors, other start-ups, researchers, talent in general and companies.

You support local start-ups, but you also want to encourage international, established companies to settle in Vienna.

Hirczi: One of our goals is to attract international businesses. We are the City of Vienna’s office for bringing as many attractive international companies as possible to Vienna and thus strengthening the business location.

Do you pay more attention to start-ups these days than to already established international companies?

Hirczi: We make no distinction. We know that you have to actively get into the start-up scene, because it has become an important element of every economic policy and every economy in the past ten years. It has become indispensable to look after and address

this target group. The same applies, of course, to traditional businesses. It would be a gross mistake to back only one of the two horses. We have a sales force that is on the road 24/7 and secures deals. There is no difference whether you are talking to a start-up or a large IT company in New York or São Paolo.

Is there any special emphasis on sectors that you would like to bring to Vienna in particular?

© Wirtschaftsagentur Wien/Karin Hackl

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espite the Covid pandemic, Vienna is booming as a location for start-ups and international companies. In 2022, 237 international companies settled in the capital. Gerhard Hirczi has been managing director of the Vienna Business Agency since 2009, having launched the ViennaUP start-up festival three years ago.

ViennaUP was created under the management of Gerhard Hirczi.

© Wirtschaftsagentur Wien/Philipp Liparski

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The ViennaUP Homebase at Karlsplatz in Vienna – the start-up festival took place for the third time in 2023.

Hirczi: Our philosophy is to emphasise our strengths. We are targeting companies that we know are already going to find a well-established ecosystem in Vienna. In Vienna’s economic strategy, the emphasis is on life sciences, IT and digitisation. Vienna is considered a tourism metropolis. But if you look at the value added and the turnover, Vienna is four times more of an IT metropolis and three times more of a life sciences metropolis. We are working on imprinting this in the minds of decision-makers.

Everywhere people complain about the lack of IT specialists, including in Vienna. Has Vienna missed out on a development here?

Hirczi: We are lucky that other regions are not doing any better in IT. Whether in Silicon Valley, on the East Coast of the United States, in Germany or in Bulgaria – companies everywhere are desperately looking for IT specialists. This suggests that we in Austria have not missed out on anything. But we haven’t done anything better than the others, otherwise we wouldn’t have this problem. This is a global challenge.

How is Vienna doing in the international competition for IT staff?

Hirczi: Vienna has some advantages over other cities. We have a large catchment area with Central and Eastern Europe, and many

workers from Eastern Europe like to come to Vienna to work and live here. This is also related to the quality of life. If you think about where you want to live in the years to come, the quality of life counts enormously. The assets that Vienna has to offer can be used as a USP compared to other cities and regions. If you compare Vienna with other metropolises, the city is extremely lively and not unpleasantly overcrowded, which is already the case with some of our major competitors. Amsterdam, London or Paris are already being abandoned by young people and young companies because people can no longer afford to live and work in the city centre.

Has it become more difficult to attract companies to Vienna due to the crises of the recent past?

Hirczi: No, it hasn’t become more difficult at all, as the figures for international business relocations show. Business has not collapsed.

The best reasons to settle in Vienna are…

Hirczi: …an excellent package of a well-functioning infrastructure, a highly developed innovation and research landscape and a population with high purchasing power. Above all, quick access to many decision-makers is particularly important as this makes it easier for companies to carry out their business. ◆

World Champion Austria Aspern Seestadt

Aspern Seestadt is a perfect example of a new urban district Live and work like in a holiday resort that is also a magnet for new research institutions and companies.

I

© Luzia Puiu

n 2010, work began on building a new district of Vienna on the site of the former Aspern airfield. The ambitious goal: to create a living space for more than 25,000 people and 20,000 potential jobs and apprenticeships. From the very beginning, emphasis was placed on sustainability in every respect and seamless connections to the public transport network. Gerhard Schuster has been CEO of Wien 3420 Aspern Development since 2014 and knows “his” Seestadt like no other – and can point to spectacular successes after around ten years.

Gerhard Schuster has been responsible for Aspern Seestadt since 2014.

How far has the expansion of Aspern Seestadt progressed?

Gerhard Schuster: Today, more than a third of Aspern Seestadt has been completed. After the Pioneer Quarter, the Seepark Quarter and a business quarter with a focus on technological innovation, production and crafts south of the lake, the first quarter on the north shore has already been largely completed. It is called Am Seebogen and stretches from the U2 station Seestadt east and west of the elevated metro line along the Elinor Ostrom Park to the north.

Currently, more than 11,000 people live in Seestadt, and more than 25,000 will when we complete it in the early 2030s. At the same time, we are pleased to already have more than 500 companies on site, from single-person enterprises to international technology companies with more than 500 employees. In total, about 5,000 people are now working in Seestadt. Our goal is to have created over 20,000 jobs and apprenticeships in the district by the time our development activities are completed. With two educational campuses of the City of Vienna – the third is already being planned – a school, two private universities and the Central Vocational School for up to 7,000 pupils, which is scheduled to start operating in 2028, Seestadt is already a real player as an educational site, not only within Vienna’s 22nd district. Cooperation with several universities with a focus on manufacturing and IoT as well as mobility research with the Vienna University of Technology also has a great effect on our R&D ecosystem.

What are the biggest challenges facing Aspern Seestadt in its development in the years to come?

Schuster: We are becoming the new regional centre in the northeast of Vienna. That means we must not only think about the needs of the residents or the local economy. We have to look at the wider picture, be it in the area of mobility, be it energy needs, social infrastructure and much more. A real challenge is therefore the expansion and interconnection of the various infrastructures. Seestadt

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Today, more than 11,000 people live in Aspern Seestadt, and up to 25,000 more are expected in the future.

continues to grow north of the lake, and we are currently directing a lot of attention towards our major transport hub Aspern North.

We have already had a large interchange station there since 2018, which connects the rail link from Hütteldorf in the west of Vienna via the Central Railway Station to Bratislava with the Vienna underground network. In addition, several bus lines also stop here.

From autumn 2025, the first of two tram lines will also serve See­ stadt. In 2026, a new connection will be built via the efficient City Road. All these planning processes of the City of Vienna and the major infrastructure providers Wiener Linien, Austrian Federal Railways ÖBB and the motorway company Asfinag have to be coordinated with our expansion. With the planning effort and our ongoing construction work, we are making good use of the resources on the market. The added value in the construction industry and with all suppliers is enormous.

Incidentally, we always work under the premise that maximum sustainability, resource conservation and, above all, avoiding carbon emissions are already taken into account during construction; we develop and improve sustainability standards and cooperate with a wide variety of research institutions and associations. In

addition, we would like to be a driver of digitisation in the construction and real estate industry much more than we have been in the past, because we see great leverage for climate protection here; the cooperation with the innovation lab ‘Digital findet Stadt’ is therefore very important for us.

What makes Aspern Seestadt a business location with a future?

Schuster: Our outstanding location qualities. We have excellent access to space reserves that are integrated into a master plan, and we have excellent connections. From the centre of Seestadt you can reach Praterstern or the Central Railway Station in 20 minutes. On the other hand, Seestadt offers a high quality of life for the people who work here. The lively Waterfront at the U2 station, which will be built in the next few years, will provide a perfect lunch break or after-work atmosphere with its restaurants and shops. And the eateries and shops already offer an attractive mix. In addition, there are various childcare facilities, state-of-theart schools and attractive apartments. But above all, we are very proud that a colourful range of companies has already settled in Aspern Seestadt.

World Champion Austria aspern Seestadt

© Luzia Puiu

Schuster: As urban developers, we don’t target How difficult is it to convince companies – them exclusively, because the right mix is imporin particular manufacturing and research – to “The excellent offer tant to us. But we appreciate their drive and settle in Aspern Seestadt? Are there incentives? in the Technology potential and see ourselves very much as a facilSchuster: The Vienna Business Agency made a Centre Seestadt itator. The many services offered by the Vienna start by constructing Component 1 of the Techand the know-how Business Agency – from funding advice and nology Centre as the very first building in See­ several calls to the Startup Academy at the stadt. Right now, work is going ahead at full of universities is Technology Centre – are also extremely valuaspeed on the third of five planned components, convincing.” ble. I can only advise start-ups to look into the and the list of tenants is really impressive. R&D Gerhard Schuster many services and pick up the know-how. The is very important here. The pilot factory for Innew Gewerbehof Seestadt is now also a perfect dustry 4.0 at ‘TZ1’ kicked off this process and location for craft businesses and manufacturing has been networking science and business in SMEs. Top facilities, efficient space plans, divided ancillary rooms, applied research for years. For the past two years, the European a large underground loading yard and much more make it the ideal Institute for Technology has also been based in the ‘Eastern Europe location for a productive place.

Hub’ of the Manufacturing division, in ‘TZ2’. It uses and expands the Seestadt’s innovation network. In the meantime, a real pull has What makes Aspern Seestadt so attractive as a research lodeveloped from this ecosystem in the field of life sciences. One bio­ cation? There are already facilities from the Vienna University of tech company has already been researching and producing in Technology and research-based biotech companies. Will there be Seestadt for two years, another started its construction in 2023 and further projects and settlements in future? a third is currently planning its first production site.

Schuster: First of all, the excellent offer in the Technology Centre Seestadt of the Business Agency itself is certainly convincing. The Are you aiming primarily at start-ups when it comes to the buildings are ideally equipped, innovators can develop pilot projects companies that are to settle in Seestadt? there and access the know-how of the universities and find cooperation partners and synergies as easily as hardly anywhere else.

The philosophy right from the start: lots of green space and sustainability.

In planning Aspern Seestadt, emphasis was placed on sustainability from the very beginning. What has been the greatest achievement in this regard so far and are there any planned lighthouse projects?

Schuster: From the very beginning, the mass management was extremely prudent and consistent. The basic idea was that as little material as possible should be transported out of or into Seestadt.

For example, 600,000 tonnes of excavated material for the lake alone were temporarily stored on site for construction or immediately processed in a separate concrete plant. Even the demolished runways could be recycled and reprocessed on site. We are currently evaluating our figures again, but in 2020 we stopped at around 280,000 HGV trips saved and an estimated 6,000 tonnes of carbon emissions saved.

With our mandatory quality standards such as the Total Quality Building-Monitoring System of the Austrian Sustainable Building Council (ÖGNB) or, more recently, the Aspern Klimafit building

© Luzia Puiu

© Luzia Puiu

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Seestadt is home to the country’s first “managed shopping street”.

standard, we are creating a level of sustainability across the board that is certainly unique in Austria. Currently, we are focusing our efforts on energy solutions that will make us in the north largely independent of the district heating grid.

Energy solutions in urban quarters will shape the future of urban development and we want to be the absolute driving force here.

It is only a few minutes by underground directly to the centre of Vienna.

“The lifestyle is unique, and many residents compare it to a holiday.”

residents and employees are supplied better and better.

Can you guarantee affordable housing in the long term in times of exploding rental costs?

Schuster: Aspern Seestadt is an extremely popular place to live and a highly sought-after inGerhard Schuster vestment. That’s why it has never been difficult to provide affordable housing in a variety of forms with and without subsidies at a very high level. Our master Please explain briefly how the ‘first managed shopping street plan and our utilisation plans provide for the creation of about in Austria’ works and is being managed. two-thirds affordable, subsidised housing. Thanks to the excellent Schuster: In a nutshell, we defined certain zones from the very becooperation with the City of Vienna in the area of planning and ginning in which mainly retail and gastronomy should be developed, social infrastructure and the corresponding investment security i.e. shopping streets. They are centrally located in the neighbourfor non-profit developers, I am very optimistic about the future. hoods, are perfectly connected to the public and invite people to Seestadt will remain affordable without sacrificing its quality stroll and cycle. The plinth areas have a mandatory height of at least standards. four metres, which is important to allow for all types of premises.

In certain highly frequented sections of these shopping streets or at Why should people move to Aspern Seestadt – what are the neuralgic points, we, together with our joint venture partner Spar three best reasons for you?

European Shopping Centers as the shopping street enterprise, are Schuster: The lifestyle is unique, and many residents compare it to both tenant and landlord to so-called shop partners. In this way, we a holiday. The infrastructure is excellent, and what you don’t find were able to ensure that a healthy local supply and gastronomy mix directly in Seestadt is easily accessible thanks to the excellent conis always guaranteed, right from the start and also during the nections. And the economic dynamism is so great that the number difficult phase of the Covid pandemic. We carry out some central of jobs on the doorstep is growing practically every day. management and services for our partners and make sure that the ◆

World Champion Austria VRVis

Visual computing from Vienna among the world’s best In Vienna’s Donaucity, people are working on the latest technology in the field of visual computing – and walking on Mars.

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ith VRVis, Vienna has an internationally recognised research facility in the field of visual computing. More than 75 researchers at the Ares Tower in Donaucity are working on the technologies of tomorrow, which go far beyond conventional virtual and augmented reality. They create customised technology solutions in close cooperation with partners from science and industry.

© VRVis

VRVis is a COMET competence centre (“Competence Centres for Excellent Technologies”) for visual computing. What does that mean?

Gerd Hesina heads the COMET Centre of Excellence for Visual Computing.

Gerd Hesina: Visual computing is an area of computer science that brings together many scientific disciplines that have to do with visual components. This ranges from computer graphics, computer vision, visual data analytics, artificial intelligence, extended reality, image processing and simulation to digital twins. In visual computing, people’s eyes are used to carry information. If you think of the eyes as a broadband connection that we use to take in information, it’s the fastest way into the brain.

One of the areas is image processing, which is about decision-making based on images.

Hesina: We use image processing and image processing algorithms, enriched with artificial intelligence, to create possibilities that were only dreamed of a few years ago. We have been working on this for more than ten years and have been able to implement many projects. We are very strong in this area in the development of AI-supported trustworthy diagnostic solutions for digital radiology. Here we focus on the combination of visualisation and artificial intelligence for better comprehension and for greater reliability of AI results. This combination of visualisation and AI is a real power couple, making satellite imagery more usable for sustainable digital agriculture, taking flood simulations to a whole new level, or driving many innovations in working with point clouds in the fields of infrastructure and construction.

Why did you settle VRVis in Vienna? The city is not exactly known as a high-tech hub.

Hesina: I wouldn’t say that. We don’t have Google or Amazon research in Vienna, that’s true. But what we do have in Vienna are special areas in which there is traditionally a lot of research, and one of them is computer graphics, which has grown a lot over the years. This development began in the 1980s and 1990s. VRVis also emerged from this environment in 2000. Together with the Vienna

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By simulating floods, emergency plans can be developed for heavy rain events and floodings.

University of Technology, the Graz University of Technology and the University of Vienna, we form one of the largest research clusters in Europe in the field of visual computing.

VRVis sees itself as a bridge between research and business.

Can you give us an example?

Hesina: We ensure a lot of knowledge transfer. If novel methods have been developed in science, that does not mean that they have already been implemented in an application or are ready for use.

That means we take methodologies and algorithms and mould them into application-oriented software. An example of this would be the flood simulation that VRVis developed for the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism and the National Insurance Association for the whole of Austria. Here we have recalculated the flood risk zones in cooperation with the Vienna University of Technology and show them interactively to make the issue more accessible for people. Based on this, emergency plans are created for heavy rain events and floodings, and scenarios are calculated, which suggest measures ranging from sandbag barriers to mobile protective walls.

Our flood simulation is also very well received in Germany, for example in Hamburg, Cologne, Rhineland-Palatinate and in East Frisia – that is knowledge transfer directly from science into an application.

Another focus is on augmented and virtual reality. Will we all soon be walking around with VR glasses?

Hesina: Even in the 1990s, the prevailing opinion was that VR technology would make a breakthrough and that in the future people would walk around with VR helmets or VR glasses.

That has not happened. Improved hardware has created completely new possibilities that are broadening the range of applications. Today, VR glasses are used for training purposes, for example, for fire protection training. In this case, the VR goggles provide a realistic representation of a fire scene without igniting fires or having to waste expensive extinguishing agents. I can experience the ‘look and feel’ of the training virtually in exactly the same way and thus practice realistically for an emergency.

We also work with retirement homes and eye specialists to make potential visual disorders and their implications in everyday life easier to understand, or with the Austrian Armed Forces in the field of remote sensing, where soldiers virtually explore distant terrain. In the same way, our 3D viewer PRo3D, which is well established in planetary research, allows geologists to walk on Mars as if they were there in real life and to examine the rock layers with precision down to the millimetre.

World Champion Austria VRVis

© VRVis

How far has the development of artificial You also deal with reconstruction. What “When you talk intelligence come? exactly does VRVis reconstruct?

Hesina: When you talk about AI, you should ask Hesina: We specialise in a wide variety of appliabout AI, you what’s under the bonnet. There is still a mathecation areas, because many fields benefit greatshould question matical model behind it that gets its data from ly from 3D reconstructions. A common denomiwhat’s under different sources. I can’t invent information, and nator of our projects is that we develop visualisneither can artificial intelligence. It may be that ation-based software solutions that massively the bonnet.” in ChatGPT, for example, apparently invented simplify the work with complex point cloud data.

Gerd Hesina information occurs because it was trained that In concrete terms, this works by using laser way in the model. But the model itself did not scanners to translate real objects into a digital invent it. We are not talking about real AI here. It will always re3D model, a so-called digital twin, which makes planning processes quire a human to control the information. and simulations very easy. Incidentally, we also use photogrammetry for this purpose, where we develop our own software to create So, there is no reason to worry about computers taking over 3D models made from photographs. the world?

Hesina: No, of course not. It always depends on how systems are Where are your simulations used, apart from flood scenarios? linked and used. But if you become totally dependent on one sysHesina: Simulations have long since arrived in everyday life. It can tem, then you will probably be dominated by it at some point. be summarised under the term Smart City, for example when we simulate traffic flows in cities. Different sensors collect data, build a What role does sustainability play in VRVis? mathematical model and create an overall picture. This could be an Hesina: This is an extremely important topic for us. We have dealt evacuation scenario at a football match in a stadium, to name just very intensively with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, of one example. which there are 17. We are proud that we already cover ten of the 17 development goals in implementation. Among them are topics such as accelerating radiological diagnostics, visual analytics for the energy industry, human-centred analysis tools for renewable energy, trustworthy AI in biomedicine, water-sensitive urban planning for Sponge Cities and blue-green infrastructure, autonomous, AIbased construction site documentation, 3D visualisation tools for space research and geology, and much more. Of course, we don’t produce photovoltaic systems or heat pumps now, but we use simulations to calculate, for example, what the energy balance of a building looks like and help planning offices to build sustainably and cost-efficiently. And we research smart climate change adaptation strategies, where visual analytics, among other things, play a major role. This involves the optimisation of power plants, the faster maintenance of turbines or the use of 3D printing in rail transport to produce spare parts more sustainably.

Up to 75 researchers work at VRVis in Vienna’s Donaucity.

A number of spin-off companies have already emerged from VRVis’ activities.

Hesina: Yes, we are very proud that start-ups have emerged from several of our research projects. These are of course, like patents,

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Walking through a 3D reconstruction of Mars’ surface – these spectacular images are also generated at the VRVis COMET centre.

very important for the continuation and establishment of research results in practical applications. Our most recent spin-off is Visplore, a visual analytics tool developed at VRVis that makes the analysis of large, heterogeneous sensor data from the industrial and the energy sector intuitive and more efficient.

Would you say that VRVis enhances Vienna as a business location?

Hesina: Definitely – on the one hand, because as a software company we employ a relatively high number of staff in the research area.

On the other hand, because as a COMET centre we are also increasingly active in the SME sector. There, we provide an important transfer service from research to business and industry, which helps to drive the digital transformation and make the business location more attractive through innovations.

Why is there a shortage of IT specialists in Austria? Do you feel it at VRVis? Hesina: We have only recently experienced something of a ‘shortage’ because the demand for our solutions has risen sharply. I could hire five new employees “IT jobs are often with well-paid contracts tomorrow. I would also say that, in contrast to the US, there is a considered somelack of both successful lighthouse projects and what unattractive digital shining lights in this country. That’s why in our country.

IT jobs are often considered somewhat unattractive here. But this reputation is completely But this reputation is unfounded and unjustified. The nerd image completely unfoundfrom the past may still have an effect here. An ed and unjustified.” image campaign would do the entire industry good. This could start in the lower grades of Gerd Hesina secondary schools.

What is the next trend in AI? Hesina: In the public eye, AI is definitely first of all continuing to be about connecting textbased AI with search functions and the like.

We are primarily focusing on optimising AI and machine learning for image and pattern recognition and making them more trustworthy and robust through customised visualisations – from manufacturing to medicine, our solutions are already indispensable assets that will become much more important in the future. ◆

World Champion Austria msg Plaut

Digital humanism in the fast-paced world of AI Georg Krause, CEO of the IT service provider msg Plaut, on the imperative of digitisation with people at its centre.

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s a specialist in digitisation, msg Plaut supports leading companies on their way into the digital world. European roots and values are cited as strengths, so that digitisation benefits people and their environment, and expands opportunities for development and fulfilment – says the msg Plaut credo. But can digital humanism stand up to big business without barriers? Georg Krause, CEO of msg Plaut, is convinced.

at the centre. We must succeed in having a social discourse that results in regulation. Hoping for the good will of the people is probably naïve, to say the least. We need framework conditions, rules on what must not be done. We have to move in this direction with all digitisation issues so that the advantages and benefits for society outweigh the risks.

The first thing to fall by the wayside in all revolutions is humanism. How is that supposed to work in a booming business like the digital world?

Krause: We don’t live in an ideal world. But we have succeeded in preventing the greatest excesses in new developments such as the Industrial Revolution. There, the positive side, the supply of people with goods, is in the foreground, and the negative downside, the exploitation of industrial workers, was regulated by appropriate labour laws. We are currently in a similar situation, which is why digital humanism is so important and is being widely taken up. For some years now, the European Union has been moving very strongly in the direction of putting the human being

© Panthermedia.net/Agsandrew

What is digital humanism, simply explained?

Georg Krause: Many people who can relate to the term ‘digital’ can also relate to humanism. Someone who has never dealt with the subject before at least has an image in mind, even if humanism is not a very sharply defined term. We must succeed in ensuring that our humanistic, humane and European values, which we have internalised and lived for ourselves over the past centuries, also remain valid in the digital world. The digital world must not tip over into a direction in which these values no longer have any meaning, are no longer taken into account and we end up in a Wild West scenario. People, their values and the good of society must be placed at the centre of digitisation.

International regulations for artificial intelligence are necessary.

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Georg Krause, CEO msg Plaut: “The topic has now also entered political discourse, which helps to create awareness.”

In the Industrial Revolution, it took decades for workers’ rights to become established. How long do we have to wait for workable rules?

Krause: Should it happen quicker and better? Yes. The question implies though that nothing is happening, which is not true. You have to look at the temporal dimensions. Digitisation in the sense of changing our lives and its effects on them has been around for about 30 years, since the advent of the internet and the resulting explosive developments. That is a relatively manageable period of time. Of course, it has to happen faster than during the Industrial Revolution, because the development is much faster. We only have to look at the past few months to see what ChatGPT has changed in terms of perception. This increases the pressure to do something.

The topic arrived in political discourse months ago, which helps in raising awareness and puts pressure on politicians to provide corresponding regulations quickly. The EU has proclaimed the Digital Decade for the years 2020 to 2030, where this is already laid down.

The Digital Decade is heading in precisely this direction. For new

matters and products, new rules are needed. That’s why I’m confident that we’re setting the course now. But of course, it should happen faster.

ChatGPT already exists since last autumn, and only months later people are starting to think about regulations – but there is nothing concrete. Won’t regulations always lag behind technical changes?

Krause: Yes, and there are various reasons for that. It starts with the fact that politicians are usually not experts in the matter and that awareness for a problem is not always there. That is inherent in the system. It also has to do with the fact that legal explanations always require precision. In addition, things change quickly, and new technologies are often not even fully developed yet, like artificial intelligence. There are good examples in the EU of how matters need to be fundamentally regulated. The line of the General Data Protection Regulation is right. It is about the protection of privacy and personal rights, and classical humanistic principles are an-

World Champion Austria

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msg Plaut

“Europe must develop a peopleand citizencentred approach in the EU’s Digital Decade.”

Until GDPR, big tech companies had been making a killing on data trading of all kinds for decades. Will we have to wait a similarly long time for AI regulations? Can we even wait that long because of the possibilities that AI opens up?

Krause: Someone who has hope will work for it and help get things moving in the right direction. That’s how I see it too. I think there are many risks, and we would do well to work on rules with pressure. We are at a crossroads. Let’s look at how digitisation has developed in the US and in China. There are two completely different political systems that have had different effects on development. In the US, it’s a company-centred, market-capitalist system; on the other hand, there’s a very autocratic, totalitarian system in which power lies with the state.

Whoever has the data ultimately has the power over the citizens.

If I have power over data and information, I have control over people. This is a blatant contradiction to every humanistic principle.

Both systems are reality and have not been put in their place.

Krause: One of the central points in the humanism approach in the EU’s Digital Decade is that we in Europe are trying to develop a counter-design, namely a people- and citizen-centred approach.

That is the key point. We believe in and want to continue to live in freedom and democracy, we want to live self-determined lives and have responsibility over our own data. When I give away my data, it is my decision and not that of a third party. That is a clear goal of the EU. I am hopeful that we will succeed in finding a European way. If we do not succeed, we have lost.

Doesn’t living digital humanism go hand in hand with competitive disadvantages due to the necessary self-restraints?

Krause: On the contrary. It is our only chance to put people at the centre of digitisation and thereby develop a sustainable economic model. In the short term, we have lost. We are nowhere near the market capitalisation of the largest companies and have long since

Georg Krause

been left behind by Asia and the US. Even in start-ups and unicorns, China has twice as many as Europe. Our only chance is to bring in a counter-draft. It won’t be as fast as the capitalist approach in the US, but hopefully it will be more sustainable. The highly criticised GDPR is already being copied in some US states. It has been recognised that after an initial pioneering phase of a Wild West approach, rules are also necessary. If the development continues in this direction, we Europeans have a chance to play a role again.

Will people sacrifice part of their prosperity for humanistic rules?

Krause: I don’t believe that digital humanism entails a loss of prosperity. Europe is still the largest economic area in the world, and as long as we can enforce our regulations on companies that want to do business with us, there is no loss of prosperity. We can demand that others play by the rules, and that benefits our citizens. ◆

© FH Technikum Wien/Martin Nußbaum

chored there. This also applies to artificial intelligence. There are already EU ethical guidelines for AI, but ChatGPT has massively accelerated the development and will also accelerate the implementation of guidelines.

Georg Krause vehemently advocates digital humanism in practice.

Pharma in Austria is world class!  Which companies are doing research and what is being researched on?  Who has pharmaceutical production facilities in Austria?  Which companies invest in Austria?

Discover Austria as a pharma industry location: pharmastandort.at

World Champion Austria Biomay

Cutting-edge biotech on demand from Vienna Programmable bacteria and genetic scissors create the basis for Covid vaccines and personalised cancer therapies.

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he history of Biomay AG began in the 1980s, when the company was mainly involved in allergens and allergy therapies.

Since 2019, the company has focused exclusively on contract manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals as a CDMO company (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation). With a focus on plasmid DNA, messenger RNA (mRNA) and recombinant proteins, the company, based at Seestadt Aspern in Vienna, is at the spearhead of the latest developments in the biotech sector. Biomay produces personalised cancer therapeutics and a starting material for Biontech/Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine against Covid-19. Biomay CEO Hans Huber gives us a behind-the-scenes look at cutting-edge biotechnology and its future.

Could you briefly explain your business model?

Hans Huber: Biomay AG is a biopharmaceutical company. We deal with biotechnology in the context of the pharmaceutical industry.

However, we are not active in the research industry, but in the manufacturing industry. A researching pharmaceutical company is not automatically a company that is also good at producing its own developed products. That is our job. We are a contract manufacturer for the production of biopharmaceuticals – such as recombinant proteins, messenger RNA and plasmid DNA – using biotechnological methods. Our microorganisms, mostly bacteria, are the cell factories. We use the synthesis and production capacity of bacteria, the workhorse being Escherichia coli (E. coli). These E. coli cells produce recombinant proteins, DNA and the like for us.

© Biomay

Do pharmaceutical companies come to you with their developments?

Huber: Pharmaceutical companies, biotech companies and also start-ups usually approach us with a precise definition of their product, but they usually only have a rough idea of how to produce it. We have this production know-how, and we use it together with our experience to manufacture products for other biotech companies.

Hans Huber is at the helm of the successful biotech company.

Your company history already began in the 1980s.

Huber: The company was actually founded as early as 1984, making Biomay one of the oldest genuine biotech companies in Austria. The founding focus was on allergies and the production of allergens using biotechnological methods. In the process, molecular biology and genetically modified bacteria produce a so-called recombinant allergen, such as the birch pollen allergen, for research purposes.

That was long before my time. We still sell allergens today, but it has become a niche business. Then, Biomay got involved in the product development of vaccines against allergic diseases. We start-

© Biomay

© Biomay

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State-of-the-art biotechnology: At Seestadt Aspern in Vienna’s Donaustadt district, Biomay works with plasmid DNA, messenger RNA and recombinant proteins.

ed this business line in 2009, when we manufactured our own clinical trial products in our own facility. Subsequently, the business idea arose to use our production facilities for other companies as well. As a result, Biomay became profitable in the mid-2010s. We then decided to sell the allergy product division and be a pure contract manufacturer. After a parallel operation, we have been a pure CDMO company, a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation, since 2019.

Biomay deals with three product groups. What are the recombinant proteins?

Huber: Proteins are the molecules of life and often involved in the course of diseases. That is why certain proteins are generally important for therapies. Biomay produces such proteins recombinantly.

Here is an example: We know insulin from diabetes therapy. Diabetics lack this insulin protein, their body cells cannot produce it themselves. A diabetic must be injected with insulin. In the past, this therapeutic insulin was extracted from the pancreases of pigs. At the end of the 1970s, a method was developed to produce insulin artificially using cloned microorganisms (recombinantly). In this process, bacterial or yeast cells are reprogrammed to produce insulin inside their cells. Since then, production processes have been used in which Escherichia coli bacteria or Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast fungi are used to produce insulin biotechnologically so that it

can be used as a drug. We are not using this process principle for insulin, but for novel protein products. We reprogramme bacterial cells to produce a certain protein, cultivate them in a bioreactor to multiply them. Then the cells are broken open, usually mechanically, and the protein is extracted from inside the cell. This active agent is our product, which we supply to pharmaceutical companies and which they fill into a final container.

Another business field is plasmid DNA. Huber: In the past decades, the novel field of gene therapy emerged.

We produce DNA in the form of ring-shaped plasmids. This plasmid ring is also found in the Biomay logo. The plasmids are multiplied in bacteria. The resulting DNA can be used in many ways. It can be used directly as an active agent, because the proteins ultimately derive from DNA. If a plasmid is administered to a patient, he produces the protein himself after the intermediate step via the mRNA. Therefore, you could treat a diabetic with a corresponding plasmid and he produces the insulin with the help of his own body cells. This is how the basic principle of gene therapy and DNA vaccination works, in which the patient is not given the therapeutic protein itself, but the genetic information for the production of this protein.

However, the plasmid DNA can also be used as starting material for a vaccine. This principle has been widely known since the Covid pandemic.

World Champion Austria Biomay

“Biomay is involved in novel gene scissors that were awarded with a Nobel Prize.

Details, however, are subject to secrecy.”

So, the Covid vaccine actually comes from Biomay?

Huber: I have to put that into perspective. Only part of their total requirements came from us, we were not the only supplier. But a substantial part of the starting material for the production of the vaccine came from Biomay.

But in all this, the mRNA does not interfere with human DNA? Huber: No, because this path is only possible from DNA to RNA; it doesn’t work the other way around, at least in the human cell. The RNA is not incorporated into the DNA. Do you also use the famous gene scissors in production, which have been causing a stir for some time?

Huber: Simple types of gene scissors, which are only used to cut DNA, have been around for some time. Biomay is indeed involved in those novel gene scissors that received a Nobel Prize in 2020, but I can’t say too much about it for reasons of secrecy. I can say this much though: We are making the gene scissors CRISPR/Cas9 for a company. Cas9 is a smart gene scissor that becomes individually programmable by a short RNA code (‘guide RNA’). This makes it possible to cut, insert or correct something at very specific points in the genome.

This can be used, for example, to correct a disease that is based on the mutation of a single protein, such as when the protein is missing or defective. This involves taking spinal cord cells and then using the gene scissors to perform what is known as gene editing.

Biomay is active in many more areas than popularly known.

Huber: The customer doesn’t always have an interest in project details leaking out to the public, or they like to be in charge of communication themselves. We are also bound by confidentiality agreements. Publicity is not our highest priorHans Huber ity. However, we are already very proud of our gene scissors because this project is relatively far advanced and will soon be approved for the market.

You work with E. coli bacteria. That probably rings alarm bells among many people.

Huber: E. coli is a bacterium that exists naturally in the intestinal tract of higher organisms, such as vertebrates. It is a certain component of the natural intestinal microbiome, which is why it is also used as a faecal indicator in drinking water analysis. There are also pathogenic, i.e. disease-causing, E. coli strains that can cause various small intestinal diseases. We do not use these pathogenic strains, and our laboratory strains do not possess these pathogenic properties. They are all in the lowest, i.e. safest, biological safety level and are ‘good’ E. coli bacteria, so to speak. As early as the 1970s, the first protein was cloned using E. coli, and the bacterium is still one of the workhorses in biotechnological production. E. coli is one of the best-studied organisms there is, easy to handle, and it has been around for many years.

© Biomay

Plasmid DNA is related to your third product group, messenger RNA? Huber: The mRNA is the third important class of molecules that we produce. The fundamental biological information in all cells is DNA, the genetic code. DNA is transcribed into mRNA, messenger RNA. The messenger RNA is then translated into the protein. This is the fundamental, biological principle of the flow of genetic information: from DNA, to mRNA, to protein. Plasmid DNA is also used for biotechnological production of mRNA. In this process, a piece of DNA, the DNA template, is transcribed in vitro in the bioreactor. The process is called in vitro transcription of RNA. So, we produce plasmid DNA, prepare it so that it is suitable as a starting material for mRNA production, and deliver it to the customer. During the pandemic, we supplied Biontech/Pfizer mRNA vaccine with a starting template for their mRNA vaccine against Covid.

The production facility of Biomay AG in Vienna‘s 22nd district.

© Biomay

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The new production facility was completed in December 2021.

How did your relatively new location at Seestadt Aspern come about?

Huber: We didn’t complete and move into the facility here until December 2021, although our production facility in Lazarettgasse in Vienna still exists. Here, the premises are much larger. We were made very welcome at Seestadt from the start and have established a small biotech hub here. Across from Biomay, a Hookipa Biotech site will be built, and Takeda Pharmaceutical will also settle nearby.

Is there enough young talent in Austria in your field?

Huber: It used to be easier to find good and enough staff, especially when a company is growing like ours. In Austria, and especially in the Vienna area, there are traditional universities on the one hand, and relatively new universities of applied sciences covering biotechnology, bioengineering and others on the other. The offer of practical and scientific training opportunities and the number of graduates with good qualifications is there. There is also a labour market, there are global corporations and start-ups operating in Vienna.

Do the conditions for Austria as a business location need to be improved?

Huber: I don’t want to complain, because the City of Vienna is doing a lot for the life sciences sector and for settlements. But there are other provinces in Austria that neglect this or set other priorities.

Lower Austria has also done a lot in the past decades, biotech hubs

and life sciences centres have been established in Tulln, Krems and Klosterneuburg. As I mentioned, the range of educational institutions is large, and the base and know-how of graduates is available.

Companies are supported at the start and in the early phases of research. When it comes to the clinical phases and towards market launch, the capital market in Austria is rather underdeveloped.

However, we are not affected by this, because we want to grow organically under our own steam and not take in external investors.

We have managed to do this very well so far.

What can we expect from Biomay in the near future?

Huber: We are active in the manufacturing sector and can implement innovations within the scope of the products we manufacture. But we are driven by the innovations of our customers. Here I definitely see revolutionary developments, such as in gene therapies, Covid vaccines, mRNA products or gene editing with CRISPR/Cas9. We are living in exciting times. In addition, there is the personalised production of active agents. Here, our customer designs a patient-specific plasmid or vaccine, and we produce a batch for just one tumour patient. These are highly innovative therapies and products. In the future, the field of synthetic DNA could become interesting, which is no longer produced biotechnically, but precisely enzymatically-synthetically, which brings a number of advantages. That seems to be the next big step. In the next five years, we will see products that we don’t even know about today. ◆

World Champion Austria Deepassist

How an AI from Vienna became a global top 5 product “Deepassist” is the name of an artificial intelligence that answers both written and telephone customer enquiries.

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© deepassist

eing among the top five in natural language technologies worldwide is a great success for Deepassist. Founded by Roland Fleischhacker, it is a major player when it comes to AI in text and speech recognition.

The AI is pre-trained and immediately usable for every channel a customer may have. A real-world example shows how Deepassist radically accelerates customer service: The City of Vienna’s “Stadt Wien - Wiener Wohnen” is one of the largest property management companies in Europe, where 550,000 customers are serviced around the clock, dealing with about 1,000 different issues. Deepassist supports the agents in real time – which greatly reduces the handling time and significantly increases the resolution rate after the first call or email. In addition, training new employees now only takes a few days instead of weeks.

CEO Roland Fleischhacker explains what is behind this groundbreaking technology and where it is already successfully in use.

Roland Fleischhacker is at the top in AI technology.

What does Deepsearch do in conjunction with Deepassist?

Roland Fleischhacker: We have a product called Deepassist, and the name says it all. The term ‘deep’ has stood for artificial intelligence applications for some time. When we invented the name Deepsearch in 2010, this metaphor did not yet exist. Our objective is for a machine to be able to interpret texts on a human level.

Language in the broadest sense, whether written or spoken, is an omnipresent thing in both private and business environments. If language can be interpreted in an automated way, a lot of applications arise. Documents can be better classified and retrieved. This applies to email, but also to telephone conversations. It supports communication and, if necessary, also automates it. Here, ‘deep’ stands for AI and ‘assist’ for the fact that we want to help companies support processes with it.

How can you help companies?

Fleischhacker: In many different ways. For example, with emails that are read and understood by the AI and forwarded to the right person for processing. That is our simplest use case.

How does Deepassist recognise that?

Fleischhacker: It reads the text and transforms the most important elements – what is it about and the most important information – into a defined format. This makes it readable and understandable for other systems, which then process it. For example, if someone wants to cancel their mobile phone contract, there is a customer number, a contract number and the date of the desired contract cancellation. Then the information is transferred to a mail or ticketing system. This system takes this information in a structured form and starts a certain workflow. A further step is if the AI has already identified exactly what is involved and all the required information is already available. This information is then not forwarded to a person but processed automatically.

© deepsearch

© deepsearch

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The Deepassist cloud makes the AI system work, which can take on repetitive tasks in particular – such as in service centres.

So incoming texts are answered automatically?

Fleischhacker: Yes. We often even have to include a time delay, because the customer would not understand why their request is dealt with and answered immediately, within a few seconds.

Can Deepassist also have conversations, or does it only provide answers?

Fleischhacker: We don’t do conversations, but we can connect our system to a chatbot that is capable of having conversations.

Does that work with all languages?

Fleischhacker: In theory, yes. We have developed our own technology that works completely differently from 99 percent of other systems that are based on neural networks. Our AI is semantic and pragmatic, and does not react to static patterns but actually understands what it is about. The system can also read between the lines. We are currently patenting this technology for the American market.

How high is the error rate with Deepassist?

Fleischhacker: There is a kind of glass ceiling in recognition, which is about 95 to 98 percent.

Where can this type of AI be used?

Fleischhacker: Mainly in customer service, but also in employee service. Especially in customer service, customers are often not able or willing enough to communicate exactly what they want. They often can’t put their request into words, but only explain symptoms or beat around the bush. Here, our system hypothesises what the customer actually wants to communicate. This works not only with emails, but also with calls in real time.

What an empathically talented person can normally do, the machine can also do?

Fleischhacker: Exactly. It prepares the information, and an employee can then proactively approach the customer. This significantly improves the customer experience if the system has already told you what the customer wants without him saying it.

Are there sometimes wrong answers?

Fleischhacker: No, it’s more likely that the answer is ambiguous.

If a telephone call is not clear, it often requires a query. But we have included many expressions from the Viennese dialect in the system, so that we also understand dialect-specific words. We also have to recognise when someone means something different from what they say. For example, many people still talk about a standing order when making payments, although they mean a SEPA mandate.

Can Deepassist be the solution to the shortage of employees at call centres?

Fleischhacker: Yes, because at the moment you can hardly get staff. The customers’ expectations are growing, and the tasks are becoming more and more complex. Our system brings great advantages, especially for high-frequency and highly repetitive enquiries, particularly via email. These are, for example, complaints, changes of account numbers and the like. Manual processing of such emails takes between seven and nine minutes, in our case two CPU seconds.

World Champion Austria Deepassist

© deepsearch

“Our system brings How long does Deepsearch need to train a Deepassist application to make it usable for a great advantages, customer? How long does the programming especially with process take? highly repetitive Fleischhacker: Customers don’t want long, enquiries via expensive or risky products. That’s why one of the basic premises in the development of Deeemail.” passist from the very beginning was that it Roland Fleischhacker should be very simple, very quick to implement and transparent. The customer service of a bank is completely different from that of an investment bank, an energy supplier or an online shop. We call this domain language. So, I have to recognise what the customer is saying, i.e. understand the domain language, and I have to know the solution processes that trigger certain requirements. We deliver this in the form of industry solutions.

We have pre-programmed systems that not only understand what the customer is saying, but also a solution catalogue of process templates that varies from customer to customer. At Stadtwerke Hamm, a customer in Germany, the implementation of our industry solution for energy suppliers took only five days.

Other providers can only do that in months. So, there are ready-to-use industry solutions, such as for facility services of large property management companies with 15,000 or more residential units and public transport, such as railways or airlines. We are currently workThe knowledge graph maps words and their meanings as nodes.

ing on industry solutions for insurance companies and retail banking.

Can individual industry solutions be transferred from one country to another?

Fleischhacker: Yes. There are certain topics that are cross-sectoral, such as address changes or changes in bank accounts. As far as languages are concerned, it’s more a matter of culture.

Italians speak much more when calling a call centre, make more small talk than people from other countries. This makes it more difficult because the longer a conversation goes on and it’s not about the actual subject of the call, the more hypotheses the system makes about what it might actually be about. Then the system needs more context to be able to identify what it is really about. We have developed a system based on semantic building blocks – similar to Lego. So, there is a box full of building blocks and we deliver a model.

Individual parts of it can be rebuilt individually for the customer with the same building blocks.

Which markets is Deepsearch focusing on?

Fleischhacker: Today it is the German-speaking world. 2023 is the preparatory year for us to go beyond this region. ◆

World Champion Austria

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Companies introduce themselves

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The Timber Family is growing and growing Greenbuilding. UBM focuses uncompromisingly on timber construction projects. More than 300,000 square metres are already in the works.

“Timber Family” PROJECT

LOCATION

ASSET CLASS

GROSS FLOOR AREA

Timber Pioneer

Frankfurt

Office

17,600 m2

Timber Factory

Munich

Office

57,600 m2

Timber Peak

Mainz

Office

9,500 m2

Timber View

Mainz

Residential

17,000 m2

Timber Port

Düsseldorf

Office

10,900 m2

Timber Praha

Prague

Residential

7,400 m2

SCAN QR-CODE AND SEE HOW WE DID IT © Eike Becker Architekten

The largest space let in Frankfurt in the first half of 2023 comes from UBM: around 10,000 square metres of office space at Timber Pioneer, Frankfurt’s first office building in timber hybrid construction. “This shows that we are spot on with our strategy and absolute focus on timber construction projects, both ecologically and economically,” says UBM CEO Thomas G. Winkler.

The eight-storey Timber Pioneer is the first offspring of an entire Timber Family. By the end of next year, the foundations for five more family members will be laid. In addition to the Timber Family, UBM has seven other timber construction projects in the works. In Vienna, for example, it will build the Timber Marina Tower, a 113-metre-high office tower as a sustainable timber hybrid construction – the tallest timber high-rise in the world as things stand today.

In total, UBM is currently developing more than 300,000 square metres of timber construction, thereof slightly more than half in the office asset class and the remainder in the residential class. “We want to become the leading developer of timber construction projects in Europe,” says Winkler. The uncompromising focus on timber construction is a logical consequence of the Group’s strategy “green. smart. and more”; it aims for the de-

velopment of sustainable, intelligent and aesthetically sophisticated real estate.

Compared to conventional construction methods, timber construction has three major advantages: • By using wood as a building material, theoretically up to two billion tonnes of CO2 can be saved annually: While enormous amounts of CO2 are emitted during the production of concrete and steel, wood stores CO2.

• A large part of the work, namely the production of the wooden elements, takes place in a factory. The assembly on the building site is not only much faster, quieter, safer and cleaner than on a conventional building site, but also cheaper due to the systematised modular pre-production.

• Timber construction projects enable higher revenues both in sales and rentals. The reason being EU taxonomy and ESG massively and irreversibly steering international financial flows towards green activities.

Timber Pioneer Frankfurt’s first office building in timber hybrid construction

Facts & Figures UBM Development is one of the leading developers of timber construction projects in Europe. The strategic focus is on green building and smart offices in major cities such as Vienna, Munich, Frankfurt and Prague. The platinum rating from EcoVadis and the prime status from ISS ESG confirm our consistent focus on sustainability. With 150 years of experience, UBM offers all development services from a single source, from planning to marketing. The shares are listed in the Prime Market of the Vienna Stock Exchange, the segment with the highest transparency requirements.

UBM Development AG Laaer-Berg-Str. 43, 1100 Wien ubm@ubm-development.com www.ubm-development.com

World Champion Austria

Barmherzige Brüder / Brothers Hospitallers

Artificial intelligence and digitisation in hospitals The Order of the Brothers Hospitallers operates a wide variety of medical facilities with state-of-the-art technology.

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he Order of the Brothers Hospitallers, known as Barmherzige Brüder in German, operates around 400 health and social care facilities on all continents. In the spirit of hospitality, 981 friars, about 64,000 full-time and 29,000 volunteers care for the sick and elderly, people with disabilities, people at the end of their life, people battling with drug addiction, homeless people and children who need help. The Brothers Hospitallers Austria (with locations also in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary) work with almost 9,400 employees in the spirit of the order’s founder John of God (1495-1550). Without regard to a person’s origin, nationality, religion, gender or social status, the Brothers Hospitallers want to be there for all those in need of help and support people. Director Adolf Inzinger tells us more.

The Brothers Hospitallers have existed as a Catholic order for more than 450 years. What does this historical heritage mean to you and how does it affect your daily work?

Adolf Inzinger: Soon after the death of our order’s founder, the first friars took Christian hospitality to all continents – starting from Iberian Europe and, through the seafarers of Spain and Portugal, very soon also to South America. In 1605, the order’s first hospital north of the Alps was founded in Valtice in what is now the Czech Republic, and a dense network of branches soon developed in Central and Northern Europe, which in its heyday stretched from the Baltic to Northern Italy and from Westphalia to the Banat. The services offered were always adapted to medical and nursing progress, so that today the order is one of the most progressive in Europe. Based on all the good things of the past we can lead the institutions into a good future today.

© Wolfstudios

How would you characterise the Brothers Hospitallers?

Inzinger: I think the following two formulations hit the mark – courageously and innovatively helping where we are needed, further developing our tradition and actively carrying it into the future.

Director Adolf Inzinger heads the Brothers Hospitallers Austria.

How do you deal with the shortage of skilled workers in the health sector?

Inzinger: Attracting more people to nursing is one of the most important goals of Austrian health policy. The Brothers Hospitallers have been involved in training for centuries. Currently, the facilities in Kainbach and Kritzendorf are offering lateral entrants the opportunity to train as nursing assistants while working. Our hospital in Linz has also started a similar model in cooperation with the BFI institute. The Hospital of Brothers Hospitallers Eisenstadt, in turn, has been promoting midwife training for many years. The Elisabethinen Hospital in Klagenfurt and the Brüderkrankenhaus Vienna cooperate with regional universities of applied sciences and enable

© Strom

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Digitisation and artificial intelligence have long since found their way into modern medicine; data security is extremely important.

students to gain experience in training stations lasting several weeks. The Austrian Province of the Order has been cooperating with the Indian Province in training nurses for almost 40 years.

While in the first decades members of the order came to Austria for training, in the future academically trained nurses from India will come to work in our hospitals and care facilities.

What is your experience as an employer with the influx of foreign workers?

Inzinger: One of the biggest hurdles to being able to work in Austria, apart from learning the German language, is the procedure for the recognition of foreign qualifications, the so-called nostrification, the residence and employment permit and, for members of the health and nursing professions as well as the higher medical-technical services, the registration in the health professionals registry.

We are in a very competitive environment in an important segment of the labour market for health professions. It would be important that the procedures for obtaining a work permit in Austria, which are certainly necessary, are streamlined and simplified in the sense of a one-stop shop.

Is it difficult to work in a multicultural environment?

Inzinger: As already mentioned, mastering the German language is indispensable, and yes, there are clearly also differences in culture and mentality. But what unites us is again the example of our order’s founder. He lived in a time when the Moors were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula and during pogroms against Jews. And what did he do? Under the archway of the house of a friendly Moorish family, today one would say in the driveway of the house, he began to care for people in need. For him, the person seeking help was in the foreground, not his origin, social status or religion.

From your point of view, how has the health system changed over the past decades? What are the big trends?

Inzinger: I would like to highlight the areas of cooperation, interdisciplinarity and digitisation. The past two decades have been characterised by new types of cooperation in the health system like never before. The construction of the Vienna Donaustadt Dialysis Centre as a cooperation project of the Vienna Convent of the Brothers Hospitallers with the Austrian Health Insurance Fund and the Vienna Health Association, for example. Or the cooperation in the

World Champion Austria

Barmherzige Brüder / Brothers Hospitallers

Elisabeth Hospice in Linz and Ried im Innkreis, which also spans several institutions; the founding of a laboratory network in Graz, the cooperation with the Elisabethinen Hospital in Klagenfurt or the opening of external, dislocated outpatient clinics such as in Zeltweg or in Dunajská Lužná and Pezinok in Slovakia are projects of unprecedented quality.

“Digitisation started in the facilities of the Brothers Hospitallers twenty years ago.”

How does digitisation change the everyday life of a health facility?

Inzinger: The Covid pandemic is considered a driver of digitisation. Online trade is booming, online meetings are reducing business trips, and administrative procedures are increasingly being carried out digitally and from home. In the Austrian facilities of the Brothers Hospitallers, however, digitisation already took hold more than 20 years ago. The initial spark was the introduction of digital nursing documentation in 2002. New software modules have been introduced continuously. And since 2017, we have completely paperless, multimedia and digital patient documentation.

What was only a vision in the beginning is now reality and unthinkable without it. Completely paperless, multimedia digital patient documentation exists in all hospitals, retirement homes and care facilities of the Brothers Hospitallers Austria. Patient histories, including fever charts, nursing documentation, medication data,

images and findings from medical equipment, findings brought in by patients and much more, are available in a single interface for medical, care and therapeutic services. With this interdisciplinary project, which is probably unique in its entirety, the Brothers Hospitallers are setting a milestone for optimal patient care in the German-speaking world.

Adolf Inzinger

Does artificial intelligence also play a role in healthcare?

Inzinger: At present, it is increasingly coming to the fore. This is mainly due to the fact that a lot of data accumulates in the healthcare sector that is difficult to evaluate using conventional means. At our Linz hospital, for example, we are the first in Austria to have a computer tomograph whose software analyses the data using artificial intelligence after examining the brain and can thus detect strokes. The evaluation of health data by means of AI can certainly help the health system in the future to recognise certain events earlier and to react to them, or to gain new insights relevant to health policy from the wealth of Austria-wide data.

However, it is very important to me to emphasise that all data may only be used in strict compliance with data protection and that in the patient-oriented area AI-based findings or recommendations must be validated again by a person authorised and qualified to do so.

© Juhasz

How did you manage to implement this project smoothly in the facilities?

Inzinger: The high level of acceptance of digital documentation from the very beginning is primarily based on the involvement of staff in the continuous further development of the individual software products in order to create solutions from practice for practice.

The Brothers Hospitallers received their EMAS certification in 2022.

What role does sustainability play in hospitals that consume a lot of energy and water?

Inzinger: Environmental protection and sustainability are fundamental concerns of the Brothers Hospitallers. For example, a text of the Order from the year 2000 already states that we must ‘develop strategies that promote a responsible approach to the environment that belongs to all of us and is entrusted to us only for stewardship’. The environmental management of the Brothers Hospitallers therefore extends to all areas of the facilities and ranges from

Sustainable: the PV system on the hospital in St. Vitus.

© Pedro de Raxis

© hf-Fotos

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Founder of the Order, Saint John of God (1495-1550).

of the friars in Madang (Papua New Guinea), who the purchase of regional food to the collection of are involved in special programmes in the social waste materials and photovoltaic systems. Cli“Our facilities sector, or the ‘Hostel of St. John of God’ centre in mate protection is therefore possible almost are places of hope Quito (Ecuador), which cares for the homeless everywhere, even in an operating theatre, where and Christian and mentally ill adults without relatives. For we have recently started recycling anaesthetic more than a year, the Brothers in Drohobycz in hospitality.” gases. In addition to our staff, a central purchasUkraine have been caring for the people around ing department is a key position in environmenAdolf Inzinger their monastery and looking after internally distal protection. A procurement catalogue for the placed persons. This list could be extended to sustainable purchase of medical and nursing many more places, such as Batibo (Cameroon), Tanguieta (Burkina consumables was developed with the central purchasing departFaso) or Nampula (Mozambique), where civil war is raging and jiment and introduced at all sites. hadist groups are active.

The friars and staff deliberately stay in these places and try to What fascinates you personally about the Order of Brothers Hospimaintain health care or social care for the local population. They tallers? choose to stay by the side of the population and risk their own Inzinger: That the facilities of the Brothers Hospitallers are places health or even their lives for other people – such as during the last of hope. Christian hospitality is the basic mission of the Brothers outbreak of Ebola in West Africa. For me, it is always moving to Hospitallers. This has always included that the Brothers, in addition experience how employees in Austria show solidarity for these to caring for and treating sick people, also help those who are on the religious institutions. Fundraising, information events or flea marfringes of society or for whose suffering and need no one else feels kets are organised to help sick and needy people in other parts of responsible. Brothers and staff live and work according to this printhe world. ciple in many places around the world. I am thinking, for example, ◆

MISSION VORWÄRTS:

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World Champion Austria ÖBB Rail Cargo Group

Europe’s leading rail logistics comes from Austria Transport companies in 13 European countries with about 1,270 trains transport 88.4 million net tonnes of cargo every day.

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he 2020s will bring the renaissance of rail freight transport – we are shaping the future”, says Clemens Först, Spokesman of the Board of Management of ÖBB’s Rail Cargo Group.

Agricultural goods, motor vehicles, building materials, hazardous chemical goods, wood, paper and steel are just some of the things that more than 5,800 employees send on their way every year in 24,231 freight wagons at 16 Rail Cargo terminals. The energy crisis and the fight against climate change make rail transport an indispensable factor in logistics. Clemens Först gives an insight into the corporate philosophy.

When you hear the term ÖBB Rail Cargo Group, you think primarily of cargo trains, but it encompasses an international logistics group. Please briefly outline the most important parts of the company.

Clemens Först: We are the sustainable logistics backbone of the economy and the leading rail logistics provider in Europe. We offer our customers multimodal end-to-end logistics solutions from the first to the last mile for a wide range of industries across the entire Eurasian continent. We not only take care of transport itself, but also of additional logistics services such as trans­ shipment, storage and customs clearance. This distinguishes us from pure rail freight companies. We are operating in 18 countries, most recently also in Serbia and China with our own subsidiaries.

How much does classic rail freight transport account for in your company?

Först: If the definition of classic rail freight transport means raw materials transport, then the share is around 60 percent. The remaining percentages are mainly made up of intermodal and multimodal transports.

© Gianmaria Gava

What are the most frequent transports or destinations?

Först: In 2022, we handled more than a third of the net tonnes transported in the steel, building materials and mineral oil industries. Our main markets are Austria and Hungary as well as the three main axes through Austria – the Danube, Semmering and Brenner. 80 percent of our transport is international.

Clemens Först, Spokesman of the Board of ÖBB’s Rail Cargo Group

How many trains and wagons of the Rail Cargo Group are on the move every day?

Först: Every year, we bring around 464,000 trains safely to their destination, which means 1,270 trains every day.

© Hanno Thurnher

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1,270 Rail Cargo Group trains roll through Europe every day, making the Austrian logistics company the leading provider on the continent.

Will the Rolling Road (ROLA, Rollende Landstraße) retain its importance in times of electrification?

Först: Diesel versus electricity is not a unique selling point for the use of the ROLA. There are numerous reasons why hundreds of thousands of trucks use the ROLA to cross the Alps: Rest periods, saving on tolls, noise and congestion avoidance, various driving bans for trucks over 7.5 tonnes such as holiday travel bans, weekend driving bans or night driving bans, permit quota for EU third countries and many more. With 2.5 million trucks in transit through the Brenner Pass each year, and that number is going up, the issue of truck relocation will continue to play a major role: Not only in terms of the environment and safety, but also in order to preserve the quality of life of the local residents.

Furthermore, we assume that electric mobility will not replace combustion technology in long-distance freight transport in the short to medium term.

With your end-to-end delivery, could you theoretically replace the Rolling Road or take over the last mile?

Först: The shipping industry makes the choice of transport mode.

Due to the lack of incentives in many neighbouring countries, the

choice of the shipper or his forwarder falls on truck transport. This is where ROLA comes in as a link in the road haulier’s transport chain for a section of international road freight transport through Austria. The goal must be to create fair framework conditions to handle the entire transport mainly by rail and only the proverbial first and last mile by road.

What are the advantages of the container terminals you operate?

Först: The terminals along central corridors and the most important national economic centres form the central link in an integrated intermodal transport chain. We thus create the basis for a broad range of services and ensure efficient coordination between shippers, forwarders, operators as well as rail transport companies, but also shipping companies. From the handling of intermodal loading units to the collection and delivery of trains and wagon groups, we reliably offer the entire range of services from a single source, with our core task being the handling of containers, swap bodies and semi-trailers. Terminal capacities are crucial for the performance of our intermodal TransNET and the individual TransFER connections.

Within ÖBB, we are therefore constantly expanding und developing our existing terminals.

World Champion Austria ÖBB Rail Cargo Group

© David Payr

energy projects in Bandirma in Turkey. For the Transport by rail is already being considered “In Austria, we use Vienna-Freudenau warehouse, we invest in reenvironmentally friendly. Can the Rail Cargo gional projects in the Karwendel Nature Park in Group become even greener, and how?

100 percent green Austria. In addition, we support a certified forest Först: Rail is per se the most sustainable means traction current for conservation project in Brazil. of transport – if only because it enables emisRail Cargo Group The many certificates and ratings in the aresion-free freight transport. The ÖBB Rail Cargo as of corporate social responsibility and sustainGroup alone saves one million tonnes of CO2 per transports.” ability show that we are on the right track, such year in Austria with its freight transport servicClemens Först as ‘Gold’ at EcoVadis, ‘Very Good’ at the ESG es, and this figure is even higher throughout rating of imug | rating, the increase from a C to Europe. In Austria, we use 100 percent green a B rating at the prestigious CDP rating and B- at the Rail Sustaintraction current for transports. ability Index.

We also implement various measures to optimise capacity utilisation in freight transport. The measures range from longer and The shortage of skilled workers is obvious in the transport inheavier trains to training of drivers and innovative wagon materials. dustry, too. How strongly do you feel the lack of staff and what After all, modern wagon materials make it possible to transport measures do you take to counteract it? more tonnage and thus save energy. Routes are also regularly opFörst: There is no question of a shortage of staff. It is true is that timised, and we try to avoid empty runs. we have a high demand for new colleagues. Altogether, ÖBB has In addition, we operate our warehouse sites in Vienna-Freude42,600 employees working in bus and rail as well as an additional nau and Lenzing in a climate-neutral manner. We record green2,000 apprentices in 130 different professions. By 2028, we at ÖBB house gas emissions there, reduce them continuously and offset will have taken on around 18,000 new colleagues. This is partly due unavoidable emissions by investing in climate protection projects. to generational change – around one fifth of the current workforce With the climate neutrality of the Lenzing site, we support wind will retire in the next few years. This means that around 40 percent of the entire workforce will change. We have been aware of these developments for a long time, which is why we have stepped up training and recruitment in the past decade. Every year, we look for around 3,000 new employees for our future-oriented jobs. We offer comprehensive opportunities for work-life balance, flexible working time models, a wide range of career opportunities, health management and much more.

Sustainability is also a priority at Rail Cargo Group.

There are twelve men and one woman on your management board. Are there too few qualified women in the logistics sector?

How do you try to get more women into management?

Först: Women are a crucial part of our company’s success, and we are convinced that diverse teams make us stronger. We have therefore set ourselves the goal of increasing the proportion of women in the ÖBB Group from currently 15 to 17 percent by 2027.

In Austrian freight transport, the share of women is currently at around 37 percent. We want to make ÖBB, which is traditionally male-dominated, more female and are aware that managers in particular are important role models. Therefore, we also want to include more women in these positions and promote women in-

The Rail Cargo Group BILK terminal in Budapest, Hungary

© ÖBB Thurnher

© Zoltan Iro

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The Rolling Road (ROLA) combines road and rail transport.

but also with multimodal end-to-end logistics solutions for industriternally. In concrete terms, we are implementing a wide range of al customers. We can offer intermodal transports, trucking, customs measures to achieve this. For example, a women’s network has clearance, transshipment including additional forwarding services been established to promote exchange and networking within the and more for the entire Eurasian region. It therefore goes without company. In addition to an equal opportunities officer, there is also saying that we do not see the intermodal rail a mentoring programme for female managers. connection between China and Europe as comWe are very pleased that our Group has recent“We offer our petition, but as a perfect complement to our inly taken an important step: since 1 July, we tra-European TransNET. have had a woman as Chief Financial Officer of customers end-toÖBB Holding for the first time. end logistics as an Is there anything you cannot transport? environmentally Först: If the goods being transported do not China wants to strongly open up the marexceed the maximum height and width profile, kets in Europe with its new Silk Road. Is this a friendly alternative there are no limits to rail freight transport. In big competition for the Rail Cargo Group, or are to sea and air addition to our classic goods, such as raw mateyou relaxed about this? freight.” rials, cars, consumer goods, mineral oil, wood, Först: We have been operating with a branch containers or waste, we also transport unusual office in Shanghai since 1 January 2023. The Clemens Först ones, such as circus equipment, entire trains, main aim is to further expand the transport route like the new TGVs from France or the armchairs on the Central Corridor (Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan/ and bar stools for the audience of the ‘Starnacht’ in Mörbisch, a hit Georgia-Black Sea-Romania-Central Europe). There, we offer our TV event in Burgenland. In addition, we not only offer transport customers end-to-end logistics from Europe to Asia from a single from A to B, but also additional logistical services such as handling, source and create cost-efficient and environmentally friendly alterstorage and customs clearance. natives to sea and air freight. And not only as an operator service, ◆

World Champion Austria Huemer Group

“An IT organisation must take on a pioneering role” The Huemer Group is one of the most important providers of data centres, innovative IT solutions and IT consulting.

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© Huemer Group

July 2006 is a significant date in the life of Walter Huemer: He founded Huemer IT-Solution on that day. In 2014, H3 Holding GmbH was established, which is now known as Huemer Group GmbH. The broad spectrum of products and services focuses on the main areas of Data Centre & Infrastructure, Consulting & Project Management and Intelligent Technology Solutions. Walter Huemer’s vision: “With our passion for challenging tasks and innovative technologies, we will become Austria’s frontrunner in IT and digitisation.” Since the summer of 2023, Huemer has been president of ICT Austria, the lobby group for the Austrian IT industry.

Walter Huemer, founder of the Huemer Group and President of ICT Austria

Since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic at the lastest, the IT industry has been booming. How have you experienced this boost?

Walter Huemer: In fact, we have experienced significant dynamics in the IT sector, which comes strongly from more people working from home. Various components play a role here – from hardware to the entire process management, to employee management at the company level. Completely new working environments became established and with them the demands on the entire infrastructure and IT departments increased. IT organisations in particular, which have grown for years and decades, now face a challenging situation in which quality and adaptability must prove themselves.

Were you prepared for a digitisation hype?

Huemer: I have been running my own company for 32 years now and started as a sales partner for US manufacturers such as IBM, HP, Oracle and others. In this industry, you are quickly recognised as a major player if you sell a large amount of infrastructure. But if you sell less in your segment, you can just as quickly be displaced by others. About a decade ago, I made the decision to not only act as a sales arm for American companies, but to create added value in the country of Austria myself and generate continuous sales. This led to the establishment of two data centre locations for services, the founding of a separate department specialised exclusively in consulting and advisory services, and the initiation of software developments in our company.

With the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, the entire project business came to an abrupt halt, while the infrastructure business flourished. We were well positioned because although we could advise companies on how to proceed, on the other hand there were contact restrictions. It was undoubtedly a challenging time, but we were prepared. As an IT organisation, it is our job to lead the way, even if that means occasionally investing money to implement solutions that later prove to be redundant.

© Huemer Group

© Huemer Group

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Customer data is in good hands here: The highly sensitive and optimally secured server rooms in the data centres of the Huemer Group.

different locations at least ten kilometres apart.

After the excitement around digitisation, “To position itself In Austria, it is common for all data centres to what remains in the long run? rent space either from NTT Global Data Centers, Huemer: I have been a strong advocate in recent on an international formerly known as E-shelter, or from Interxion. years to intensify training programmes with a level, Austria could We have chosen to rent our own premises from focus on software development. There is a growmake better use of these providers. ing need for digital know-how in the industrial sector and beyond. With the advent of ChatGPT its potential.”

How important is it that all your storage and in November 2022, the digital landscape has Walter Huemer servers are located in Austria? evolved significantly, with now over 1,700 AI Huemer: When establishing the Huemer Data applications. This is an area I am heavily inCenter, we placed particular emphasis on storing all our data localvolved in, although many of our clients have not yet fully grasped ly, here in Austria. Our goal is to be a cloud provider that guarantees the potential of this development in their own organisations.

Austrian customers secure domestic data storage. I predict that in However, the development also shows that the focus of training the coming years the demand for domestic data storage and cloud needs to shift. While demand for programmers is currently high, I services will increase significantly, especially as an alternative to predict that in a few years we will need fewer developers but more American providers. Nevertheless, we are open to a hybrid solution software and process architects. This shift is driven by the automato meet the varying needs of our customers, especially when such tion of coding tasks and the increasing complexity of digital proa service is explicitly requested by our customers. In my view, the cesses. Those who do not keep up with the changes run the risk of hybrid cloud will shape the future of data storage and processing. making bad decisions. Job descriptions are changing, productivity is increasing rapidly.

Do your IT infrastructure solutions come from off-the-shelf basic models that you adapt depending on the customer?

One of your core businesses is data centres.

Huemer: Our main goal is to offer our customers an individual apHuemer: We have two geographically separate locations in Vienna, proach. If a customer needs a file server or database server, we with each location having two separate fire protection sections. naturally provide a standard product. Our true expertise, however, Some of our customers prefer to store their data redundantly at two

World Champion Austria Huemer Group

“Our ability to think along the entire value chain sets us apart.”

lies in the customisation and individualisation of services specifically tailored to our clients’ needs.

But with more than 30 years of experience in project management, IT and consulting, we start one step ahead. Our ability to think along the entire value chain – from the initial idea to the analysis of specific problems to application design and integration into the customer’s existing structures – is what sets us apart. So, at the end of the day, we can develop a customised product and additionally take care of the operation.

© Huemer Group

What are the most important topics you are approached with in the context of IT consulting?

Huemer: With two decades of experience in sales, I had the opportunity to interact with a variety of IT managers. At that time, I noticed that many of them thought they had their departments and their challenges completely under control. This observation motivated me to change my approach. I decided to focus my conversations on board members and CEOs to gain a deeper understanding of the needs at that level. Instead of selling technologies and services, I focus on translating the IT language into an under-

Project meeting at the Huemer Group in Vienna

standable form for senior management and discussing how satisfied they are with their current IT structures. These discussions often lead to assignments to help them modernise their IT departments and transform them into contemporary service providers. So, a key focus of our work at Huemer Group is to help CEOs bring their IT departments up to speed and into a proactive, forward-looking position. We ensure that we receive a request of this nature every week, which underlines our constant commitment and focus on continuous improvement and innovation.

Walter Huemer

Are you satisfied with the number of applicants and the level of training among the next generation of IT professionals?

Huemer: That is a complex issue. The market has developed problematically, especially with regards to the high salaries for IT professionals, which the public sector can hardly bear. This wage structure makes it difficult to work with the hourly rates our clients are willing to pay. We have about 200,000 IT staff in Austria, but there is a shortage of about 20,000. There is a clear need for skilled people who are willing to use new technologies. Unfortunately, many ap-

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© Huemer Group

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The Huemer Group teams support CEOs in all IT matters.

plicants interested in IT want a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job with a high salary, no customer meetings or problem solving, which is not the reality. Yes, we have a skills shortage, and we should open up to bring in international experts.

we make AI widely available to our students, workers and citizens so that they can engage with it, it seems premature to introduce regulations already. In my opinion, an open culture of mistakes should be allowed – we all need to have the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them in order to evolve and reach our full potential. ◆

How is Austria positioned as a business location in terms of IT? Huemer: One of the essential factors is the consideration of sustainability and climate change, which we feel more and more in everyday life. It is particularly important for IT organisations and data centre operators to bring this aspect to the fore. This change is already underway but requires a more intensive effort. This also includes the efficient use of waste heat generated by servers and a responsible approach to energy in general. Before the rising energy costs since the beginning of 2022, these were rather secondary issues. Austria has a very good basis as an IT location, but we could use our potential even better to position ourselves on an international level. In this respect, Germany has a head start in some respects, but we are more agile, more modern and better organised in many areas. In terms of the quality of IT education and the availability of skilled workers, Austria is in the good midfield, but with a clear upward trend. Our government is showing increasing interest in promoting innovation and attracting foreign investment, which will certainly help to strengthen our IT sector.

Regarding AI, I would like to note that there needs to be a healthy balance between regulation and encouraging innovation. Before

© Huemer Group

Austria is in the middle of the pack in terms of IT training – with an upward trend.

Hasty regulation of artificial intelligence is not sensible.

World Champion Austria NovoArc

How extremophiles can help to replace syringes From the Vienna University of Technology to a biotech start-up that could revolutionise medicine: Microorganisms take the lead.

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hree graduates of the Vienna University of Technology set themselves an ambitious goal: In future, medicines and vaccines will be swallowed and no longer injected thanks to lipids. This will not only help people who are afraid of injections – it will also increase the effectiveness and storability of active ingredients. Julian Quehenberger, Oliver Spadiut and David Wurm successfully took the plunge into self-employment with their company NovoArc. David Wurm, one of the three founders of the biotech start-up from Vienna, explains what lies behind the ambitious project.

What does NovoArc do, in simple terms?

David Wurm: NovoArc is a producer of special chemicals for the pharmaceutical industry. Our lipids are used to better administer

active pharmaceutical ingredients to patients. People are familiar with this technology from the Covid vaccines, in which lipid nanoparticles are also used to protect the mRNA. We use similar lipids, but they are much more stable than currently available lipids. We want to make ingredients that currently have to be injected orally available, so that people who are afraid of injections can swallow a pill. This applies to a wide range of drugs such as antibiotics and cancer therapeutics. The Holy Grail would be insulin, but it’s still a long journey until then. Active ingredients that are protected by our lipid envelope are not broken down in the stomach by acids or degraded by enzymes; they are transported through, then stick to the intestinal mucosa and slowly release the active ingredient, making it easily absorbed by the body. Because of the stabilising protective shell, many active ingredients do not have to be stored at minus 70 degrees, but perhaps only at four degrees or even at room temperature.

© NovoArc

Have you developed this technology?

Wurm: These kinds of molecules, lipids, have been around for some time. Until now, no one had managed to produce them in sufficient quality and quantity for the pharmaceutical industry. We can do this both in a reproducible and scalable way. We hold a patent for this.

Founding team: Julian Quehenberger, David Wurm and Oliver Spadiut

From the Vienna University of Technology to the founder of a company – what was the decisive moment to take this step?

Wurm: It was a unique opportunity. For one thing, the technology was something exciting. Based on the feedback from the industry, but also from investors, we recognised the potential. On the other hand, there was the founding team. We were aware that an opportunity like this doesn’t come around often and you have to grab it by the scruff of the neck. That’s why we decided not to take the classic academic or pharmaceutical route, but to take the risk of founding our own company.

© NovoArc

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NovoArc developed special liposomes and lipid nanoparticles for packaging active ingredients and RNA. The lipids are manufactured in Vienna-Meidling.

Does the researcher or the businessman in you prevail now?

Wurm: It was a nice opportunity to have the best of both worlds.

We will continue to be very research-driven; our co-founder Julian Quehenberger took up this part as CTO. I am very much involved with business development, with customers, the marketing and the business part, but I still have the connection to science. I have always been interested in applied research and not so much in basic research. It is exciting to follow the life cycle from basic research to the product.

You want to have your own production plant by 2025. How difficult was the financing?

Wurm: We are currently financing ourselves through three pillars: On the one hand there is public funding such as from the Research Promotion Agency FFG and the Austria Wirtschaftsservice AWS, and the other hand we already have paying customers to whom we sell lipids or for whom we process orders. And, of course, we have a financially strong investor. That also enabled us to expand. In June 2023, we moved into our new facility in Vienna near the

Meidling station with 400 square metres, which is a mixture of laboratory and office space. For the years 2025/26, we expect that the demand from customer orders will be so great that we will no longer be able to accommodate it in the facility in Meidling and will have to expand further accordingly.

When will the pill replace the syringe?

Wurm: In the past, when a new drug was developed, it was assumed that it would take ten to 15 years for it to reach the market.

Through Covid we have learned that it can be done faster. Accordingly, we are confident that we can do it more quickly. We are already in contact with some companies that are testing our technology and we are conducting preclinical studies.

It is always said that there are too many obstacles in Austria for a quick and uncomplicated approval of drugs.

Wurm: It is important that drugs are well tested and safe before they are put on the market. Of course, there are countries where you can get approval more quickly. We are very attached to Austria

World Champion Austria NovoArc

Wurm: It must be said first that we do not produce active ingredients. Our USP is that we can protect active ingredients and make them more easily and better available to patients. Normally, we are contacted by a pharmaceutical company whose active ingredient has, for example, poor stability or is poorly absorbed Are there already patents for your lipids? by the body. We select the appropriate lipids, produce them and Wurm: Even when we were still at the Vienna University of Techpackage the active ingredient in them. If the test results are nology, we submitted the production process for a patent and also good, the active ingredient manufacturer puts the drug on the received it at the European Patent Office in April. We have also market with our packaging, the lipids. Accordingly, we will not applied for a worldwide patent, which is progressing rapidly. In the launch a new cancer drug ourselves. With conventional therasecond field of application of our lipids, the administration of mRNA pies, people often have to go to the doctor or vaccines, we were also able to show in experihospital several times a day. I am convinced ments with cell cultures that we are more effi„We haven’t that we can contribute to the quality of life of cient by a factor of ten to 90. With a conventionplanned an IPO patients with our technology. al vaccine dose, as administered through a syringe, ten to 90 people could be vaccinated with yet, but we are What are thermoacidophilic archaea and our lipids. We have also applied for a patent for also not exitwhat role do these microorganisms play in your this process in autumn 2022. driven.“ products?

Wurm: This is our pet, our production organism When will NovoArc products play a signifiDavid Wurm that we use to make lipids. The organism was cant role in cancer therapy?

© NovoArc

because all three founders grew up here and we want to keep our main location in Austria. But, of course, we are planning to expand into other countries and markets.

A young team of researchers in Vienna wants to help making active ingredients that can be swallowed instead of being injected.

© NovoArc

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To ensure that an active ingredient reaches the intestine undamaged, it is packaged in extremely stable liposomes and thus survives the journey through the stomach.

isolated from hot, sulphurous springs at the Yellowstone National Park and feels most comfortable in extreme conditions, such as pH 3 and 80 degrees temperature. Accordingly, its cell membrane, which contains the lipids we extract, purify and use as our product, is stable.

The organism normally grows very slowly. It was not easy and took a long time to develop an industrial production process here.

“I am convinced that we can make a contribution to patients’ quality of life with our technology.”

So, you run a witch’s kitchen, so to speak, in Vienna-Meidling to create this environment?

Wurm: We try to recreate those conditions that the organism finds in nature and optimise them so that it grows faster and produces even more. Of course, this takes place in a very well-controlled environment so that we always achieve the same product quality. We use fermentors for this. These are steel vessels in which we control the temperature, pH value and other parameters, gassing and stirring so that the organism feels comfortable, thrives and grows.

Do you still cooperate with the Vienna University of Technology?

Wurm: We have carried out several projects in cooperation with the University, and we will also collaborate in future at a scientific level and with regards to infrastructure.

Is Austria a good ground for start-ups?

What could be improved to make the business location more interesting for biotech?

Wurm: In Austria there are some offers for the start-up world, such as good funding proDavid Wurm grammes and support from AWS, where founders are motivated to take this step. As far as the start-up is concerned, Austria is quite well positioned compared to other countries. After the start-up phase, after one to three years, there is potential for improvement so that there is then support in whatever form. As far as the guidelines of Austrian and European investors are concerned, they are not particularly risk-affine like in the US. In general, however, Austria is a good location for founding a biotech start-up.

When can we buy shares in NovoArc? Wurm: We haven’t planned an IPO yet, but we are also not exitdriven. ◆

World Champion Austria Burgenland

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Burgenland Burgenland in figures Size Number of inhabitants Gross regional product per inhabitant* Disposable income of private households* Income per employee* Research ratio in % of the GDP* Number of enterprises*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of employees*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of lodging establishments** Overnight stays**

3,965 km² 301,287 32,000 € 25,400 € 41,100 € 0.87 %

1,065 1,609 2,770 19,671 13,696 20,434 1,330 2,933,997 Quelle: Statistik Austria; *2021, **2022, ***2020,

World Champion Austria Braun Lockenhaus

Furniture from Burgenland – even on display in museums Series-produced furniture and individual designs are the secret of success for Braun Lockenhaus. They offer much more than “just” chairs.

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© Schneeweiss interior

he Braun brand stands for far more than “just” a chair manufacturer. Braun Lockenhaus stands for the contemporary combination of old craftsmanship and high-tech, which is precisely and personally tailored to the customer’s wishes. In addition to the furniture, the company is dedicated to customised interior design. The exclusive distribution of the Rosconi brand, a specialist for coat racks, receptacles and ashtrays made of stainless steel, rounds off the interior portfolio of Braun Lockenhaus. The Burgenland-based contract and design furniture manufacturer has established itself as one of the country’s market leaders at its production site in Lockenhaus. Today, it supplies the entire contract sector in Austria. Customers include the “21er Haus”, the Esterhazy Palace and the “Kultur Kongress Zentrum” in Eisenstadt, Vienna Airport, the restaurants “Fabios”, “Lugeck” and “Motto am Fluss”, and the “Live Congress Leoben”. Braun Lockenhaus, managed by

Jochen Joachims heads manufacturing at Braun Lockenhaus.

Jochen Joachims, has been part of German Schneeweiss interior since 2005.

What is the secret to be a successful furniture manufacturer for more than 100 years and to enjoy international recognition?

Jochen Joachims: There are many crucial elements that are essential and important. It is fundamental to constantly question and reflect on yourself, also in terms of processes. Of course, you also have to respond to the customers and understand their needs and desires. That’s why we don’t just produce mass-produced furniture, but also focus on the production of individual furniture and interiors.

Of course, we must not disregard the current trends here, which is why we always take a close look at the market and add to our portfolio accordingly. The quality of our products plays just as important a role as our reliability. Customer service is the be-all and end-all.

After-sales is therefore not a buzzword for us, but rather a fundamental part of our corporate culture – starting with the needs analysis and ending with follow-up support. We remain loyal to our customers for years after delivery. In the spirit of sustainability, we manufacture spare parts or reupholster the furniture, if required.

The customer should be satisfied with our products in the long term.

Braun Lockenhaus is one of the largest full-range furniture suppliers in Austria. What is the company’s focus?

Joachims: Our core areas of operation cover several sectors: Health Care, Hospitality, Public Areas, Education and Business Spaces. The focus is on furnishing hotels, restaurants, seminar areas, trade fairs and meeting places, but also social institutions such as hospitals or care homes as well as faith institutions. We develop room concepts that give new perspectives to living and working environments – from the colour schemes and room planning through to the furnishing with high-quality furniture. Our aim is to offer our customers a complete solution from a single source.

© Schneeweiss interior

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Models by the Austrian architect and furniture designer Karl Schwanzer can also be found in the Braun Lockenhaus collection.

A chair from the “58” collection by Karl Schwanzer.

ed into our portfolio. A special project in the field of education is the Wifi business institute in Eisenstadt, where we furnished training and seminar rooms according to individual customer requirements.

The special feature here is our mobile netbox ‘Power Beam’, which can be mounted and dismounted without tools and retrofitted to a wide variety of tables. Finally, I would also like to mention the assisted living facility ‘Silberhoamat Weidachhof’ in Schwaz, Tyrol, where our custom-fit products were used in the health care sector, which not only fulfil the ergonomic functionalities of the target group, but also contribute significantly to making work easier.

© Schneeweiss interior

© Schneeweiss interior

Which of the completed projects or clients from the past years would you highlight in particular?

Joachims: We supplied the Congress Center Leoben with numerous products, among others from our table and chair portfolio, but also litter bins and lounge furniture. The special feature of the seating furniture was that it was equipped with our ‘no.e’ digital information system. Together with the Viennese architect Martin Mostböck and the Filippou couple, we developed an extravagant armchair for the Michelin-starred restaurant Konstantin Filippou in the heart of Vienna, which we subsequently produced and integrat-

Design right down to the last detail seen here in a chair-bed by Braun Lockenhaus.

World Champion Austria

© Schneeweiss interior

Braun Lockenhaus

Traditional craftsmanship is very important to the chair and furniture manufacturer from Lockenhaus, Burgenland.

How do you manage to keep winning design Is it not difficult to meet the needs of cusawards? tomers such as congress centres, the hotel in“The increasingly Joachims: As we always work closely with dustry, gastronomy, sports facilities or religious desired and derenowned architects and design offices, we facilities under one roof? In addition, you also manded work-life not only develop products that follow the latmanufacture individual furniture for private balance with fewer est trends, but also products that meet the customers. highest standards and quality. On the busiJoachims: Our main market is for sure in b2b, working hours will ness side, this also promotes our further develand the requirements in each target group and become the norm.” opment. also within the target groups are very different J o c h e n J o a c h i m s and individual. For our development department, Your designs can already be found in muthis means an enormous amount of effort, so that seums. we can offer the right products to fit the customJoachims: Our product ‘garcia’ has been part of the permanent er’s needs. Due to our very high level of vertical integration, we are exhibition at the MAK Vienna for more than 15 years. It makes us almost always able to accommodate all wishes and adaptations. incredibly proud to work with such a talented designer as Martin Mostböck – and that for more than 20 years now. The product can Isn’t that a logistical nightmare, especially as far as material also be admired at the Hofimmobiliendepot in Vienna. procurement and supply chains are concerned?

Joachims: Thanks to our high vertical integration of 76 percent, we What was behind the idea of the inclusive ‘one4two’ table and are less dependent on supply chains and can produce as much as have there been any other ‘inclusion furniture’ since its presentapossible ourselves. This independence is very important to us and tion in 2020? also distinguishes us as a manufacturer. We produce straight from Joachims: The ‘one4two’ product has won several design awards. the tree trunk through to the finished piece of furniture. When we The focus is on inclusion. Sitting people, for example someone in a do use external partners, regionality and proximity are very imporwheelchair, can place their drinks and food on it, and at the same tant to us – not only in terms of sustainability, but also to keep a time it functions as a high table – a versatile multi-talent, a mustbetter eye on risk management and thus be able to react to delays have in our portfolio. and interruptions as quickly and as well as possible.

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Are you concerned about the shortage of skilled workers and what are you doing about it – speaking of employer branding?

Joachims: Promoting employees is very important to us. The world of work is in a state of great change and upheaval, and it is not so much a question of a shortage of skilled workers, but a shortage of workers in general. This affects us, as manufacturers, predominantly in the production area. Finding employees in this area, regardless of their qualifications and training, is currently very difficult, if not almost impossible.

© Schneeweiss interior

What are the biggest challenges for your company in the coming years?

A piece of seating furniture called “Konstantin” by the designer Martin Mostböck.

Joachims: Simply because trades are becoming more and more extinct, manufacturing companies will face numerous challenges in the coming years. Rising material and energy costs should not be underestimated and must be compensated accordingly. This will then also be clearly reflected in the increase in product prices. In addition, the increasingly desired and demanded work-life balance with fewer working hours will become the norm, which in turn is not always productive and efficient. ◆

© Schneeweiss interior

Will plastics lose relevance in furniture manufacturing?

Joachims: This question is not so easy to answer because the answer involves a certain complexity. Plastics are currently very trendy, especially for seating shells. Therefore, we expect this trend to increase rather than decrease in the near future.

© Schneeweiss interior

Wood, metal, fabrics and leather – where do you source raw materials from and how much will the new Austrian supply chain law force you to change here?

Joachims: In the middle of Burgenland, economic and ecological responsibility is of great importance to us. The wood used for production comes to a large extent from the forests of the Geschriebenstein and Hirschenstein regions in central Burgenland. We try to source all other materials needed for the manufacturing process as close as possible to our location or from Europe.

World Champion Austria Neudoerfler

Office furniture to make you feel good from Burgenland Office furniture from Neudoerfler – for sitting or standing – is not only found in offices, but also in schools and universities.

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hether at home, in an upscale office environment, at schools, at university campuses or at companies such as Coca Cola and ÖAMTC – office furniture from Neu­ doerfler can be found everywhere. Time and again, the crucial question arises: to stand or to sit when working in the office? Neu­ doerfler CEO Heidi Adelwöhrer and COO Maximilian Schubert answer this question and many more.

You have held management positions in various industries.

What brought you to the furniture industry and what interested you in it?

Heidi Adelwöhrer: I am fascinated by the office furniture industry because office furniture makes a decisive contribution to the culture of a company. The furniture a company furnishes itself with has an effect on how people work together and how comfortable the em­ ployees feel in the office.

Maximilian Schubert: I think it’s particularly nice that in the furni­ ture industry craftsmanship, industrial technology and product design go hand in hand.

Last year, Neudoerfler recorded the highest turnover ever with almost 65 million euros. What was the reason for this achievement?

Adelwöhrer: Neudoerfler has grown steadily in recent years. I am particularly pleased that we have felt this upward trend even in the third year of the pandemic. One reason for our growth was certain­ ly the change in the working world. Many of our customers see that their existing office can no longer keep up with the changing re­ quirements and urgently needs a redesign of communication zones, quiet zones and everything that the working world of tomorrow demands.

© Karin Hackl

The motto “From people with drive. For people with drive.” can be found on your website. Please explain this corporate philosphy.

Schubert: We build furniture for people who realise their potential, who enjoy their work. It is furniture for people with drive – by peo­ ple with drive. People who feel as much enthusiasm for what they do as our customers do.

The Neudoerfler bosses: COO Maximilian Schubert and CEO Heidi Adelwöhrer

How much has New Work changed your business field, your design and requirements?

Adelwöhrer: New Work is changing how workspaces are designed.

Due to the competition from people working from home, the office has a stronger representational character again. Our customers want to design their offices in such a way that employees want to

© Paul Bauer

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The office furniture for the concept of New Work as interpreted by the Burgenland-based manufacturer: It’s easier to work with individually fitted furniture.

much momentum home in the evening after a day full of energy. come to the office because they simply feel comfortable there. They For of our new educational furniture portfolio, we work with a group are planning many more communication areas where the focus is of international students and put prototypes on interactive, agile and interdisciplinary ex­ through their paces with future users. change with colleagues and quiet zones where “One of our goals people can concentrate on their work or simply Which of your projects or clients from the relax. today and in the past years would you highlight in particular? future is to be Adelwöhrer: One project I am particularly proud You also furnish schools. How do the requirean attractive of is furnishing the new headquarters of Asfinag. ments differ from office furniture for adults?

The task was to develop a series of customised Did you seek advice and expertise from pupils employer.” furniture – a core competence of Neu­doerfler. The during development?

Heidi Adelwöhrer storage furniture was to be modular and fulfil Schubert: In schools, furniture has to withstand different functions, such as attachable modules greater loads and is used by children of different with an acoustic effect or smart storage space. The result has a heights, but it still has to be ergonomic for everyone. Therefore, unique look and gives the office space an individual character. quality products like those from Neudoerfler are in demand. The Another exciting project was furnishing the MOL Campus in common factor, however, is that both in the office and in the edu­ Budapest. It is the new headquarters of the MOL Group and the cation sector, we focus on which furnishings children and adults tallest building in Hungary. We furnished the entire office tower need to make full use of their potential, so they can take just as

World Champion Austria

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Neudoerfler

Will plastics lose relevance in furniture production due to the trend towards sustainability?

Schubert: We are constantly looking for new materials that have the smallest possible carbon footprint. One of our latest solutions is coat hooks made of a biodegradable material as an add-on to our storage furniture. Generally, few plastic components are used in our furniture, our main material is wood. We deliberately produce our furniture at our company headquarters in Neudörfl and work with regional partner companies wherever possible. We value our re­ gional ties, source wood from sustainable forestry and deliver the finished pieces of furniture to our customers largely without dispos­ able packaging, but carefully wrapped in blankets.

© Franziska Liepe

Are you affected by the shortage of skilled workers and what are you doing about it – speaking of employer branding?

Adelwöhrer: The shortage of skilled workers is a major issue of our time. At Neudoerfler, we are currently training more than twenty apprentices and thus ensure the development of our skilled workers of tomorrow ourselves. One of our goals today and in the future is

Classic craftsmanship has a high priority at Neudoerfler.

© Neudoerfler/Franziska Liepe

with work desks, meeting tables and storage space. In cooperation with our subsidiary Planmöbel in Germany and our Hungarian Neudoerfler branch, it was an absolute team effort.

Other customers of ours include the Vienna Economic Chamber, the Austrian Post, L’Oréal, Beiersdorf, Palfinger, ÖAMTC and the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Neudoerfler trains around 20 apprentices every year.

to be an attractive employer. We offer our employees an ergonomic working environment with the latest office furniture, flexible work­ ing hours with a 4.5-day week, a health programme with sports classes and an internal business academy with a wide range of further training opportunities.

What are the biggest challenges for your company in the years to come?

Schubert: The climate crisis affects people, animals and raw mate­ rials today as well as in the future, so the topic of sustainability is also one that we would like to address more intensively in the years to come. We are currently installing a photovoltaic system on the roof of our company headquarters to become more self-sufficient with the energy consumption of our production and are relying on solar energy as an environmentally friendly source of energy. Infla­ tion and rising raw material prices as well as the shortage of skilled workers are other issues that concern us.

Finally, a personal question: Do you prefer to stand or sit when you work?

Adelwöhrer: When I am in my office, I only work standing up. My height-adjustable desk allows me to switch at the touch of a button.

By standing more often, I feel more active, can think more concen­ trated and have less neck tension in the evening.

Schubert: I am a fan of alternating between sitting and standing.

For concentrated work I like to sit, but for meetings I like the dynamics of standing up. ◆

WE CREATE FUTURE. FOR 100 YEARS.

The WE is the success of the last 100 years. The Burgenland Economic Chamber has understood itself since 1923 as a platform for independent entrepreneurs and pioneers who pursue the goal from visions and ideas to make successful projects. This thinking and acting is the basis for the positive development in our country.

wko.at/bgld

World Champion Austria Lower Austria

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Lower Austria Lower Austria in figures Size Number of inhabitants Gross regional product per inhabitant* Disposable income of private households* Income per employee* Research ratio in % of the GDP* Number of enterprises*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of employees*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of lodging establishments** Overnight stays**

19,179 km² 1,721,254 38,400 € 25,600 € 45,800 € 1.80 %

6,103 6,978 15,857 136,808 62,951 121,316 3,347 6,598,348 Source: Statistik Austria; *2021, **2022, ***2020

World Champion Austria Provincial Government

How Lower Austria overcomes challenges Plans for the future: Maintaining the attractiveness of the business location and strengthening the competitiveness of the companies.

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ower Austria is the largest province in Austria in terms of area and has the most diverse assets. From state-of-the-art educational institutions to industry, agriculture, forestry, energy production and tourism – to name but a few. Since April 2017, Johanna Mikl-Leitner has been at the helm of Lower Austria as Governor. She sees a very challenging situation for the economy, but nevertheless looks to the future with confidence.

© NLK Pressefoto

Is there a primary goal for the Lower Austrian economy that you would like to implement or achieve during your term of office?

Johanna Mikl-Leitner has been Governor of Lower Austria for more than six years.

Johanna Mikl-Leitner: Our economy is in a very challenging situation. Businesses, not only in Lower Austria but all over Europe, are struggling with the consequences of the Ukraine war, with high energy prices, with inflation and, in some cases, with supply chains.

Our primary goal is therefore to maintain Lower Austria’s attractiveness as a business location and to strengthen the competitiveness of our companies. We achieve this on the one hand through innovation and on the other hand by intensifying cooperation between science and business.

How does the Province support this cooperation between business and science? What measures are there?

Mikl-Leitner: We already created the basis about 20 years ago with the Technopole programme. The concept for the success of our four Technopole locations is the close networking of business, science and education on site. Today, the Ecoplus Technopoles are internationally renowned locations for cutting-edge research. Technology transfer to small and medium-sized enterprises is at least as important. In Lower Austria, this takes place primarily within the framework of the Ecoplus Clusters, which are sector networks in the fields of innovative and sustainable construction, food, mechatronics and plastics. The focus of the Cluster’s work is on inter-company cooperation in which the companies research and develop together and learn with and from each other – the project’s findings are then implemented back at their respective companies. This concept has proven its worth especially in economically challenging times. When developments accelerate rapidly – such as with digitisation – or concept such as sustainability and circular economy gain in importance, it is often more promising to tackle these challenges in cooperation with other companies instead of going it alone.

Basically, Lower Austria as a business location has demonstrated a high level of innovative strength in recent years, and we also need this to meet the challenges of the future. Therefore, we as a

© aircolor.at

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With around 280 hectares, more than 380 companies and more than 11,000 jobs, the IZ NÖ-Süd is the largest Ecoplus business park in Lower Austria.

the founding of the company, or Tecnet, which supports Lower Austrian researchers and founders in the transfer of their research results into marketable products and services. One thing is clear to us: We must not rest on past strategies. The task now is to put ourselves in a great position for the future. Our goal is to become the most dynamic economic region in Europe by 2030. We want to develop an economic vision for “We want to make each region in Lower Austria and provide it with Lower Austria the very concrete measures. We are working on this with the business community. centre of Austria’s

province offer comprehensive support services. This is done, for example, with targeted economic development programmes that focus on research and technology development projects. In addition to our provincial funds, we also use large amounts of EU funds.

“Lower Austria’s economic strategy focusses on new, creative solutions and innovation,” said your website land-noe.at in 2020. What do these solutions look like?

Mikl-Leitner: New, creative solutions are offered, for example, by our spin-offs and startups, which we want to give the best framework conditions to grow in Lower Austria. I am thinking, for example, of Accent – our high-tech incubator, which supports start-ups from the idea to

circular economy with our great companies.”

Johanna Mikl-Leitner

In the past decades, Lower Austria has positioned itself as a thriving education location.

Are there efforts to further expand the educational offers, e.g. with (private) universities and universities of applied sciences?

World Champion Austria Provincial Government

© Erich Marschik

and cultural tourism. We can offer our guests Mikl-Leitner: Of course, because we want to unforgettable experiences especially in these further expand Lower Austria as a top region in “Our ropeway and areas.

Europe and we can only succeed if we can atlift operators are tract the best minds to our location. The best already very Due to climate change, winter tourism in possible conditions to study at the local univerparticular will be in a bad shape in the future. sities of applied sciences are the basis for this. creative and adapt Does Lower Austrian tourism, which does not 110 additional such study places were recently to the external have very high mountains and thus less snow, approved in the STEM subjects for Lower Ausconditions.” have to reposition itself? What ideas do you trian universities of applied sciences. Science have in this regard? and research are needed for the major issues Johanna Mikl-Leitner Mikl-Leitner: For more than ten years, Lower that concern us today, such as the energy tranAustria has been consistently following the path sition, health and serious illnesses or the use of of developing our ski resorts into year-round mountain experience artificial intelligence. The new university places support our councentres. The Wexl Arena in St. Corona am Wechsel is an internatry on this path into the future. tionally acclaimed example of how a ski resort can become a highly attractive tourist destination all year round through the specific How is tourism in Lower Austria doing after the last few years, development of offers. The Annaberg lifts have started summer in which hosts faced major challenges? operations in 2019, and this year the zipline and the family offer at Mikl-Leitner: So far, this year has been very positive despite the Hennesteck have already attracted more than 10,000 guests. Last inflation, but Lower Austria’s tourism experts have many plans still.

Christmas, due to the unusually high temperatures, both classic From January to June, Lower Austria recorded around 3.3 million winter and summer offers were in operation in parallel for a short overnight stays. This means a healthy increase of 17 percent comtime. So, our ropeway and lift operators are already very creative pared to the same period of the previous year. Compared to January and flexible, they adapt to the external conditions. For the mountain to June 2019, Lower Austria is only five per cent below the pre-Covregions, it is important to use the opportunities of climate change id levels. We are convinced that Lower Austria’s tourism professionfor tourism. When it is very hot in the city, many people are looking als can also expect good demand in the coming months. We have for relaxation and coolness in the mountains. decided to focus on our unique selling points such as cycling, wine

The Annaberg Zipline is a great place for adventure lovers.

The digitisation of our lives has been given an enormous boost by the pandemic, and the development continues to pick up speed.

It is not easy for companies to keep up. What has Lower Austria done so far in this regard?

Mikl-Leitner: During the pandemic and also during the current energy crisis, we were often forced to adopt an event-driven economic policy. Events came thick and fast, decisions had to be made quickly. This resulted, for example, in the first digitisation subsidy of the Province with the Lower Austrian Economic Chamber to help businesses in lockdown, among other things. We hit the bull’s eye with this economic policy shot from the hip: Our economy is definitely on the rise in digitisation. We have now supported more than 1,500 of our companies’ projects with this funding since 2020.

We were able to react so quickly and in such a targeted manner because we already took the first measures in digitisation in 2015 to support companies in their digitisation plans, and since 2018

© imrental

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Contact point for digitisation: the House of Digitisation in Tulln

Sustainability and the circular economy are major topics for the future – how will companies deal with the so-called green transformation and what do you think is down the road?

Mikl-Leitner: In Lower Austria we are convinced that climate protection and economic growth are not mutually exclusive, but that sustainable and resource-conserving economic activity is an important basis for future economic growth and new, regional jobs.

Therefore, we want to make Lower Austria one of the leading Green Smart Regions in Europe in the long term: We support investments in sustainable projects, for example through our Eco Bonus, when companies renovate their old buildings. With our business agency Ecoplus, we are implementing a programme for ecological site development that supports municipalities in upgrad-

ing existing business areas to be climate-friendly; we are intensively dealing with brownfield recycling. And we want to make Lower Austria the centre of the circular economy in Austria. With great companies that are already successfully working on sunrise concepts, we have incredible potential here. We are driving the development of the green transformation with an Ecoplus platform for green transformation & bioeconomy founded in 2021. ◆

© Martin Helm

our Lower Austrian Digitisation Strategy has been showing the way.

The lighthouse project of this strategy is the House of Digitisation, which was built by Ecoplus in Tulln and has been in full operation since the end of last year. It not only informs the population across all age groups with annually changing exhibitions, but it is also Lower Austria’s most comprehensive offer on the topic of digitisation under one roof – the House of Digitisation is the central contact point for companies and experts in the field of digitisation; all relevant facilities and institutions are represented there.

Best practice for climate-friendly site development: the Kreilhof industrial park

World Champion Austria Vienna Airport

Everyone is a VIP – your holiday already starts at the airport Services used by stars and state guests are available to everyone in the new VIP Terminal at Vienna International Airport.

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he discreet gate to the cour d’honneur of the new VIP terminal at Vienna International Airport slides silently aside, and guests park inside – or get out of their limousines. Service staff take care of the car, the baggage and check-in while the guests make themselves comfortable in one of the stylish VIP lounges. Sofas and a selection of exquisite alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks invite you to relax, coffee is served, as is a selection of à la carte dishes. Shortly before departure, you pass through the security gate and passport control directly at the separate VIP terminal – waiting times are a thing of the past. And then the VIP service becomes fully true: A limousine takes you directly onto the tarmac to the aircraft, so it really is only 80 steps from entering the VIP terminal to the plane. Whether charter or scheduled flight – for Managing Director General Aviation and VIP Services, Michael Zach, all his guests are Very Important Persons.

What is the idea behind the VIP service for everyone at Vienna Airport?

Michael Zach: It goes back a bit to when I took a look at our VIP services in 2016. It was fascinating to see what services we provide that hardly anyone knows about. Travelling can be stressful, and that also applies to air travel. Especially in the summer, during peak season, there are a lot of people travelling. You need to queue, there is a check-in, there is a security check, and you have to walk quite a distance. But we at the VIP terminal can offer our services to everyone, and so the way to the plane becomes really short and easy. That is much more relaxing and exclusive. And that was the idea behind it. We have an excellent product and a service that we don’t want to keep from people. Anyone can be a VIP with us.

Has the VIP service for everyone developed from the service for the ‘real’ VIPs? Zach: With the opening of Terminal 3, the old VIP area became obsolete and was moved to a new building near General Aviation.

Of course, we also have celebrities travelling through or state visits.

But anyone can enjoy our service and book it.

© Flughafen Wien AG

But the ‘real’ VIPs get the service free of charge?

Zach: No (laughs). Everyone pays for the VIP service, including rock stars and state guests. Everyone who lands at the airport pays a passenger fee, and that’s the same for VIPs.

Michael Zach is head of VIP Services and General Aviation at Vienna Airport

Your service starts on arrival at the airport.

Zach: We offer our services both on departure and on arrival. With the Platinum Package, we also organise transport from Vienna to the airport and then, of course, directly to the aircraft. From carrying the luggage to boarding, everything is arranged. Those arriving at the airport in their own car drive to our cour d’honneur, hand over the key and the valet service takes care of parking. There are three

© Flughafen Wien AG

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In each of the seven VIP lounges in the airport’s VIP terminal, an exquisite selection of drinks is available, and meals are ordered à la carte.

What happens in the VIP Terminal?

Zach: Our guests are looked after all around. After arrival, we take the baggage and take care of its check-in. Passengers are shown to their own VIP room and spend the time until boarding doing whatever they want. We have a total of seven private VIP lounges, which of course have a TV, a selection of à la carte meals that are freshly prepared, soft drinks and exclusive alcoholic beverages.

Everyone should enjoy the waiting time too. We have also various play facilities for children, who can come along for free up to the age of six. If necessary, guests can also enjoy a shower, because some have business appointments directly after a long-haul flight and want to freshen up beforehand. Or guests come directly from conferences and want to take a shower before their flight. The highlight, however, is certainly that you are taken directly from the terminal to the aircraft in a limousine. Guests can choose whether they want to be the first passengers to board or the last. This is very popular.

© Flughafen Wien AG

packages: Silver, Gold and Platinum, which are priced differently depending on the scope of services. The Platinum package includes either the transfer from home or the valet service and a parking period of seven days at the directly adjacent VIP car park.

As a VIP, there is no waiting time at the security and passport gates.

World Champion Austria Vienna Airport

Waiting like a rock star on tour in one of the seven VIP lounges.

© Flughafen Wien AG

© Flughafen Wien AG

delays, we naturally do not throw our guests out after two hours How long before departure do VIP guests have to arrive?

– on the contrary, because with us you wait in a pleasant ambience.

Zach: It depends because different airlines have different requireIt doesn’t make any difference if you wait half an hour or three ments. With us, however, there are no waiting times, neither at quarters of an hour longer. After that there is a small surcharge per check-in nor at the security and passport gates. In addition, the hour. distances are extremely short. The general requirement when to be at the airport results from waiting and queuYou have your own baggage check-in, seing times as well as the walking distances that curity and passport gates in the VIP terminal. have to be covered. The waiting time at peak “ We don’t count Zach: There are airline regulations regarding the travel times is two to three hours. If it is a longpassengers per weight of the baggage, which we also have to haul flight to the US with document checks, day, but we have comply with. All legal and security requirehowever, you have to be here two hours before ments, including customs regulations on arrival, departure even with our VIP service. For a shortabout 15,000 are handled in exactly the same way. There is a haul flight within Europe and without luggage, guests per year.” security check, a customs check and a border half an hour can be sufficient; then, of course, M i c h a e l Z a c h check, all staffed 24/7. It’s exactly the same as the guest cannot enjoy our services extensively. in the public terminals. With us, however, there There are many people who do not spend much are no waiting times. We also offer a duty-free time at the airport and want to get on the plane shopping service, but this is very rarely used. and take off as quickly as possible. This mostly concerns the business sector. For private travellers, the holiday begins with an enHow many people use the VIP service? joyable hour or hour and a half in one of our private VIP lounges.

Zach: We don’t count passengers per day, but we have about 15,000 guests per year. The lion’s share is made up of private customers What is the maximum amount of time a passenger can spend who book with us and use our services. They make up more than with you before departure?

50 percent. This is followed by companies and the official VIP serZach: Two hours in one of the private rooms are included in the vices booked by embassies. most popular package, the VIP Service Gold. In the event of flight

For VIP service travellers, their holiday begins in a stylish atmosphere.

© Flughafen Wien AG

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Straight to the boarding gate by limousine: With the VIP service at Vienna International Airport, it is only 80 steps from the terminal to the aircraft.

Family members or colleagues can also accompany your guests until they board the aircraft?

Zach: That is possible, although accompanying persons also have to go through the security check. This service is very often used by embassies, by delegations and also in the corporate sector.

As a VIP guest, you are fed, you can hold meetings and take a shower. The only thing you can’t do in the VIP terminal is sleep.

Zach: If you sleep at the airport, something has usually gone wrong.

We generally try to avoid that at Vienna Airport. However, if it should happen, we are of course ready to organise a hotel room at the airport. You won’t be left in the lurch, so as a VIP customer you can really relax completely because you know that you will always receive the best possible support in every challenging travel situation. For this reason, travelling via the VIP terminal is not only luxurious, but also particularly easy on the nerves. ◆

World Champion Austria Woom + Microsoft Austria

The most popular children’s bikes come from Klosterneuburg On peak days, up to 1,000 children’s bicycles are ordered from Woom, helped by customised IT solutions from Microsoft.

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ust ten years have passed since the two fathers Marcus Ihlenfeld and Christian Bezdeka founded their company Woom in a garage in Vienna. The reason: The two had searched in vain for the ideal bike for their kids and began to design and fiddle around themselves. With their Woom bikes, they may have invented the perfect children’s bike, because by now up to 1,000 Woom bikes are sold on a good day. The IT system behind the international sales success was supplied by Microsoft. Woom now resides in Klosterneuburg, and Martin Bartmann, COO of Woom, and Hermann Erlach, General Manager of Microsoft Austria, explain the path to becoming a company with 100 million euros turnover.

In ten years from the foundation to a global company – what makes Woom’s children’s bicycles so unique that they are so sought after?

Martin Bartmann: The fact that we have gone from a garage to an international company and the largest pure children’s bicycle manufacturer in the world within ten years can be attributed to a few key points. The first is definitely the product, which was developed specifically for children right from the start and where emphasis was placed on the bike being really light. Our ‘Woom2’ is still the lightest children’s bike in its size class. In addition, the founders have managed to transfer the operational management of the company into managerial hands in the past three years and are now represented on the supervisory board. I am happy to be part of this history and to be able to develop it further. Also essential for us are our 250 employees – our so-called Woomsters – who not only live the product and the brand but are also wholeheartedly involved.

We also want to provide our customers with the best possible service. We don’t just want to instil a love of cycling in children, we also want to make the world a little bit better. This mission statement is not just said lightly but can be felt throughout the company.

When did Microsoft join?

Bartmann: At the beginning of 2021, when we set course for 300,000 bicycles sold per year. It became clear that we would no longer be able to handle that number. That is an order of magnitude where it no longer works with tools like Excel and Word. And it was clear that we needed an ERP system (NB: Enterprise Resource Planning). This is where Microsoft came into play. © woom

© Microsoft Österreich

Why don’t you also produce bikes for adults?

Bartmann: I’d love to have a Woom bicycle, but we decided from the beginning that we would concentrate on children’s bicycles. That’s what we’re good at and we have positioned ourselves accordingly.

Microsoft Austria Manager Hermann Erlach, Woom COO Martin Bartmann

What were the challenges for Microsoft to work with a booming start-up?

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The Woom original bike is available as Anniversary Red Limited Edition.

Cycling becomes a pleasure for kids with automatic gears.

Hermann Erlach: Microsoft has a very strong partner ecosystem to support emerging, innovative, young companies. Together with our partners, we also support smaller companies that have excellent business potential and are immensely important, especially for Austria. After all, Austria is a country of small and medium-sized enterprises. Especially for such SMEs, the speed of business development can accelerate rapidly, and we can digitally support and scale the pace of growth. We see a huge need for Austria’s SMEs to catch up, because many studies show that we are still massively lagging behind in the field of digitisation. This is especially true for small businesses and has a lot to do with how low access to technology is. You can also see in other countries: The higher the cloud adoption, the easier it is for small and medium-sized enterprises to grow and scale.

You receive between 500 and 1,000 orders per day, 365 days a year. How is this volume logistically manageable?

Bartmann: It was soon clear to us that we needed an integrated system from order processing on the customer side to our assemblers and component manufacturers, but one that also leads into finance. This will bring transparency and stability to the company.

We handle Woom’s planned growth only with an ERP system. That is why we have chosen a big solution for us. As far as physical components are concerned, the bicycle industry is a very international industry. Many components come from Asia but are designed and developed here in Klosterneuburg. Therefore, we have partner companies all over the world that produce the parts for us. Because of our size, we have started to diversify so that we have several partners at different locations to make the whole system more resilient as well.

Erlach: An exciting aspect that we observe is that digitisation and tools were largely designed to optimise the last screw, whether on the shop floor or at the ERP level. Covid has changed that to some extent, because you have to react much faster to changes in the supply chain and anticipate fluctuations in demand. We have redeveloped the data models in the Cloud Native over the past ten years, and our data centre infrastructure is also behind this. This now enables us to work in a data-driven way. With this, you can see early on in the system when something changes, and this data will trigger processes. It is becoming increasingly important to react with flexibility to changes in demand in the supply chain. Data-driven management is also becoming increasingly important. The clas-

Was this a strategic decision for Microsoft to also take on smaller companies?

Erlach: I wouldn’t see it as a change in strategy because we try to serve all segments. Just because a company is still smaller on the growth path, it doesn’t need less support intensity, but probably even more. These companies are elementary for us in the cloud, usually grow much faster than the large companies and are therefore more dynamic. For us, showcase models like Woom are essential to demonstrate the potential in Austria, because only two percent of medium-sized companies say they are highly digitised. There is a need for Austria to catch up with other countries in Europe by between 20 and 25 percent.

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Woom + Microsoft Austria

Only Microsoft’s IT makes it logistically possible to process up to 1,000 orders of children’s bicycles per day.

sic ERP systems are more about the process and the transaction and not so much about the data-driven model.

Bartmann: This is also where we will take the next steps, namely to extract the orders from the data and use them in the direction of the assemblers. The delivery time from Asia is still two to three months, but our customers order online today and want to have the bike delivered the day after tomorrow. That’s why we need precisely this intelligence, which recognises in the system in good time which trends result from reading the data, whether the yellow or the purple wheel sells better, for example. The system can then implement this on the planning side and in our orders with the production partners.

How much support does AI provide here?

Bartmann: We’re not there yet, but that’s the next development step.

Erlach: There are already a lot of approaches and processes that use AI. We work with our AI-based co-pilot approach so that a

company does not need its own data scientist or a high level of AI expertise, because these processes are already automatically available in the tool. In the cloud, all Microsoft solutions are connected. In future, it will be possible to access the ERP directly from Teams.

Last year you exceeded the 100-million-euro turnover mark – was it a shock when you saw such figures?

Bartmann: I wouldn’t call it a shock, quite the opposite. We have designed the company for growth from the very beginning, and I am proud to be able to be part of the company in this phase. We are going further into internationalisation. We still have a very strong home base in Germany and Austria and have now entered the markets in France and Switzerland. You can already buy our bikes in 30 countries, but we want to increase the volume. We are also operating in the United States, and we want to grow even more strongly there. We want to grow at least faster than the competition. ◆

World Champion Austria CNH Industrial Austria

10,000 tractors per year for farmers all over the world Low fuel consumption, great efficiency and a high degree of automation make Steyr and Case IH machines top sellers.

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hen the American brand Case IH, whose beginnings date back to 1842, took over the Austrian tractor legend Steyr in 1996, a true powerhouse was created in Lower Austria: Today, more than 10,000 Steyr and Case IH agricultural machines come off the production line in St. Valentin. Christian Huber, Managing Director CNH Industrial Österreich GmbH and Vice President Global Product Management for Case IH & Steyr Tractors, gives an insight into the philosophy of the group.

© Case IH

You manufacture both Case IH and Steyr tractors. How do the two brands differ?

Christian Huber: One difference is certainly the dealer network.

With Steyr, we are increasingly represented in the Central European market, whereas with Case IH we have a worldwide dealer

CEO Christian Huber is also Vice President of Global Product Management.

network. Case IH also offers a portfolio of harvesting machines compared to Steyr. There are some differences in the details of vehicle operation or equipment. While Case IH focuses on automation, a Steyr tractor offers more adjustment options, such as allwheel drive, differential locks, CVT functions (NB: automatic transmission without gearshifts) or cab suspension. Case IH can look back on 180 years of tradition and experience, while Steyr has stood for cutting-edge technology and high-quality machines for over 75 years. Both brands are united by first-class service, and proven technical innovations are also used to ensure maximum productivity for customers in the agricultural, forestry and municipal sectors.

How do you manage to have the astonishing number of more than 10,000 tractors coming off the production line?

Huber: First and foremost, this success is due to the dedication and commitment of our employees. Our lean management system helps us to make our processes efficient and optimise our working methods. This enables us to keep production as smooth and effective as possible. With just-in-time delivery of materials to the assembly line, we also ensure that the materials we need are delivered exactly when they are needed. This keeps our stock levels to a minimum and increases the production flow considerably. In recent years, we have also invested in low-cost automation, advanced bolting technology and a new state-of-the-art paint shop.

What are your core or largest sales markets, and are there any countries you are currently focusing on in particular?

Huber: For CNH Industrial Austria, Europe, with a focus on Germany, France and Austria, is the most important market. Internationally, Australia, New Zealand and the USA are very important.

What makes Austria an attractive location for you? Couldn’t you produce much more cheaply abroad?

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More power: With the Case Optum 340 CVX, the company provides farmers with a power package with 340 hp.

Huber: Austria is an attractive location for us for various reasons, although we are aware that it is a high-cost country. The decisive advantage here is certainly that we get very well-trained employees in Austria. Many of them have a connection to agriculture or are part-time farmers themselves. This means that they are not only very familiar with the realities of our customers’ lives, but also know exactly what their wishes and needs are. It is precisely this knowledge that is crucial and flows into their daily work when they manufacture products for our customers.

We attach great importance to providing machines of the highest quality with the Made in Austria label. To ensure this quality, we rely on careful process assurance and optimisation. The process steps are so precisely defined and our employees so well trained that the error rate is almost zero.

Although we could possibly produce abroad at lower costs, we are convinced that the advantages of a high-quality product manufactured in Austria outweigh the additional costs. Our customers

appreciate the quality and reliability of our tractors, and we are proud to be able to maintain this standard.

To what extent have digitisation and AI already made inroads in the world of tractors? Are self-driving machines an issue?

Huber: In general, due to automation and built-in technology, our machines enable efficient operation with lower fuel consumption and optimised use of seed and fertiliser. The precision technology enables exact track planning with 2.5 cm track accuracy as well as an automatic turning and steering system to prevent overlaps during work and to be as economical as possible in the field. All operational and fleet data can be accessed by customers via mobile phone, tablet or computer, coordinated and shared with dealers, who can thus service our customers even faster and more efficiently via remote diagnostics and software updates, without the machine having to go to the workshop.

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CNH Industrial Austria

We presented a concept of autonomous driving last year at SIMA (NB: the leading international trade fair for agriculture and livestock) in Paris.

“For high-performance tractors, an internal combustion engine will continue to be necessary.”

What measures did you have to take or have you taken in terms of sustainability in production?

Huber: We attach great importance to the optimised use of energy in order to minimise consumption and use resources more efficiently. We therefore use energy-efficient machines and an energy-saving production process. We are currently actively working on the integration of a photovoltaic system in our factory. By using solar energy, we want to generate our own sustainable electricity and thus keep CO2 emissions as low as possible.

© Case IH

Does the trend in tractors go towards electrification as in cars?

Huber: Whether an alternative concept would be suitable for customers in the future also depends on the agricultural application.

We see this trend in tractors in the smaller power segment of up to 100 hp and with lower utilisation of four to five hours per day, for example. Here, the use of a battery-electric model makes absolute sense in the next few years. For high-performance tractors, on the

Case IH Puma 260: More power, comfort and advanced automation

other hand, a combustion engine will continue to be necessary. The reason for this is the low autonomy, i.e. the rather short time a batChristian Huber tery-electric tractor can be operated without charging or refuelling.

Of course, all this may change in the future. In addition, a hybrid solution could also be interesting in the future – i.e. a combustion engine in combination with an electric transmission; we are working on various solutions here.

How concerned are you about the rise in energy prices on the one hand, and high inflation in general on the other? Do you pass on increased costs to customers in full?

Huber: In production, we are not so strongly affected by the increased energy costs because we are an assembly company. Of course, we clearly feel the price increases of our suppliers and their components. In order to be able to continue to work economically, we have to include them proportionately in our price calculations, for example in the area of steel, cast iron and housings.

Especially during the years of the pandemic, the reliability of supply chains was a problem. Has that subsided now, or how do you secure your supply chains?

Huber: Maintaining supply chains was a challenge, especially during the years of the pandemic.. Although the supply chains have improved in the meantime, the situation is still tense. The industry is working at such a high level that suppliers are currently reaching their capacity limits. We continue to take measures here to secure our supply chains and are therefore working closely with our suppliers to ensure that everything runs as smoothly as possible.

With the shortage of skilled workers, the next crisis has arrived in the Austrian economy. Do you feel the shortage of labour?

Huber: Yes, we feel the shortage of workers, but we have taken active measures to counteract it. For example, in the last two and a half years we have been able to create more than 250 new jobs in the company to meet our staffing needs and ensure that we have enough skilled employees. However, the focus is of course also on our existing workforce; here, far-reaching measures to promote health such as a subsidy for bicycles and e-bikes, sports offers, physiotherapy, a company kitchen, to name but a few, are particularly important to us in order to ensure good conditions in the long term. ◆

World Champion Austria Sadler Skylight Domes

Skylight domes are everywhere, but rarely noticed Sadler-Lichtkuppeln from Traiskirchen relies on self-generated, green electricity in its production of skylight domes.

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he third-generation, family-run company with 35 employees has tackled digitisation and digitised its entire production and order processing. In production, each workstation received a terminal on which orders and work steps are noted.

This saves paper and resources, avoids many sources of error, and increases flexibility and efficiency. With several thousand skylight domes sold or renovated each year, the Lower Austrian company Sadler-Lichtkuppeln is the market leader. Managing director Manuela Geyer-Sadler reveals the family’s formula for success.

Your company has been growing steadily since 1969. How do you ensure economic survival in times of crisis?

Manuela Geyer-Sadler: By having the courage to keep investing in new ideas, products, buildings and employees. 17 years ago, we were instrumental in the development of safety nets for skylight domes and launched a new product on the market. Last year, the producer of these steel nets was looking for a successor. It was quite clear to our son that by purchasing this company, the product, stainless steel safety nets, would be integrated directly into our company, thus reducing delivery times and distances.

© Sadler

The Sadler company is a classic family business but has always managed to keep its finger on the pulse. What is the internal interaction like on a personal, as well as on a professional level?

Geyer-Sadler: As the term family business implies, we are very connected to our employees. You could say that together we live the Sadler skylight dome family. Our employees know that we always have an open ear for their problems. On a personal level, I am very pleased that the company, which was my father’s lifeblood, is now secured by our son Daniel, the third-generation successor.

Manuela Geyer-Sadler with Manfred Geyer and son Daniel Geyer

For more than 50 years, your company has been manufacturing skylight domes, a product that many people do not even notice in everyday life. Where are your domes used, what are they used for and how many are there?

Geyer-Sadler: It’s true that people don’t always notice our skylight domes. But if you open your eyes more consciously, you can see skylight domes in the staircases of every apartment building. Furthermore, they are being used more and more in the private sector.

Garages, vestibules or even bathrooms are often equipped with skylight domes for the purpose of ventilation. The classic applications are, of course, in industrial halls. Skylight domes are not only used for daylighting and for ventilating rooms, but they are also a

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The sight is familiar to many, and the chances are good that these are skylight domes from Sadler in Lower Austria.

How does the production process work?

Geyer-Sadler: Everything is still done by hand. This also enables us to respond 100 percent to our customers’ wishes. A purchased acrylic glass sheet is heated, clamped by means of a wooden frame and blown up to the desired height with compressed air. That all sounds quite simple. You just have to remember that a separate mould is needed for each size of skylight dome. The problem is that there are hundreds of different sizes, and these wooden models

© Sadler

life-saving product. Preventive fire protection is one of the most important measures that serve to protect life and health, and are necessary for the preservation of structural facilities. Skylight domes can be fixed, ventilated or fitted with a smoke and heat extraction (SHE) system. Since almost 90 percent of all fire victims do not burn to death but are killed by smoke inhalation, the skylight dome has become an indispensable part of any fire protection concept. This is why early detection and targeted containment as well as smoke evacuation on escape routes are essential for a fire-fighting attack by the fire brigade. As we manufacture ourselves in our factory in Lower Austria, we are also equipped for special architect’s requests. Everything is possible. We sell approximately 6,000 skylight domes a year.

World Champion Austria Sadler Skylight Domes

Are there sensible alternatives to plastic take up a lot of space therefore. I won’t even domes? mention the costs. After the production of the “To keep up with Geyer-Sadler: Today, the only alternative to dome light, the edges are trimmed, cleaned by the times, our entire skylight domes are glass skylights, which for hand and glued. There are different ways to production and cost reasons are only used in residential conmake a skylight dome. Mostly, the outer shell is order processing struction. produced in the colour opal. This gives a nice bright, diffuse light without glare. At the cuswas digitised For some years now, you have been able to tomer’s request, we also use colourless material. in 2022.” record double-digit annual sales growth. Why is This allows the customer to watch the stars at M a n u e l a G e y e r- S a d l e r there such a demand? night. It also makes sense to use heatstop mateGeyer-Sadler: On the one hand, the building rial. This is a special material that reflects 68 boom of the last few years has certainly contribpercent of the sun’s energy, so that the rooms uted to this, but also the ever-increasing benefits in the private underneath do not heat up too much. This saves on cooling in the sector. Above all, we have specialised in renovation. Due to the summer or can at least reduce the necessary cooling considerably. effects of weather on roofs, skylight domes have a service life of Skylight domes are produced from single-shell to five-shell. Furtherabout 25 to 30 years. After that, it makes sense to replace them more, 100 percent of our standard skylight domes for new buildings with better insulated skylight domes. Furthermore, our company are already produced as fall-through-proof domes. For this purpose, credo is: He who does not honour the shilling is not worth the pena stainless steel net is installed between the shells of the skylight ny. This means that we also take care of customers with only one dome. This saves subsequent costs and effort. During renovation, to three defective skylight domes. about 60 to 70 percent of skylight domes are currently equipped as fall-through-proof – people on the roof are thus prevented from Do skylight domes help to save energy? falling through. What many people do not know is that homeowners Geyer-Sadler: Definitely. As mentioned, we use a heatstop materiare liable for accidents under the Construction Workers Coordinaal in production that reflects the sun’s rays so that rooms do not tion Act. heat up extremely. In residential construction, the Sadler LIKU-Therm frame is usually installed for cold temperatures, which improves the U-value enormously. This creates valuable energy efficiency for the entire building.

© Sadler

What importance does digitisation have in your company?

Geyer-Sadler: Digitisation is very important for us. In order to keep up with the times, our entire production and order processing was digitised in 2022. This saves paper and resources, avoids many sources of error, and increases flexibility and efficiency. Production, however, remains manual labour.

The headquarters of Sadler-Lichtkuppeln in Traiskirchen

You supply your business with your own electricity?

Geyer-Sadler: Yes, because in addition to digitisation, the sustainability of the company is also important to us. In 2019, we already invested in a photovoltaic system on the company roofs. The energy generated is used directly for our production below, and the rest is fed into the public supply network as surplus. The ratio of own consumption versus feed-in is 50:50. With the electricity from our

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A warehouse at Sadler-Lichtkuppeln’s factory

A continuous rooflight with an SHE system, also manufactured in Lower Austria.

headquarters, we save about 50 tonnes of carbon emissions per year. The 338 modules covering 558 sqm on our production and warehouse roofs achieve a maximum output of 95 kWp. This is about 100,000 kWh per year. In 2023, we will expand this system on the roof of another hall and thus double our output. You can therefore say that Sadler produces ‘green skylight domes’.

Wouldn’t it be cheaper to relocate production sites abroad?

Geyer-Sadler: No, that was and is not an issue for us. We are a purely Austrian family business and proud of it!

What major challenges do you see ahead and how will your company be able to hold its own?

Geyer-Sadler: On the whole, we are positive. The challenges from the Covid pandemic and also from the Ukraine war will certainly What challenges do you face with supply chain problems and continue to be present. Since we have specialrising raw material prices? ised in renovation, we will be able to withstand Geyer-Sadler: As in all industries in Austria, this this challenge. Nevertheless, it is important hits us very hard, because it naturally increases “We are a purely that new construction does not come to a the costing risk, which we cannot pass on to our Austrian family standstill either. We were nominated in the customers in full. The problem of getting matebusiness and 2006 Innovation Awards, we celebrated our rial at all is also very big – we are currently 50th anniversary in 2019, and I hope we can waiting up to four months for acrylic glass. Forproud of it!” have another such great celebration in 2029 tunately, most of our capital is in our wellM a n u e l a G e y e r- S a d l e r with all our customers, suppliers and friends. stocked warehouse.

At the end of 2022, we took first place in ‘Austria’s Leading Companies’ in Lower Austria for nationwide operDo you feel the increasing lack of skilled workers and how do ating companies with a turnover of up to ten million euros. These you counteract this? are beautiful awards that bind our company together, as we have Geyer-Sadler: This problem hits us hard. We are very proud of our achieved these successes together. We are proud of our long-standvery large number of long-term employees. But still, we need staff ing employees, because it is precisely they who make a family that we can’t find. We partly counteract this with temporary staff, business, and with this valuable capital we will be able to hold who are trained and familiarised by us so that we can integrate our own even in difficult times. these employees into our company and take them on. ◆

World Champion Austria Styria

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Styria Styria in figures Size Number of inhabitants Gross regional product per inhabitant* Disposable income of private households* Income per employee* Research ratio in % of the GDP* Number of enterprises*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of employees*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of lodging establishments** Overnight stays**

16,399 km² 1,266,750 41,300 € 24,400 € 45,900 € 5.15 %

5,057 5,461 10,703 117,573 53,060 86,657 7,638 13,014,627 Source: Statistik Austria; *2021, **2022, ***2020

World Champion Austria Provincial Government

Secrets of success: cooperation between science and research Measured in terms of gross regional product, no other province sees as many investments into universities and research as Styria.

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arbara Eibinger-Miedl has been Styria’s Provincial Councillor for Economy, Tourism, Regions, Science and Research since 2017. Born in Graz, she graduated in business administration and law. At the top of her agenda is the “Styria Economic Strategy 2030” – one of the cornerstones for Styria’s economic future.

and development as Styria. Our universities and research institutions work closely with local companies in a wide range of fields.

My department also supports this cooperation in a targeted manner because it results in innovative products and services with which the Styrian economy is globally successful.

It says on your website: “Hardly any other technology and business location in Europe is home to so many globally successful companies as Styria”. Why is Styria so attractive as a business location?

Barbara Eibinger-Miedl: The decisive factor of success is the cooperation between science and business. Styria is the number one research region in Austria; measured in terms of gross regional product, no other province sees as many investments into research

You have been a Provincial Councillor since April 2017. Since then, the Covid pandemic has been followed by the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, and now the shortage of skilled workers and the increasingly noticeable climate crisis. Would you have wished for calmer years for your administration?

Eibinger-Miedl: When you take on a government position, it is obvious that there are challenges involved. But when I took office as a Provincial Councillor, I could not have imagined being confronted with such drastic developments as a pandemic and a new war in Europe. Such events require quick action, but also medium- to long-term changes such as the energy transition or the labour shortage need sustainable solutions.

© Teresa Rothwangl

How did you cope with these challenges, for which there were no contingency plans in the drawer? Are improvisation and troubleshooting your strengths or rather a necessary evil?

Eibinger-Miedl: In my opinion, a high degree of flexibility and stress resistance is required of politicians anyway. In the past two years, however, I have certainly faced more challenges and had to show a lot of resilience.

Barbara Eibinger-Miedl has been in office since April 2017.

Please present briefly the most important key points of the ‘Styrian Economic Strategy 2030 - New Growth - New Opportunities - New Quality’.

Eibinger-Miedl: The strategy provides the framework for the funding and financing programmes with which we support Styrian businesses. Our goal in the years to come is to promote sustainable

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Barbara Eibinger-Miedl’s competences also include science and research, which she wants to bring closer to children. economic development. We understand sustainability in a very comprehensive sense. Climate-friendly management plays just as important a role as entrepreneurial innovations with particularly great potential for the future. We will continue to focus on the strengths of the Styrian economy – mobility, green technologies, human technology, microelectronics, exports, research and development, and cooperation between science and business. In addition, we are working on measures to fight the existing labour shortage, on better framework conditions for start-ups and also on our international positioning.

What contribution do EU funding programmes make to Styria’s success?

Eibinger-Miedl: A very important one, which is unfortunately often forgotten. The European Union has brought many economic advantages to Austria and Styria. The EU funding programmes have made it possible to implement important infrastructure projects, significantly increase our exports and create thousands of additional jobs.

Since Austria’s accession to the EU, Styria has been able to draw

more than one billion euros in funding from the most important funding pot for the economy, the European Regional Development Fund, which, through additional co-financing from the federal and provincial governments, has triggered many times more investments in Styrian businesses.

The Broadband Initiative of Styria aims to guarantee high data transmission rates throughout the province by 2030. How will you manage this, and can this be done in an economically cost-effective way? Will the entire area of the province, including sparsely populated areas, be covered?

Eibinger-Miedl: In my view, the provision of high-performance internet is the provision of public services of the 21st century. Since the Covid pandemic, this no longer applies only to companies, but also to private households. In this respect, it is one of our most important tasks to equip Styria as comprehensively as possible with the necessary infrastructure. Wherever possible, we rely on fibre optics. With the founding of the Styrian broadband and digital infrastructure company Sbidi, we have taken a big step forward in

World Champion Austria Provincial Government

recent years. Broadband expansion remains at the top of our agenda, as we still need to catch up in some rural regions. I am confident that the next federal tenders will provide a further boost here.

You support businesses with your procedural services. What services are particularly in demand?

Eibinger-Miedl: The service is aimed at companies that want to implement large-scale projects. In the Department for Economic Affairs, a procedure coordinator acts as the central contact for investors. In most cases, information is required on the necessary permits for the settlement or expansion of businesses. In addition, the investor’s networking with all responsible offices in Styria and support in the preparation of applications are the most frequently requested services.

Styria has some large ski resorts. How do you deal with the problem that there is often no snow due to climate change? Is artificial snow the way out?

Eibinger-Miedl: Styria is traditionally a winter sports region. Therefore, skiing, but also numerous other activities such as cross-country skiing, tobogganing and snowshoeing, are among the pillars of Styrian winter tourism. Unfortunately, climatic developments require artificial snow, which is why we have invested heavily in this area in recent years. In order to be attractive for guests all year round, many Styrian ski resorts have also expanded their offer.

© Teresa Rothwangl

Does Styria need to reposition itself as a holiday destination?

Infrastructure projects are at the top of Eibinger-Miedl’s agenda.

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Which qualities of Styria as a holiday destination should be developed in the years to come?

Eibinger-Miedl: Styria has been highly appreciated as a holiday destination by guests from Austria and abroad for many years, as shown by the positive development in the number of guests and overnight stays. Key factors of success are the wonderful countryside, the diverse range of offers, Styrian culinary delights and the warmth of our tourism professionals. We will continue to build on these strengths, and we will focus in future even more intensively on our positive image as the “Green Heart of Austria” abroad. In addition, we will anchor the topic of sustainability even more strongly in Styrian tourism and have therefore been the first province in Austria to develop its own sustainability strategy.

What are your plans to overcome the shortage of skilled workers?

Eibinger-Miedl: The Styrian labour market has developed dynamically in recent years. In many areas we no longer only have a shortage of skilled workers, but already a shortage of labour. On the one hand, this is due to the demographic development, which is now clearly noticeable, but on the other hand, it is also due to the change in the world of work, such as the trend towards part-time work. Together with the Department for Labour and non-governmental stakeholders, we have developed a labour market strategy for our province. It has two cornerstones: On the one hand, we want to further increase the potential of the people living in Styria, for example through training and further education, and on the other hand, we want to strengthen the acquisition of international skilled workers accordingly.

Where do you see the greatest challenges in the years to come?

Which other goals are at the top of your agenda?

Eibinger-Miedl: We are living in times of profound change, when I think of the digital and the green transformation, for example. It is important to me to support domestic companies in successfully overcoming these changes and in taking advantage of the associated opportunities. Another major personal concern of mine is strengthening local and urban centres in Styria. For some months now, a provincial coordinator for town centres has been supporting municipalities, with the involvement of the population, in implementing projects to revitalise their town and city centres. This benefits the regional economy and increases the quality of life of the local people. ◆

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World Champion Austria Payer Group

A jack-of-all-trades: from PCR analysis to razors The Payer Group is an international player in various business areas – from medical products to consumer healthcare.

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duard Payer wanted to develop the world’s best men’s razor when he founded the company in 1946. Today, with locations in Europe and Asia, the Payer Group supplies a wide and varied range of high-quality products and services all over the world. Michael Viet was already working for the Payer Group in management positions from 1995 to 2006. After an excursion into the mining industry, he returned to Styria in 2019 as CEO and gives an overview of the group with its diverse areas of activity.

well as to give them responsibility to be an attractive employer. This allows us to work together for many years, learn from each other and grow together.

You come from a management position in the mining industry.

Are there parallels to medical technology?

Viet: These are two very different industries. One area that is very important in both and needs to be driven is innovation. At Payer, we also work with world market leaders, which is why we, as a strategic partner, have to constantly develop and focus on technology and innovation to not only meet but also exceed our customers’ requirements. Another parallel I see is people. They are our most important resource – each and every one of them contributes to the sustainable success of the company. Therefore, it is of great importance to get the best minds and to promote and develop them as

© Oliver Wolf

What is it like to work in a castle?

Michael Viet: For me it is a privilege to work in such a beautiful location in western Styria. Of course, it is also charming to be able to sit in a castle. Our employees are also proud to work at such a beautiful location. Furthermore, customers and guests who visit us tell us that they are impressed by the location with the castle in the beautiful hilly landscape in combination with state-of-the-art technology and a modern infrastructure. Payer’s headquarters is the Buschenschlössl Sonneck, west of Graz. The history of the castle can be traced back to the 14th century. In 1951, Eduard Payer bought the Buschenschlössl and made it the headquarters of the Payer Group in 1952.

Michael Viet, CEO of the Payer Group, previously worked in the mining industry.

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Working in a castle: In 2016, the Payer Group’s headquarters, the Buschenschlössl Sonneck near Graz, underwent complete renovation.

components (consumables or microfluidics).

Why has the Payer Group focused on prodWith our many years of highly developed expeucts for medical technology in recent years?

“Due to our rience, we have established ourselves as one of Viet: We originally started in the field of electric growth, personnel the most important suppliers of highly complex men’s razors and gradually expanded our porthas a high priority and process-safe medical fluidics and consumafolio in the personal care sector, for example with bles. From rapid prototyping and small-scale women’s razors and epilators. With our existing as the most imporproduction with scale-up capability to automatknow-how and our decades of experience in the tant company ed high-volume production, we apply our experfield of consumer goods, we saw a potential new resource.” tise in single- and multi-component injection market and a strategically important step in moulding, combining different materials and medical technology more than ten years ago.

M i c h a e l Vi e t technologies for an excellent product in more Since then, we have focused on medical technolthan 20 million consumables produced per year. ogy at our Austrian headquarters, the technoloIn addition, we use our experience and expertise for fluidic parts gy and innovation centre of the Payer Group, and have aligned our with an extremely low volume of fluids such as blood, plasma and infrastructure very strongly with this. other body fluids, coupled with optimised flow dynamics.

Which medical products are we talking about here?

Your website directly addresses the “incredibly wide range of Viet: We are active in the markets of diagnostics (PCR analysis, products” you develop and manufacture. Can you give an overblood-gas analysis, platelet analysis), patient support (respiratory view of the most important products in development? systems, patient monitoring), surgery (laparoscopy) and consumer Viet: On the one hand, we are active in the healthcare and medical health (mother & child care, oral care). In all areas, depending on sector, primarily at our Styrian headquarters, and on the other hand the project requirements, we produce either devices, modules or

World Champion Austria Payer Group

“We look after a large number of international brands as a onestop shop, from development to packaging.”

What are your top sellers?

Viet: Grooming and styling is one of our core areas and we have been noticing an increased market trend for several years. Especially multi-grooming kits with different cutting attachments for hair removal all over the body are very popular. Every year, we produce around ten million ready-to-sell packaged products for global players.

You support customers in the development of their products, from design to the production site. How does this process work?

Viet: We offer our customers a holistic solution. We serve a large number of international brands as a one-stop shop, from development to the finer details of the production process, including assembly and packaging, and cover the entire value chain. In addition, it is also possible for our customers to enter a process step in our value chain at a later stage. After the acquisition, the product is of course designed and developed by our development department in constant exchange with the customer. After the first qualitative tests with prototypes, our industrial engineering department takes care of making the respective product producible. In addition, the required moulding tool is designed and built. Depending on the customer’s requirements and the project, we assemble various parts manually, semi-automatically or fully automatically into a module or product and package it.

As CEO, isn’t it difficult to reconcile so many fields of activity?

Viet: For me, it is important to always keep the focus in sight. We have a clear strategic focus on our core businesses, where we strive together as a global team to be the best in everything we do. This

is also reflected in our vision “One Player to be Number One”. It makes me very proud that we were able to fulfill this ambition and the intrinsic drive of our employees last year with a great success, a special award from Procter & Gamble.

In November 2022, we were named “Partner of the Year” in the “Grooming” category.

After Hungary and China, you opened a new location in Malaysia this year. What are your expectations and what role will it play in the M i c h a e l Vi e t Payer Group in the future?

Viet: In order to secure our company’s success in the long term, we rely on a diversified and effective location strategy. In addition to our strong presence in Europe and the use of synergies, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of our Chinese location this year. Being able to continue to act and react in a resilient, agile and resistant manner, especially in today’s world full of uncertainties and volatile conditions, we made the strategic decision in 2021 to also strengthen Asia with the “China+1” concept, with an additional location in Malaysia. An important aspect of this is also to respond even more flexibly to our customers’ requirements and to lay the foundation for further growth.

© Oliver Wolf

in the consumer goods business sector. Consumer goods is a very broad area, which is why we concentrate on the categories that follow. We have been able to complete countless projects with renowned companies, including world market leaders, with whom we have been maintaining strategic partnerships in the various areas for decades. These include shaving, grooming, epilating and styling such as hair and beard trimmers, beauty care (e.g. facial brushes), household appliances such as cleaning devices and lifestyle products such as products for outdoor sports.

Cleanliness has priority: Working in the Payer Group’s “grey room”.

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Even in times of automation, manual quality control is needed.

What is your opinion on the current discussion of becoming less dependent on China?

Viet: As already mentioned, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of our Chinese location this year. After the takeover by the Hui family in 2002, this logical step was taken very quickly for Payer with a location in Asia. The production site is equipped with the most modern machines, and in recent years many areas have been fully automated. This shows that China continues to be strategically very important for the Payer Group. Of course, we are watching geopolitical developments very closely. Basically, we see that we have a sustainably stable and successful basis with the China and Malaysia concept.

Due to our constant growth, personnel has a high priority as the most important company resource. The number of employees in Styria has increased by 20 per cent in the last two years. In Styria, we also appreciate the proximity to top universities and colleges.

We now have very good relationships and many cooperations and implement projects in various areas, such as product development, sustainability or employer branding. We see the combination of theoretical knowledge with a breath of fresh air and our experience with practical knowledge as very valuable. In addition, we are of course pleased if we can offer some people an exciting job in our company during or after completing their studies. ◆

What are the reasons for keeping the headquarters in Austria?

Wouldn’t it be more cost-effective at one of your locations in Asia?

Viet: Our Austrian headquarters is also the technology and innovation centre of the group. Since technological progress and innovative solutions at all levels play an important role in a successful industrial company, we have also invested heavily in the location over the last three years – a total of around 20 million euros. This has included the expansion of the production facilities specialising in medical technology, the extension of the cutting competence centre, the modernisation of the laboratory and testing infrastructure, the redesign of the offices and meeting rooms, and the creation of new work areas through redesigns. In addition, we were able to win a major project in the “Consumer Health” sector in 2022, through which we built a new production area with around 500 square metres of manufacturing space. In this area, we also set up a fully automated plant recently.

© Oliver Wolf

The Payer plant in China – now the Malaysia site has been added.

Machines for automated assembly must be set precisely.

World Champion Austria

TCM International Tool Consulting & Management

Becoming an international group with tool management solutions Do not buy tools, only pay for each use – that is the concept of TCM International Tool Consulting & Management.

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hen Manfred and Anna Kainz took over a tool shop in Graz in 1986, no one could have imagined that in less than four decades the small business would become an international group in the field of cutting tools – including drills, milling cutters and grinding wheels. Today, the company is based in Stainz, Styria, and with more than 400 employees at 41 locations, it is one of the world’s leading suppliers of tool management solutions. The formula for success is simple: Customers no longer buy the drill but pay for each hole drilled. In 2022, Markus Temmel took over from founder Kainz. The CEO explains how TCM helps its customers save money.

You took over the TCM Group in 2022. Was it difficult to follow in the footsteps of founder Manfred Kainz?

Markus Temmel: We had prepared everything very well. We worked together very intensively for years, and the smooth transition was very important to Manfred. He always said that the company had to be set up in such a way that he was dispensable.

That was an important goal for him and in this respect, I have to tip my hat for the way he prepared this handover of the company.

We have done it really well. But, of course, that everyone has their own style.

© TCM GmbH

Were there any business areas that you had to significantly restructure or how do you deal with the entrepreneurial ‘legacy’?

Temmel: In terms of content, we were very well coordinated and had set up our corporate strategy. What is special right now, is the environment in which we live. We have a very dynamic market environment. Of course, this affects our most important core industries, such as the automotive sector. Electrification has a huge impact on machining. Additionally, geopolitical developments that have been triggered in the past few years and that we all didn’t have on our radar are still causing disruptions in the supply chain.

The result is extremely increased material prices and a currently still uncertain development in China, an important market. This creates enough challenges every day. We have to manage all this without limiting our business development and product development at the same time. We are also pushing digitisation projects massively and merging them more and more with our core business, machining. Of course, this must not fall by the wayside despite all the challenges.

Markus Temmel took over the company from founder Manfred Kainz.

What exactly is tool management?

Temmel: Tool management at TCM means the manufacturer-neutral provision and optimisation of cutting tools. Our business models

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TCM’s headquarters in Stainz in Styria is one of 41 operating sites in Austria, Germany and six other countries.

guarantee annual cost savings and productivity advantages. The idea for tool management was born from the idea that the customer no longer buys the drill, but pays per drill hole, to name one example. Tool management concerns all areas of machining and everything that goes with it, such as the procurement of tools, the preparation and the provision of tools in production at the machines. Our customers no longer pay for the tool, but per component produced. This is a cost per unit approach. We guarantee year after year that the defined price will be lower. That is our cost guarantee and the guarantee of annual savings. Tool Management is a revolutionary business model with a very efficient process in the background.

How do you control invoicing according to cost per unit?

Temmel: At TCM we work with a very efficient system in tool management that ensures a high degree of transparency. This has been the case since our beginnings, although the technical possibilities and means of communication were quite different back then.

In all our projects and locations, we know the tool costs per machining operation, per component or per machine on a daily basis. Of course, this has become easier in the past few years because there are reliable internet connections and system support is getting better and better. In addition to our services, we use hardware that secures our processes and provides precisely this data and information – i.e. our dispensing system.

We are talking about tools for drilling, grinding, milling?

Temmel: Wherever a metal chip is lifted, you need tools. Milling tools, drilling tools, turning tools, grinding tools and gear-cutting tools are a market worth billions. Machining is a high-tech industry for which we supply solutions.

What is the Toolbase software?

Temmel: The Toolbase brand stands for our dispensing systems. I like to compare it with vending machines in airports or train stations from which you can get a snack. These systems also exist in the industrial environment with much more logic in the background.

We store machining tools, spare parts or safety equipment in these dispensing systems. They can be used in many different ways. The advantage is that they are available 24/7, never go on holiday and never get sick. You place these systems relatively close to production and thus consumption. After authentication, employees can remove articles they need for production in a controlled manner. In the background, the withdrawals are transparently logged, the costs are allocated and new procurement is automatically triggered

From which sectors do your customers mainly come?

Temmel: Our business activities are now well diversified and divided. The automotive sector is still very important, but increasingly our customers also come from the aerospace and general mechanical and plant engineering sectors. And there are first projects in the medical sector. We have customers of all sizes, from smaller entities to global corporations.

World Champion Austria

TCM International Tool Consulting & Management

Has the area of remanufacturing, repair and grinding gained in importance due to the need “We need the for sustainability? best solution for Temmel: We have been working in this cycle for exactly the specific years and know of the value of a cutting tool and So, you always know which machine is using the material used. That is why we have also which tool and what it is doing with it? task at the been operating tool grinding centres for many, Temmel: Exactly, we are very closely linked to customer’s site.” many years, where tools are reconditioned. I the customer. For larger projects, our employees M a r k u s Te m m e l don’t have to throw the drill away, but it is rereally do sit permanently on site at our customground several times. That saves a lot of mateers’ production and work like a department of rial and thus costs. For our customers, the topic of sustainability the customer. These teams consist of technologists and employees will become increasingly important, as we are faced with a multiwho take care of procurement and assemble, measure and provide tude of regulations in this area. tools on the shop floor. We are talking about precision machining with a tolerance range of one μ (Mu), which is a fraction of the Why is it important for you to offer products from different thickness of a human hair. Understanding the customer’s manufacmanufacturers? turing situation correctly and aligning our processes to it is what Temmel: We see that no manufacturer is ahead in all applications sets us apart.

– the subject of machining is too extensive, too complex and there are far too many fields of application. Our goal is to work out cost But you not only analyse your customers’ needs, you also equip savings for our customers. Therefore we need the best solution for them with hardware. exactly the specific task at the customer’s site. That’s why we have Temmel: We supply our customers and their machines with tools to be free in our choice of products and tools. We demand of ourthat we procure and partly design ourselves. We do not produce selves and our technologists to have a very broad, good and solid any machines ourselves.

State-of-the-art technology is now a “must” for tools.

© TCM GmbH

© TCM GmbH

when necessary. We manage this with our Toolbase product and there is a great demand for it on the market.

The dimensions have to be right down to a fraction of a millimetre.

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TCM has precision tools from various manufacturers in its portfolio to always provide customers with the most suitable tools for their individual needs.

knowledge of tool technology and to constantly know what innovations are available. Of course, to secure supply chains, it doesn’t hurt to have several channels open.

master data and master data quality for years. This is the basic prerequisite if you want to network systems. That’s how we are working our way up, step by step.

Which of the current uncertainties worries What role will AI play at TCM in the future? you the most?

Temmel: People like to use terms that I am very “The latest Temmel: If we look back over the past two or much in awe of. It is the cutting edge of technoltechnologies three years, there is still the huge issue of the ogy that we like to talk about. But what makes supply chain from the Covid pandemic, ala good tool technologist at TCM? We have come enable us better though it has become more settled in the meanto the conclusion that humans learn very much and better to collect time. The increased energy costs due to the through experience. Our best technicians have and condense Ukraine war led to an expected price spiral and learned through a wide variety of application we are still struggling with this to this day – i.e. experiences over time. The limiting factor is that process data on an inflation. This is an enormous challenge. The we as humans can only have a certain number ongoing basis.” energy price increase has hit our customers and of experiences in a given time. The latest techM a r k u s Te m m e l production. We are talking about metalworking nologies are enabling us to get better and better and machinery, a lot of energy is needed in that. at collecting process data on an ongoing basis, There have been huge cost increases from one condensing it in a meaningful way and learning day to the next. This has triggered another tsunami wave, because from it. Sooner or later, these systems will be able to learn faster and the increased energy prices have also increased material prices and better. But we are not there yet. We have learned that many comemployee costs. We are trying with all our might to dampen this panies do not have the basis for applying this cutting-edge technolspiral and have pronounced price stability for this year for our cusogy, have not prepared it, or are criminally neglecting it. We do it the tomers in Austria. other way round and have been working intensively on the topic of ◆

World Champion Austria Kapo Windows and Doors

Premium windows from Styria for the world Windows and doors made of sustainable materials and not manufactured on an assembly line – that is the secret of Kapo’s success.

K

© Kapo Fenster und Türen GmbH

arl Polzhofer, the great-grandfather of the current managing director Stefan Polzhofer, laid the foundation for the company’s history in 1927 when, after years as a wandering carpenter, he opened a small carpentry shop in the Pöllauer Tal nature park in Styria. The first staff consisted of three journeymen and two apprentices. Rented in a house in the village and on an area of 17 square metres, the carpenter’s workshop made everything out of wood that the customers in the area asked for. Today, as then, Kapo is primarily a supplier and partner for home-builders, planners and contractors in the region, but managed to expand its clientele far beyond the borders of Austria. The reputation of wooden windows and doors has not only spread in this country. The two Kapo managing directors, Stefan Polzhofer and Othmar Sailer, explain why there is much to be said for wood as a sustainable material for window and door construction.

The two managing directors Stefan Polzhofer and Othmar Sailer

From a small Styrian joinery to an international player – how have you been able to hold your own against the various large, international chains of window and door manufacturers that offer mass-produced goods?

Othmar Sailer: International player is an ambitious term, because the window and door business is local in nature. The elements are large and heavy, they have to be transported and assembled. Since, unlike our well-known competitors, we offer our products exclusively through direct sales and everything from one source, i.e. including installation, the German-speaking world is our home market.

However, it happens time and again that our satisfied customers and architects take us to markets that do not belong to this core market. Architects in particular appreciate the advantage of having the product and the installation from one source, as this avoids potential problems. The customers have the great advantage that we offer the warranty for the entire work.

Stefan Polzhofer: Kapo occupies a clearly defined market niche. We don’t manufacture on an assembly line but think in projects and not in window units. Every building project is unique, and our technical office develops those solutions that perfectly meet the respective customer’s needs. You don’t get that from mass manufacturers. In general, we speak of a very small market segment for window frames made of wood, with a market share in Austria of less than five percent, despite the trend towards greening. That is the lowest value in all of Europe, which in my view is not a good calling card for a country that also defines itself as a forest country. This development can be explained by the fact that industrial window production in Austria carries a lot of weight and primarily relies on plastic windows due to the higher margins at a lower sales price.

After plastic windows and doors dominating the market for decades, wooden windows and doors are now back in fashion.

Why has there been a trend reversal?

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Probably one of the most spectacular projects from the family-owned company based in Styria: the Hundertwasser Spa in Bad Blumau.

Polzhofer: The driver of the trend reversal is the megatrend of greening, which is finally reaching the building industry. The pressure for change here comes from the environmentally conscious end customer. In addition, ESG requirements are having an effect in real estate financing. Property developers are naturally anxious to optimise their margins and then often save on materials. For example, laminate flooring has been a taboo in high-end residential construction for a long time, but now the potential buyers of the residential units and financing banks are also paying attention elsewhere that plastic is replaced by natural materials.

Sailer: Wood as a material offers many more possibilities than plastic. Wood, for example, has outstanding static properties, which is why wooden windows can also be manufactured in huge dimensions. Even in terms of fire protection, wood is superior to all other frame materials – for example, a window made of plastic melts in case of fire, the glass falls out of the frame, and the chimney effect additionally fuels the fire, not to mention the toxic fumes. Wood also has antibacterial properties and it catches CO2. But the best argument in favour of wood is that it is a renewable raw material that gives our customers a natural feeling. You like to touch wood, you touch plastic because you have to.

Do you have to repaint wooden windows regularly?

Sailer: For a long time, people thought that a plastic window did not need to be maintained and was therefore more durable. We know from experience that a wooden product is anti-fragile and ages gracefully. A plastic window turns yellow and gradually loses its already minimal static properties. It used to be said that you don’t have to paint plastic windows. Now the industry advertises that you can also paint a plastic window. It is true that you can extend the life of a window by decades with minimal effort. That is why we also offer our customers maintenance services. Our window technicians then visit the customer every two or three years, for example to service moving parts that are by nature wearing parts, especially with the ever-larger elements, and to inspect the surface. The expert eye sees immediately if, for example, hail has damaged the surface and there is a danger of water penetration.

Polzhofer: In addition, we also offer all wooden windows in a version with an aluminium cover shell. Wood/aluminium windows are very popular, especially in modern architecture. Depending on the installation and weathering situation, this can make sense. We have almost 100 years of experience in window construction. For example, it is also necessary to take into account the sea level of a build-

World Champion Austria Kapo Windows and Doors

Polzhofer: On top of my head, a listed building project in Istanbul comes to mind. The hotel “To my knowledge, stands directly on the Bosporus. We not only we are the first manufactured and installed the windows and European window doors, but also the entire wooden façade in a Among other things, you offer burglar-proof manufacturer with passively back-ventilated post-and-beam conand soundproof windows. But what are avastruction. The requirements there were also lanche protection windows? an EMAS high because the saltwater puts additional Sailer: There are construction situations, for certificate.” stress on the surface and the property is at the example in alpine areas, where buildings are Stefan Polzhoferr mercy of wind and weather. A special and modlocated in avalanche-prone areas. The window ern building project from around here was, for must then be constructed in such a way that it example, the thermal spa in Bad Blumau planned can withstand several hundred kilos of pressure

by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. This is a true synthesis of differload. The frame construction must be designed differently, and the ent arts. Of the approximately 2,400 so-called dancing windows, no glass itself must also have different properties than normal window two are alike. For our technicians in planning and for our craftsmen glass. This is a special construction that is not needed every day. in production, this building project was a dream; for most market Polzhofer: In order to be allowed to call such a product an avacompetitors it would have been unfeasible. lanche protection window, you need the corresponding certification. As far as we know, there are only two other certified manuWhere does the wood for your products come from? facturers in Austria.

Sailer: Since wood is a natural product, the challenge starts with purchasing. We maintain long-term partnerships with our suppliers Of the numerous projects on your website, are there two or who are aware of our particularly high demands on this material. three whose special features you would like to highlight?

There is a clear trend towards wood from domestic forestry, which Sailer: The requirements are particularly high for historical buildwe very much welcome. ings. Here it is important to combine a historical appearance with Polzhofer: To my knowledge, we are the first European window modern technology. Regardless of whether it’s box-type windows, manufacturer with the EMAS certificate for integrated environmenmullioned windows or round arches: We also manufacture individtal management. Our conviction is that transparency in the mateual sample windows, if desired.

Kapo now has seven women among production staff.

© Bernhard Bergmann

© Bernhard Bergmann

ing project. All this and much more is clarified by our technicians in the planning phase with our potential customers.

An apprentice coordinator ensures that there is a steady stream of new staff.

Each Kapo window is individually handcrafted.

© Paul Ott

© Kapo Fenster und Türen GmbH

© Kapo Fenster und Türen GmbH

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Spectacular appearance: the special wooden window constructions.

Sailer: It’s a demographic process, and of course we feel it too. We are particularly fighting for apprentices, are present at schools, pay above the collective bargain and offer bonuses such as driving licence training. We also have an apprentice coordinator, a young lady who is very active. As a result, there are now seven women How much have the supply chain problems of recent years in production. We are currently also trying to bring apprentices affected you? from Spain here and train them.

Sailer: The last few years with their erratic supply situations have Polzhofer: The backbone of our company is our skilled workers. We also had an impact on the timber industry. In addition, there was are a family business and many skilled workers extra work because we often received materials are already in the second or third generation at late.

“We especially Kapo. I remember a situation where a long-time Polzhofer: We are currently observing a re-reemployee asked if his son could also work at gionalisation of the economy – an extremely fight for apprenticKapo. When asked how old he was and when he pleasing, positive trend. es and are also could come, the employee said that the due date present at was in three months... (laughs) How much do the increased energy prices affect you? schools.”

How do you manage to keep a family busiSailer: This runs through the entire supply chain Othmar Sailer ness going for almost 100 years? from which we purchase and leads to correPolzhofer: With ups and downs, as is part and sponding increases. parcel of a family business, with a lot of emotion from all sides and Polzhofer: The price increase affects plastic windows even more, with external support when emotions spill over. At the end of the because the energy required to produce them is higher. day, the secret of success is a high degree of personal responsibility combined with clear decision-making structures.

Do you feel the shortage of skilled workers? ◆ rials we use is the right way to go. That’s why we publish an annual environmental report that, among other things, documents and discloses all consumption.

World Champion Austria Upper Austria

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Upper Austria Upper Austria in figures Size Number of inhabitants Gross regional product per inhabitant* Disposable income of private households* Income per employee* Research ratio in % of the GDP* Number of enterprises*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of employees*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of lodging establishments** Overnight stays**

11,982 km² 1,527,084 46,700 € 24,800 € 48,200 € 3.51 %

6,586 5,952 13,555 186,547 62,138 113,484 3,883 7,964,223 Source: Statistik Austria; *2021, **2022, ***2020

World Champion Austria Greiner AG

A lot of innovative capacity and the courage to change Plastic packaging materials, foam for mattresses and medical products brought Greiner AG to the top of the world market.

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reiner AG, which is a not publicly listed joint-stock company, is a global leader when it comes to plastics and foam solutions. The companies of Greiner AG are divided into three areas of competence: Greiner Packaging produces plastic packaging for the food and non-food sectors; Neveon is a leading integrated foam group worldwide and offers flexible and composite foams from polyurethane for a wide range of applications; Greiner Bio-One is a global player in the medical technology and life science sectors. More than 11,000 employees at 130 locations in 34 countries work for the Upper Austrian group. The diversification of products and markets, innovation and globalisation, together with a sustainable corporate orientation, form the basis for continuous, profit-oriented growth. In addition to this there is also the company’s own training centre at the Greiner Campus in Kremsmünster.

CEO Axel Kühner reveals his formulas for success and outlines the path to packaging sustainability.

From the world’s first plastic Petri dish to today’s portfolio – what makes Greiner’s products so special that you have become a leading supplier?

Kühner: It’s probably our innovative capacity because the company has always shown the courage to change throughout its 154-year history. It all started with the production of cork stoppers, and if we had stubbornly stuck to that, we would have missed many opportunities. Even now, Greiner is right in the middle of an extensive transformation process, which is primarily concerned with how plastics can be produced even more sustainably and what alternatives can be found.

Are all the divisions within the group on an equal footing, or are there focal points?

Kühner: All three divisions are equally important.

© Greiner AG

Plastic packaging materials, foams for mattresses and medical products, among others – at first glance, these are completely different fields. Do the three divisions, apart from the common corporate umbrella, have anything in common?

Axel Kühner: The three divisions Greiner Packaging, Greiner BioOne and Neveon are united by the topic of plastics. After all, foams are also a form of plastics; in all cases, they are products that are intended to make our lives easier and better. Plastic packaging protects food and makes it last longer. Foams provide comfort in mattresses, sofas, and even car seats. And products for medical technology are designed to help people receive faster and better medical treatment.

Axel Kühner is CEO of Greiner AG, based in Upper Austria.

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The company headquarters in Kremsmünster, Upper Austria, from where the family business has reached the top of the world in 154 years of company history.

What are you planning on making more sustainable in your Plastic does not have a particularly shiny image, but it is imbusiness areas in the future, or is even a circular plastic economy possible to imagine daily life without it and everyone uses it. How possible? do you deal with this phenomenon?

Kühner: It’s important that we think about recycling right from the Kühner: Plastic and sustainability are only contradictory at first product design stage. We have also purchased a Serbian recycling glance. Of course, unfortunately, our products also end up in the plant in 2022 so that we can produce the recycled PET flakes we sea and in the forest, and we are endeavouring to counteract this need ourselves. In addition, we also try to keep the amount of with a circular economy. But plastic also ensures that food can be plastic in our products as low as possible. One kept longer. In addition, plastic requires less example of this is the K3 yogurt cup, which energy to produce and use than metal and consists of a thin plastic wall and a cardboard glass, for example. As our products have be“Life without wrap. In the new version of this Greiner invencome an integral part of our daily lives, we have plastics is conceivtion, the plastic and cardboard even separate enormous leverage and responsibility when it able, but it doesn’t automatically due to the pressure in the sorting comes to reducing emissions. make sense.” machine. It is products like this that are changing the market.

What do you mean by the term ‘sustainable Axel Kühner plastic packaging’?

Are you researching plastic substitutes?

Kühner: Packaging is sustainable, for example, Kühner: Absolutely – one example is our youngest subsidiary if it is recyclable, reusable or compostable. This is precisely our goal Greiner Zeroplast. The former start-up is developing bio-based by 2025 for all packaging from Greiner Packaging. We don’t yet have materials made of fibres, wax or lime, which can then be used in all the final answers to the question of how we will achieve this, industrial injection moulding. We are supporting Greiner Zeroplast but we are working every day to get closer to this goal.

World Champion Austria Greiner AG

What impact do the rising prices of energy, raw materials and labour have on Greiner?

Kühner: Fortunately, the plastics industry is not as energy-intensive as the metal or paper industry, for example, but of course we have felt the volatile energy prices. The raw material situation affects the foam sector in particular; here, purchasing prices are high and in some cases not all the “In addition to its required quantities are available. Inflation is also increasing the pressure on wages and thus also central location in on production costs. Under these conditions, we Europe, the highly nevertheless achieved a respectable result in skilled workers fiscal 2022.

in the technical implementation of the idea through to series production readiness of the products. Through our innovation incubator Greiner Innoventures, we are also involved, for example, in the start-up Hempstatic, which produces soundproof panels from industrial hemp. So, we are always interested in new materials if we see promising and, above all, sustainable innovations in them.

Training future employees in the company’s own training centre.

© Christian Huber

© Christian Huber

Greiner AG has been 100 percent family-owned since it was founded. What advantages does that bring?

Kühner: This ownership structure has the advantage that long-term goals will always be speak for Austria You have more than 11,000 employees in more important than quick profits. After all, a as a business 33 countries. What do you value about Austria family doesn’t think in quarters, but in generalocation.” as a business location, which is not one of the tions. Even though the Greiner family is no cheapest? longer operationally active in the company, you Axel Kühner Kühner: That’s exactly why we have to be the can still feel the family spirit in the corporate best! In addition to the central location in Europe culture in that we try to live the family values. and the attractive investment environment, it is certainly also the And that is something very valuable in these fast-moving times. In skilled workforce that speaks for Austria as a business location. For addition, the owners also have an impact through their role on the example, apprenticeship training is unparalleled in an international supervisory board.

Research into new products is constantly being carried out in Greiner’s labs.

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© Greiner Pac

What suggestions or wishes do you have for politicians to strengthen Austria’s competitiveness?

Kühner: With regards to the shortage of skilled workers, we must be much more proactive in addressing the issue of immigration. Politicians must have more courage to say why skilled immigration is so important. And they must also ensure that the female work force participation rate increases. We can no longer afford to forego a large part of the workforce potential of women because there are not enough childcare facilities, and it is not worthwhile to pursue fulltime employment. Of course, freedom of choice is needed, but it must become much more attractive and easier to work full-time. The abolition of bracket creep was a right step here, but more needs to

All Greiner Packaging products are to be sustainable by 2025.

kaging

Your headquarters are located in Kremsmünster in Upper Austria. What makes this market town attractive for a company’s headquarters?

Kühner: We are operating worldwide, but at home in Kremsmünster. And even though we now have a steadily growing site in Vienna to take advantage of the labour market potential there, we will always be an Upper Austrian company. At the end of 2022, together with the Province of Upper Austria and the Municipality of Kremsmünster, we opened the new Greiner Bridge, which we co-financed with 1.45 million euros, which is about one third of the actual construction costs. This bridge increases traffic safety in the region and also symbolises the connection that exists between the people of Kremsmünster and Greiner.

© Christian Huber

comparison. As a result, we are able to train the specialised workers we need ourselves. Nevertheless, the shortage of skilled workers will be one of the greatest challenges in the coming years. One reason for this is the demographic development – think of mass retirement versus low birth rates.

The development of this cup has made recycling easier for 40 years.

happen. However, it is also important that we develop the social will for more participation and diversity.

Where do you see the biggest challenges in the coming years?

Kühner: In the availability of highly qualified specialists. Of course, high energy prices are leading to a transformation and a shift in production. Energy-intensive industry will always go where there are the best location factors.

This is a normal, economic change. The question for Austria is: What can we do better than others? It’s not about the lowest production costs, but about expertise, innovative capacity and new technologies.

That is why it is so important that we invest more in education and training. That’s where the action will be in future.

Can you imagine a world without plastic?

Kühner: No. Or to paraphrase Loriot: ‘Life without plastic is conceivable, but it doesn’t make sense’. ◆

WorldChampion Austria Rosenbauer

Electrification at the world’s largest fire equipment supplier Electrification has reached heavy vehicles: The Rosenbauer Group is building “Revolutionary Technology”.

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he Upper Austrian Rosenbauer Group has been one of the world’s leading fire service suppliers for decades. Constant innovation is one of the secrets of the company’s success, which develops and produces vehicles, extinguishing technology, equipment and digital solutions for professional, company, works and voluntary fire brigades, as well as systems for preventive fire protection. Products from European, US and Asian production cover all important standards. With a turnover of 972.2 million euros, around 4,100 employees (as of 2022) and a sales and service network in about 120 countries, the group is the largest fire equipment supplier in the world. The listed family business is run by the sixth generation and has been serving fire services for more than 150 years. CEO Sebastian Wolf on the electrification of firefighting vehicles, future challenges and a massive cyberattack that affected the company in spring 2023.

The Rosenbauer company has been around for more than 150 years. What are the ‘main ingredients’ that have made Rosenbauer a successful international group?

Sebastian Wolf: Recognising trends at an early stage and transforming them into real products is clearly one of our strengths.

For example, back in 2016, at our 150th anniversary celebrations, we presented the Concept Fire Truck, a fire truck with a fully electric drive. This evolved into the RT (Revolutionary Technology), which went into test operation with selected customers in 2020. Since May 2023, we have been producing the RT in series and are supplying customers in Europe, the US, Australia and Canada. At the ‘Interschutz’ trade fair in June 2022, we were the only manufacturer to present a complete, fully electric line-up of emergency vehicles for the municipal sector: In addition to our RT, municipal fire-fighting vehicles, turntable ladders and logistics vehicles on electric truck chassis, we also presented the first prototype of our airport fire-fighting vehicle, the Panther electric.

Emergency vehicles with alternative drives will play an important role in the years to come because they make a valuable contribution to cities and municipalities achieving their climate targets.

You have production facilities in Europe, the US and Asia.

Which of the locations is particularly important and why?

Wolf: The locations have been chosen so that we can operate close to the customer, keep delivery routes short and contribute to the value creation of the respective countries. By producing at different locations, we also cover the required standards. A vehicle for the European market is subject to completely different specifications than a vehicle that is put into service in America or Asia. In addition to production in Europe, North America – one of the largest single markets for fire fighting vehicles – is one of our most important sales regions; accordingly, we also pay great attention to the expansion of our dealer and service network.

Despite its international orientation, the head office is in Austria. What advantages does this location offer you?

Wolf: The headquarters in Leonding near Linz is our largest production site. Among other things, our highest-volume municipal vehicle, the AT (NB: Advanced Technology), the Panther, an airport fire-fighting vehicle and the fire-fighting components for the entire group are manufactured here. The majority of our product development is also based in Leonding. It is important for us to create as much value as possible in our own country. In addition, the domestic labour market also offers us the qualifications we need in our demanding business.

Your company was the target of a cyberattack at the end of February. What damage did that cause and what consequences will you draw from it?

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Sebastian Wolf is CEO of Rosenbauer International AG

WeltMeister Österreich Rosenbauer

© Rosenbauer

Cyberattacks are just one challenge in these turbulent times.

Wolf: The question today is not whether you are attacked, but How much are you affected by the rise in energy prices and supply when. We were well prepared, and our IT team reacted quickly and chain problems – such as those caused by the war in Ukraine? took all servers offline as an immediate measure. After that, the Wolf: Since our energy costs account for less team started a controlled recovery process. than one percent of our turnover, we are hardly Within a very short time, around 300 servers and “I would like to see affected directly by the rise in energy prices. more than 3,000 notebooks were reset, and the However, we are very strongly affected by enerIT systems were gradually brought back online politicians promote gy price-induced inflation via the supply chain. with a focus on production and logistics. Neveralternative drive For example, aluminium sheet, which is importheless, production at the Leonding site was systems equally in tant for us, has become 37 percent more expendisrupted for about two weeks, while other sites sive in 2022 compared to 2021. Despite increassuch as America or Spain were able to continue all areas.” ing rays of hope, the supply chains are still very production. We assume that the economic damSebastian Wolf fragile and react highly sensitively to the slightage was in the low, single-digit million euros est change. Longer delivery times for many large range. The damage assessment could not be components, especially for the important chassis, have become the completed for a long time and took many weeks. The attack clearly ‘new normal’ for us and we are adjusting our processes to accomshowed how important it is to have a well-established recovery modate this. process and to sensitise employees to the issue. As a consequence, we have significantly tightened our security precautions throughDo you notice any problems in recruiting new skilled workers out the Group. and what measures are you taking to have enough skilled staff available in the future?

Wolf: The shortage of skilled staff now affects all industries, and increasingly it is not just skilled workers who are lacking – there is a general shortage of labour. At Rosenbauer, training apprentices is therefore a very high priority. We train around 100 apprentices, and it is particularly pleasing that there are also more and more girls. In September 2022, for example, 32 new apprentices started their training at the Leonding and Neidling sites, and a quarter of them were young women. Through our initiative women@rosenbauer.com, we are also trying to specifically recruit women for Rosenbauer, because we want to increase the share of women in our workforce to 15 percent by 2025; it is currently around 13.5 percent across the Group.

The Rosenbauer site in Leonding with its own PV system

Speaking of sustainability and circular economy – what steps is Rosenbauer currently taking to produce in a greener or more sustainable way?

Wolf: In 2022, as part of our long-term Group strategy ‘Rosenbauer City 2030’, we drew up a climate strategy based on the specifications of the ‘Science Based Targets’ initiative and submitted it for evaluation. For this purpose, a comprehensive greenhouse gas inventory was carried out for the first time and both direct and indirect CO2 emissions were determined. This showed us that as an

© Rosenbauer

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The future has long been a reality at Rosenbauer: A fully electric line-up of fire engines is ready for deployment.

assembler we only cause a very small part of the emissions attributable to us. The majority comes from indirect emissions through the use of our vehicles.

We have set ourselves the goal of reducing our direct emissions by 46.2 percent and our indirect emissions by 27.5 percent by 2030 compared to 2019. On the way to achieving this goal, we are focusing on our own programme for greater energy efficiency and on alternative vehicle drives, in addition to other measures.

What challenges does your company face in the coming months?

Wolf: Our customers are almost exclusively from the public sector.

They are used to concluding fixed-price contracts through tenders.

We have to convince our customers of indexed contracts and at the same time reduce our manufacturing costs to counteract inflation.

This is hitting us particularly hard, as breached delivery times have led to longer lead times. After a difficult year in 2022, we have set ourselves the goal of achieving sales of over one billion euros in

2023 and a clearly positive result again with an EBIT margin of three percent. To achieve this, we already initiated a programme to reduce manufacturing costs and adjust our pricing policy in late summer 2022.

What measures would you like to see from politicians to make Austria more attractive as a business location? Or is it all bliss?

Wolf: What I would like to see from politics is that alternative drives are really promoted equally in all areas. Because we notice again and again that the special needs of the fire brigades are not adequately reflected in the funding guidelines. With adapted criteria, we could quickly create the basis for a shift in mobility towards electric vehicles. Our vehicles in particular are often in use for 20 years or more – which means, on the one hand, that they are very durable, and on the other hand, we would have to execute a technology change today in order to achieve the Paris climate goals in 2030. ◆

World Champion Austria Carinthia

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Carinthia Carinthia in figures Size Number of inhabitants Gross regional product per inhabitant* Disposable income of private households* Income per employee* Research ratio in % of the GDP* Number of enterprises*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of employees*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of lodging establishments** Overnight stays**

9,536 km² 568,919 40,300 € 24,000 € 46,000 € 3.22 %

2,514 2,868 5,020 45,143 23,479 37,499 8,689 12,846,239 Source: Statistik Austria; *2021, **2022, ***2020

World Champion Austria Silicon Alps Cluster

The Silicon Alps region produces microchips for the global market In the provinces of Carinthia and Styria, this tech cluster is driving world market leadership in electronics.

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ustainability, energy, (e-)mobility, innovation and technology – the Silicon Alps Cluster in Carinthia and Styria is leading in these areas, when it comes to networking at the highest tech level. Therefore, some of the world market leaders in the microchip industry come from this region. CEO Robert Gfrerer explains the worlds of Silicon Alps.

© Silicon Alps

How does the public-private cluster Silicon Alps work?

Robert Gfrerer: Clusters in Austria’s provinces – and also across the provinces – work similarly in terms of their operating model. We are limited liability companies with public and private owners. In

Silicon Alps CEO Robert Gfrerer is proud of “his” world market leaders.

our case there are two public owners, the Styrian Economic Development Agency SFG with 26 percent and the Carinthian Economic Development Fund KWF also with 26 percent. In total, we have twelve owners, whereby the others are industrial partners. There are many large companies, but consciously also some small ones, i.e. SMEs. The bottom line is that this structure is not about majorities, but about agreeing on strategies, on procedures. Basically, everything is decided unanimously. In this way, we aim to achieve a balance of interests in our industrial network between the needs of the industrial sector and the design requirements that the industrial sector has of policymakers. The two public shareholders, as funding institutions, are of course involved in the design process.

This is necessary because the industrial sector demands suitable framework conditions from policymakers. With a small organisation like a cluster, you want to have a flexible, agile organisation that can react quickly.

That all sounds a lot like lobbying …

Gfrerer: Our activities are manifold. The main activity is networking – we mediate the partners among themselves, but also externally.

Our members are institutions from the research sector. We have large companies among us, and two thirds of our members are small and medium-sized enterprises. There are quite a few startups among the SMEs. Our core area is to be the bridgebuilder here.

If partners are looking for technologies or research services, or want to find their footing, they can ask us. We are also part of a European network, the Silicon Europe Alliance, in which eleven clusters from all over Europe are represented. Therefore, we can also provide networking to other countries. When the occasion arises, we contact our European partner clusters, and the probability is very high that a suitable partner company will be found there. This usually happens very quickly with the exchange of a few mobile phone numbers. These mediation activities are our main task.

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Silicon Alps, an instrument of cooperative and efficient location development, is also part of a European network, the Silicon Europe Alliance.

So, you can influence political framework conditions in the same way as finding suitable research facilities for industrial corporations or suppliers?

Gfrerer: We also help with the acquisition of new technologies, because our members cannot always develop everything themselves. If, for example, one of our smaller companies wants to get in touch with one of our very big partners, we usually quickly find a direct contact person in the group concerned and establish the connection. Another business area is based on projects, both in development and research, as well as for applications. If someone wants to set up a joint venture, we take over the coordination.

What about help with funding?

Gfrerer: We handle so-called Cascade Funding programmes. There are very attractive funding programmes at a European level that are very complex for SMEs. Going it alone would be too complicated and too bureaucratic for many companies. In such cases, we stand in between with

Cascade Funding programmes and handle the complex procedure with Brussels for our SMEs.

How many partners does the network currently consist of and how much is it growing?

Gfrerer: As is always the case in business, new partners join, and others drop out. The bottom line is that we are growing by an average of ten percent per year. However, the business of our member companies is growing much faster – in 2023, some of our partner companies from the microchip sector recorded a growth of 30 percent. Last year, the European Chips Act came from Brussels, with which the European Union “Capacity is being set up a programme to double the world market increased in a share of the European chip industry in the next ten years. production area in

Europe to reduce dependencies.”

Robert Gfrerer

Which developments are you particularly proud of?

Gfrerer: There would be no Supercharger anywhere in the world without chips from our in-

World Champion Austria Silicon Alps Cluster

dustry. The entire boom that is currently taking place in electromobility would not be possible without the high-performance electronics of our partners from the region.

“We need many young people to take up such a profession.”

When will the next large chip factory be built in Carinthia?

Gfrerer: It’s already there, and there are constant construction sites. At Infineon another hall was completed in the summer. At AT&S in Leoben, half a billion euros are currently being spent on construction. And investment projects are also underway at numerous other partners.

What about your cooperation with research institutions and universities?

Gfrerer: The relationships are very intensive. We are the cluster that has the most research institutions as partners that are also paying members. These include, for example, the Graz University of Technology, COMET centres such as the Know Center, PCCL, MCL and the Virtual Vehicle, Silicon Austria Labs SAL and many others. The interconnections are extremely intensive, and that’s the way it should be. Our leading technology companies have an average R&D quota of about ten percent. This only works if you cooperate with research institutions at various levels. At a national level, the R&D value is usually around three to four percent. Some

Robert Gfrerer

of our partners have also established endowed professorships at universities. It takes research performance, but also the competence of applied research, so that new technologies can go into product development. Finally, we need implementation competence, and we have plenty of that in the cluster.

Is the focus on Carinthia and Styria a limitation or an advantage?

Gfrerer: The business itself is global, of course. But Europe has realised that certain competences have been outsourced to too great an extent, and it is very risky if you no longer have them in your own country. The European Chips Act is a massive attempt to change that. If you look at the AT&S construction site in Leoben, for example, capacity is being increased in a production area in Europe to reduce dependencies. But it is not a question of no longer doing global business. That would be absurd, and we would only close ourselves off.

Operating across two provinces is an ingenious development. In these two provinces, more than 80 percent of Austrian companies are operating in the electronics sector. So, it also makes sense to look at this as one region. But we also have partners in Vienna, in Lower Austria, in Salzburg and recently also in Croatia. As a local cluster, you draw a radius of 300 kilometres; all partners who are within this radius can be well looked after with a small, agile team.

Furthermore, virtual support is possible. When it comes to networking, however, you should meet in person.

© Infineon

Do you also use artificial intelligence?

Gfrerer: We are the first cluster to work with AI in business development. We have already implemented solutions here, but we see that we still have a lot of learning to do as a team.

The Infineon plant in Villach, a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions

You name a few ‘Areas of Excellence’ in which you are active.

Can you give us some exciting examples?

Gfrerer: Power Electronics stands out. Our region has a global market share of 20 percent in the field of power electronics. This is about smart grids, photovoltaic control systems and e-charging stations that can transfer a high amount of electricity. E-mobility drives many of our partners, and it’s about wind turbine control components. The region is number one in the world when it comes to security chips in passports. They are found in 90 percent of passports, including those of the United States. Our region is also the

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Do you experience a shortage of skilled workers?

Gfrerer: The issue runs through all sectors, and the situation will become even worse when the baby boomer generation starts to retire. This will increasingly affect technical professions. We need many young people to take up such a profession. We cannot intervene here ourselves. What we, as a cluster, can do together with our partners is to work on concepts to promote this location and these jobs attractively. In any case, it makes more sense for a whole network to try to promote technical jobs to young people than for each company to do it on its own.

How do you make technical jobs appealing to young people?

Gfrerer: If you make them understand that the job is very cool and then show them the mountain bike trails and the ski slopes, that’s the icing on the cake. But nobody comes just for the beautiful scenery and the beautiful mountains if there are no cool jobs – but there are. Of course, people from other countries who want to work here inquire if there is already a community. Both in the big companies in Styria and in Carinthia there are employees from about 70 na-

tions. So, there is a community. But we still have to work on our welcome culture, the environment has to fit and be family friendly.

If someone wants a top job in research, they can have it with us.

Silicon Austria Labs alone has a hundred open positions.

You work directly with ESBS-Austria (Electronics and Software Based Systems). How does that work, what are the benefits?

Gfrerer: The ESBS is an organisation that represents the interests of the electronics and software-based industry. There is close cooperation here. They produce studies, for example, that show where Austria is the world market leader. ◆

© Infineon

leader in light sensors, with a 55 percent share of the world market.

These components are found in a lot of products, but hardly anyone knows that. In the field of cyber security, the latest international standard in lightweight cryptography, Ascon, was developed by a professor and his team at the Graz University of Technology. In addition, the most powerful and smallest dual charger in the world, the Tiny Power Box, comes from the region. With it, the battery of an electric vehicle can be both charged and used as a power storage unit for applications at home, for example.

Without the microchips from Carinthia and Styria many technologies such as superchargers in electric vehicles would not be possible.

World Champion Austria Salzburg

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Salzburg Salzburg in figures Size Number of inhabitants Gross regional product per inhabitant* Disposable income of private households* Income per employee* Research ratio in % of the GDP* Number of enterprises*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of employees*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of lodging establishments** Overnight stays**

7,154 km² 569,870 53,300 € 24,600 € 47,800 € 1.70 %

2,612 3,084 6,060 41,701 23,307 47,179 12,488 27,012,474 Source: Statistik Austria; *2021, **2022, ***2020

World Champion Austria Salzburg Festival

Setting the stage for one of Salzburg’s tourist magnets After challenging years of crisis, the Salzburg Festival is looking into a bright future and is already planning up to 2032.

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© Peter Rigaud

he Salzburg Festival survives everything – because despite the pandemic, the performances also took place during the Covid years. Therefore, it was able to celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2020. Lukas Crepaz has been the Commercial Director of the Salzburg Festival since 2017, successfully steering the traditional festival through the years of crisis, and will hold this position at least until 2027. The Tyrolean-born director provides insights into the fascination of the Festival, its economic significance and plans for the future.

Lukas Crepaz steered the Salzburg Festival commercially through crises.

How much have the past years left their mark on the Salzburg Festival?

Lukas Crepaz: In 2020, the Salzburg Festival was the only major festival in the world that took place, and thus took on a pioneering role for the entire cultural sector. Our concept was a model for the European cultural scene and was adopted by many cultural institutions. I am firmly convinced that it is precisely in these times of great uncertainty that the DNA of the Salzburg Festival helps us: to make art possible. This aim drives every single one of our employees – every one of the more than 250 year-round staff and every single one of the up to 4,500 performers during the summer months. And with this attitude, we were able to accomplish the feat of celebrating our 100th anniversary in the midst of the greatest health crisis in Europe since the Spanish flu with a four-week festival programme that was artistically sensible, economically feasible and, with the application of a strict and precise prevention concept, safe for health. Almost 80,000 visitors were able to experience the 110 events of the Festival in 2020. In making the necessary decisions, we as the Board of Directors – President Helga-Rabl-Stadler, Artistic Director Markus Hinterhäuser and myself – were spurred on by a look at the Salzburg Festival’s own very chequered history and the courage of our founders and predecessors. The Festival was conceived in the midst of the First World War as a peace project by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Max Reinhardt and Richard Strauss. There is a memorandum from 1917 to the imperial-royal court theatre director in which Max Reinhardt promoted his vision. At the Salzburg Festival, formerly hostile nations were to find each other again and experience the highest of the arts together. At the same time, Reinhardt had argued in this time of crisis what economic significance such an undertaking would have for the entire country and what prosperity future visitors from all over the world would bring to the entire region. This writing, so visionary, has long since come true..

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The imposing Großes Festspielhaus in the city of Salzburg, where the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, among others, performed in the summer of 2023.

Crepaz: We want to be a festival for everyone. More than 50 per What is the economic significance of the Salzburg Festival? cent of our tickets, that is more than 100,000 tickets, cost between Crepaz: The Festival has always been a mutually enriching unity of five and 110 euros. Even in times of high inflation, we have only art and business, it has formed its own eco-system. It consists of increased ticket prices in the most expensive categories, where effects that are actually measurable and that can be calculated as price elasticity and tolerance of price increases is different. The models, and of effects that cannot be measured. The most recent offer in the lower price categories remained unchanged. It is parvalue-added study by the Austrian Economic Chamber showed a ticularly important to us to make this participation possible, no value added of 183 million euros in Salzburg alone and 215 million matter what income group you are in. Affordability is of course an euros per year in Austria as a whole. In addition, the Festival creates issue, especially in economically challenging times. But we notice or secures 2,800 full-time, year-round jobs in Salzburg and 3,400 in that our guests want to afford art. We see this in the demand, which Austria. Many entrepreneurs, especially in the retail and catering is unbroken. We are heading back towards the pre-pandemic level. sectors, tell me that they generate about a third of their year-round turnover during the six weeks of the Festival. During the Festival, Is the balancing act between artistic desires and budget reality Salzburg is a cultural cosmopolitan city – the whole city breathes the difficult?

Festival. The very high-quality demand of festival guests stimulates Crepaz: The Festival has a self-support ratio of 75 per cent. We are trade, the hotel industry and gastronomy. There are educational, both an art business and an enterprise. This is also the self-image competence and identity effects emanating from the Festival that of our programming. People often assume that the artistic and the are difficult to measure. The advertising effect through the tens of commercial way of thinking are completely opposed. We are very thousands of reports, social media posts, television and radio reports fortunate that in Markus Hinterhäuser we have and streaming that appear worldwide about the an artistic director who has a great understandSalzburg Festival and reach millions of people is ing of commercial necessities. Of course, high huge. Every year, over 213,000 ticket holders at“The ‘Festival inflation is a very big challenge for us. While tend the more than 200 events of the Salzburg District 2030’ energy and material prices have already reFestival. Another 100,000 people visit the free project will secure turned halfway to normal, the big challenge lies admission offers, especially the Siemens.Festin the long-term effects. Due to the increased spiel.Nächte at Kapitelplatz and the Festival the future of the cost of living, the pressure in collective bargainOpening. three Festival ing is much greater, which significantly increases Houses.” personnel costs. This puts a lot of pressure on Do you think there will be a moment when the budgets for the next few years. We will have people that are not affluent are no longer able Lukas Crepaz an increase in staff costs in the two years 2023 to attend the festival due to the high inflation?

World Champion Austria Salzburg Festival

Do the big stars cut back on fees – compared to big solo concerts, for example – because a performance at the Salzburg Festival also has a great PR value?

Crepaz: We can’t pay the fees of large commercial organisers. We have maximum fees that are kept stable and accepted by everyone.

The long-standing relationship with our artists is characterised by mutual appreciation. And, of course, the aura of the Salzburg Festival is highly appreciated by all performers.

Would the Salzburg Festival exist without the currently 18 million euros in public funding?

Crepaz: I prefer to talk about investments here. One finding of the value-added study was that every year 77 million euros flow back to the Federal Government, the Province and the City in direct and indirect taxes and duties. That means that every euro invested comes back several times over.

© Matthias Horn

The Salzburg Festival also offers a programme for young people.

Is this how you attract the audience of tomorrow?

The classic “Jedermann” is also being performed indoors during bad weather.

Crepaz: In 2020, with the help of Raiffeisen, Uniqa and the Würth Group, we were able to restructure and significantly expand our children’s and youth programme. In the Young & Everyone programme, a total of 54 events and workshops will now take place from March to the end of August. In addition to the children’s opera, there are now further drama and musical theatre productions. In our From Abtenau to Zell am See programme, we bring our productions to schools and cultural centres throughout the province of Salzburg, thus reaching children and young people who would otherwise not be able to come to the Festival. This is very important to us in terms of participation and cultural education because we notice that there are great deficits in cultural and educational policy.

Do you feel the sanctions imposed by the EU against Russia?

Both in the loss of Russian artists and in the absence of guests?

Crepaz: We condemn the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine and have a clear position here. Anyone who identifies with this war, its protagonists or its goals cannot perform at or be a partner of the Festival. The Salzburg Festival is an international festival with visitors and artists from all over the world. Russia was an important source market before the war. This is no longer the case. However, guests from over 80 nations continue to come to the Salzburg Festival, and as of this year, the top 10 source markets include the USA, Japan and South Korea, in addition to the European countries.

© Luidi Caputo

and 2024 that is as high as the cumulative cost increases of the previous six years. Since art and culture are very much depending on personnel, we are also talking about the largest share of our budget here.

A venue for many a legendary performance: the Großes Festspielhaus

A costume design from the youth programme Young & Everyone

© Berbd Uhlig

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The performance of the Verdi opera “Macbeth” in summer 2023

Your contract was extended for another five years in 2021 At the Bayreuth Festival in 2023, many seats remained empty, and runs until March 2027. Can you already draw a mid-term the media spoke of a swansong. How do you see this development balance? in connection with the Salzburg Festival?

Crepaz: We have taken on a lot in the areas of digitisation, susCrepaz: The demand for tickets at the Salzburg Festival continues tainability and infrastructure and are on a to be sensational, we are again heading for an very good path. The project of the century, excellent occupancy rate of 97 per cent. Everyone Festival District 2030, for which I am responhas the opportunity to get tickets – whether it’s “Anyone who sible, will secure the future of the three festithe international audience planning for the longer identifies with the val halls, i.e. the central cultural infrastructerm, sponsors, friends and patrons or those who war on Ukraine, its ture of the province. The project will run until decide at short notice. Short-term demand is par2032. We are currently in the intensive planticularly high in a summer as strong as this one. protagonists or ning phase and will start implementation in Interest in individual productions increases espegoals, cannot autumn 2025. An ambitious sustainability cially if the production in question is very well reperform. strategy has been developed for the buildceived and reviewed or if it is polarising. We have ings, which will also be extended to their been selling between five and ten per cent of Lukas Crepaz operation next year. tickets in the summer for years. ◆

World Champion Austria Innovation Salzburg

Austria’s secret hotspot for IT and creatives Away from the Mozart image, Salzburg has developed into a tech location in recent years with the help of Innovation Salzburg.

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aking life easier for new and existing companies with various support services is just one of the tasks of Innovation Salzburg. It also recruits skilled workers abroad and supports research and science. The creative industries and the movie industry are also among the clientele of the business agency, which is an enterprise of the Province of Salzburg, the City of Salzburg, the Salzburg Economic Chamber and the Salzburg Federation of Industries. Managing Director Walter Haas can point to amazing successes and hidden champions, and also has a lot of plans for the future for the business and research location Salzburg.

© Innovation Salzburg/Benedikt Schemmer

Internationally, Salzburg is associated with Mozart, ‘The Sound of Music’ and mountains. Does Salzburg need an image correction to position itself as a business location?

Walter Haas is at the helm of Innovation Salzburg.

Walter Haas: In tourism and culture, Salzburg is very visible, internationally successful and at the top of its game. What is overlooked in Salzburg due to the dominance of art, culture and ultimately tourism is the strong research and innovation expertise. We have many hidden champions who are world market leaders in their own right but are not particularly visible as a brand. In 2016/17, we dealt very intensively with the topic of Salzburg as a research and innovation location and completely repositioned ourselves with a new science and innovation strategy. A central theme here is that we highlight the other Salzburg. We are communicating many achievements of our hidden champions and we are bringing many technology companies that are growing rapidly to the fore.

Salzburg is one of the most important headquarters locations in Austria; some companies manage not only their nationwide business here, but also their business in Europe and worldwide. We have a very intensive and vibrant creative industries sector. So, Salzburg is a well-diversified and successful business location that is not always visible. In terms of gross domestic product, we are number one among the Austrian provinces and among the top 20 of the 250 European regions. In 2022, we had the lowest unemployment in all of Austria, a very high labour productivity, and in tourism, Tyrol and Salzburg are way ahead. Salzburg is already a very strong business location.

How do you achieve a higher visibility of companies, and do you focus on the high-tech, IT or biotech sectors?

Haas: We have committed ourselves to intelligent profiling of the location, and there are five fields that we are pursuing intensively and in which Salzburg is strong: life sciences, information and communication technologies as well as data research, the creative, art and culture sector, but also Green Tech, i.e. intelligent solutions for the green transformation. Here, a lot of our work revolves around construction and sustainable materials, primarily when it

©Innovation Salzburg/Benedikt Schemmer

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Innovation consulting takes place directly at the companies – for example through Romana Schwab (left), head of the Innovation Service Centre.

comes to wood. And we focus very strongly on intelligent tourism, sports and the leisure industry with know-how and technology.

These are the profiles that we are pushing, where we have tech companies in the background and where we have suitable research and education. It is precisely in the triangle of education, research and business that the quality of the location for the more knowledge-intensive companies is created, and this is also where our further developments come into play. This interplay creates innovation, and knowledge becomes processes, products and services.

Martin Klässner from Make Visions said that Salzburg is a good IT location because there is little competition. Do you see it that way too?

Haas: We have very good IT education offers in Salzburg, where young people are being trained. But there is just as much of a shortage of IT specialists in Salzburg as there is in the whole of Europe and worldwide. We can see that our local training and the attractiveness as a place to work are working in our favour. We can see

that investments in education are bearing fruit. We have our core education in the IT sector at the University of Applied Sciences and the University of Salzburg, and we see that this is not only a very good driver of growth for established companies, but also for many start-ups that emerge from it. Salzburg’s focus is on data research and geoinformatics on the one hand and industrial informatics, automation and cybersecurity with a focus on secure energy informatics on the other. These are our most important assets.

What distinguishes Salzburg as a business location?

Haas: I think that the attractiveness of the location, the good geographical position, combined with short distances for decisions and quick access to knowledge, are certainly essential factors. The strong Salzburg brand, a creative scene and the quality of leisure time are a good mix that also attracts young people, even if we have a different image when it comes to art and culture.

You support companies ‘on their way into the future’. What does that look like?

World Champion Austria Innovation Salzburg

© LMZ/Otto Wieser

One of your fields is support for research – Haas: From the first idea and a company that what does this look like? was founded to the established company – from “Start-ups, estabHaas: Since 2016, we have had our scientific inthe carpentry shop around the corner to our leadlished companies, novation strategy WIS, which defines what we ing companies like Red Bull and Palfinger – research and want to achieve in innovation and research. In everyone can come to us or is involved with us. educational instituconnection with this, the Province of Salzburg As an innovation agency, we are a one-stop shop, has also launched a very consistent investment whereby we try to support companies on their tions work together and funding programme and set up a service way into the future. This also applies to compathrough our point for all research and innovation topics in the nies from abroad. When investments, research network.” province, which is located in-house. It is a oneand innovation projects or location searches are stop shop for researchers. Since 2016/17, we pending, when there are questions about propWalter Haas have launched more than 200 projects, triggered erty rights, subsidies and financing, companies 180 million euros of investment in research instiget everything they need to implement their tutions and in the economy, and supported around 200 research business idea more easily. We put solutions in the foreground and jobs. A lot has happened there. Researchers from universities, coltry to give the companies all help they need for their business plan, leges and companies come to us with exciting projects, for which which we often develop together. As a rule, we define a project we help, like a small incubator, to translate a project proposal into together, for which we also set up attractive financing and subsidies a work programme and a calculation, and to find the right funding from the federal government, the Province and the EU, and accomprogramme and partners. Good ideas and quality approaches that pany it. We have built up a very good innovation ecosystem in bring something to the location can be implemented quickly. The Salzburg. Start-ups, established companies, research and educationlargest research funding in the province of Salzburg, ten million al institutions and many more work together through our network. euros, went to the University of Salzburg to establish a research People who want to make a leap into the future with their projects focus at the new Faculty of Digital Analytical Sciences. This inalso get access to the knowledge they need or to development partcludes a total of seven new professorships in the field of artificial ners from the colleges and universities with us. We can offer this intelligence and digitisation and a research college for 20 junior with partners throughout Austria and all over Europe via short, fast scientists. This extends to smaller projects, such as in the construcroutes. tion industry, where we are looking at the topics of carbon-neutral construction and recycled concrete. This is a broad field, and a lot has happened in it in Salzburg in recent years.

Institute for Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Salzburg

How do you support creative professionals?

Haas: Salzburg has the second highest share of creative enterprises in the whole of Austria. Salzburg is the most important media location in Austria, more than 50 percent of the revenues in the film industry are generated here. This is mainly due to Red Bull Media being located here. That’s why we have a very strong creative industry cluster in Salzburg, which creates value throughout Austria.

There are about 3,250 creative enterprises, in the city of Salzburg this is already more than every tenth business. So, we are very well positioned, and Salzburg is a creative hotspot. We are experiencing through the digital transformation that every company is in some way becoming a communication company and is integrated into digital processes and social media worldwide. Besides Red Bull,

The crime show “Die Toten von Salzburg” is filmed in Salzburg.

© Inmovation Salzburg

© SATEL FILM/Birgit Probst-Photographie

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Entrepreneur Daniel Kusiakist, one of the Innovation Salzburg ambassadors

Haas: We have a very good geographical location between Vienna, Munich and Milan. We have also proven to be a very attractive place to work. The biggest challenge now is the issue of skilled workers and the training of future skilled workers. We are expanding study programmes and aligning them with the needs of the economy. We have founded the initiative ‘Work in Salzburg’, a still very young initiative that makes Salzburg visible as a place to work and is aimed at foreign skilled workers Vienna in particular always advertises itself “Salzburg is a very in certain target markets. Above all, we try to as a perfect film location. What does Salzburg provide jobs in the STEM sector by presenting have to offer? attractive film our hidden champions. Salzburg offers many Haas: Salzburg as a film location offers a one-stop location, and we opportunities as a place to work because there shop for all film projects, from location scouting, offer many exciting are many exciting, attractive companies. For on-site servicing of projects, funding and financforeign professionals, the focus is on support as ing to successful execution. Salzburg is a very backdrops part of a one-stop shop. If students want to come attractive film location, and we can offer many throughout the here after graduation, we support onboarding, exciting backdrops throughout the province. In province.” we have a welcome service and help clarify legal the past 20 years there have been about 180 film issues. We are also well positioned on a federal projects executed with the help of film funding Walter Haas level with the Red-White-Red Card (NB: a work from the Province of Salzburg. We also advertise permit for non-EU-citizens). To make it easier to abroad for film productions to come to Salzburg. stay here, there are expat meets, and we always do something with Of course, this also has a huge effect on the positioning and marketour international workers in Salzburg. This initiative will be massiveing of the location and creates added value. ly expanded in the near future. It is a challenge to be an exciting location for young people, for creative and bright minds and for What are the biggest challenges for the business location in well-educated talents and to have local offers. That is our mission, the coming years and how do you convince professionals to come which we are trying to implement in the best possible way. to Salzburg? ◆ Sony is also a leading company and there are many digital agencies.

We offer support programmes for start-ups in the creative sector, and there are also many small creative companies that need collaborations to implement their projects. We offer programmes for business model development and support for cooperation model development.

World Champion Austria Alumero Group

Flying high in Europe with innovative photovoltaic systems The portfolio of Alumero ranges from substructures for solar systems and carport roofing to mobile solar power plants.

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ust a few years ago, the Alumero Group, based in Salzburg, primarily produced aluminium components for the industrial sector. In the meantime, the business field has changed completely. Due to the energy crisis, the business with solar collectors is booming. Alumero now manufactures the necessary substructures at three European sites. In addition, there are in-house developments such as solar carports, roofing for walkways and cycle paths, and the mobile solar container Solarfold, a kind of mobile photovoltaic power plant. CEO Manfred Rosenstatter explains the road to success.

The past year was a milestone for Alumero due to the switch from contract manufacturing to almost exclusively own products.

Was this a long-held wish and how did you manage to do so?

Manfred Rosenstatter: We were able to double our sales in 2022 as the photovoltaic market prospered. We have three manufacturing sites – an aluminum extrusion plant in Holland, a large mechanical processing plant in Poland, where we produce 90 percent of the substructures for our photovoltaic applications, and a similar plant located in Slovenia. There, we initiated a paradigm shift in 2022: Due to market requirements in the solar and photovoltaic sector, we have reoriented ourselves in Slovenia, leaving aging markets and investing in future-oriented markets. We have scaled back industrial orders in order to manufacture photovoltaic products. This is the switch from contract production to our own systems.

When did this development become apparent?

Rosenstatter: We have been dealing with photovoltaic substructures and components for the solar and photovoltaic industry since

© Alumero

How big is the remaining share of third-party orders?

Rosenstatter: We now produce 80 percent photovoltaic systems and 20 percent for the industrial sector.

Manfred Rosenstatter heads the Salzburg-based company Alumero.

© Alumero

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On course for expansion with strong growth potential: the four Alumero sites in Austria, Poland, Slovenia and the Netherlands.

Do your customers pay attention to alumini2006. In 2010, there was a hype in Germany. In um being made from recycled material?

2012 the subsidies were withdrawn, however, “We try to be Rosenstatter: That is increasingly becoming an and the market collapsed. But we have always an attractive important factor. Many customers are also introbelieved in this form of renewable energy and ducing metagreen or eco lines themselves, in have continued to develop the systems, even employer – that’s which recycled aluminium is used. We can also though we lost about twelve million euros in what we are.” provide evidence-based proof of the extent to annual sales there. That was painful, of course, Manfred Rosenstatter which we save carbon emissions. but we were able to make up for it with other products. We used the time until today, develYou use secondary aluminium in production. oped our systems further and believed that this What savings does that bring, and does it make your products market is coming back and has to come back. That’s why we are more favourable for the customer? now among the top three manufacturing system providers in EuRosenstatter: They don’t become cheaper, but marginally more rope. expensive, because recycling and sorting the scrap costs money, of course. If you compare it to premium aluminium, we produce two Do you also supply the required solar modules or just the subtons of carbon emissions to make one ton of aluminium. With prestructures? mium aluminium, that’s seven tons on average in the EU, and as Rosenstatter: We are the specialist for aluminium substructures much as 18 tons internationally. So we save lot of CO2. and mounting systems, but we also manufacture mounting substructures for OEM customers according to their requirements and drawings. We do not manufacture components such as solar modIs your modular Smart Carport with an integrated photovoltaic ules, inverters and storage. system sufficient for charging an electric car?

Rosenstatter: Our carport modules have an output of up to 35 kWp, What makes Alumero’s constructions so special that you can which is a double-row unit with twelve parking spaces, for examachieve such success in the market? ple. A large company parking lot can easily deliver several hundred Rosenstatter: Our USP is that we manufacture our products from a kWp, which are available for the charging infrastructure. However, metagreen alloy, i.e. recycled aluminium. That’s a major thing, beour carport is not intended to be an isolated unit but is normally cause we save a lot of emissions in the process. In addition, our connected to the grid and can also be operated with a storage unit systems are extremely easy to assemble and prefabricated, which as an option. With intelligent energy management, many situations ensures simple and quick installation. can be mapped, such as distributing only the electricity produced

World Champion Austria Alumero Group

by the photovoltaic system to the charging stations or providing the maximum charging power with the help from a storage unit, even if the local grid connection does not provide this power.

“Our mobile solar container can supply up to 40 households with electricity.”

Are your special designs for walkways and bike paths roofing solutions?

Rosenstatter: These roofing solutions can also be used for energy generation. As a producer and system provider, we can also map special solutions or special constructions very flexibly and quickly - from planning and development to implementation.

© Alumero

What is a Solarfold container?

Rosenstatter: This is our latest development. It Manfred Rosenstatter is a mobile 20-foot high-cube container with an Do you also supply the photovoltaics modoutput of 130 kWp. The modules are extended ules for them? semi-automatically to 122 meters using folding Rosenstatter: Our main business is our PV mounting systems. But, technology. This results in a wide variety of applications – on land of course, we also have partners with whom we can supply finished that will not be built on for several years, in third world countries systems. This also applies to our carports and solar containers. where there is no corresponding infrastructure for energy supply, or in war zones. Solarfold containers can also be used at large conWhat impact does the energy crisis have on Alumero? certs, on large construction sites and in various other areas.

Rosenstatter: We are also affected, of course, as energy consumption in our production plants is high and we have to bear So, this is a mobile solar power plant? high energy costs. That’s why we use photovoltaic systems Rosenstatter: Yes. One container can supply up to 40 households. ourselves wherever it makes sense, so that we can become self-sufficient.

You offer your own products to your employees at particularly favourable conditions. What is the idea behind this?

Can you fully compensate for externally purchased energy?

Rosenstatter: That is part of our metagreen philosophy. It includes Rosenstatter: Not completely, we still have to set up some Solarfold photovoltaic systems on our roofs, our recycled aluminium and, of containers for that. course, the involvement of our employees. It is particularly important to us to raise awareness of climate change among our own How much do supply chain problems affect your business? employees and to demonstrate measures to achieve climate goals.

Rosenstatter: We had our supply chain well under control even during the Covid pandemic when supply chains were severely affected. At that time, we changed our methodology – away from just-in-time to just-in-case. We filled our warehouses and as a result we were a reliable partner for our customers even during this difficult time, as we were able to meet shorter delivery times than our competitors.

The new, modular Smart PV carport from Alumero

So, is just-in-case likely going to be a new trend?

Rosenstatter: It also involves risks, of course, because when prices fall again and the warehouses are full, you need to have your storage system under control. Furthermore, you have to have the appropriate liquidity and storage space. These factors must be in place for just-in-case supply to work. But this is the only method that guarantees reliable delivery times even in difficult periods with an uncertain supply chain.

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Specialist in aluminium substructures and mounting systems, but also in mounting substructures for OEM customers

You also employ many war refugees from Ukraine.

Rosenstatter: At our plant in Poland, we employ more than 170 people from Ukraine. We are also implementing this model at our plant in Slovenia, with employees being trained in Poland. We are

achieving great success with this and can thus diminish and compensate for labour shortages. ◆

© Alumero

Does Alumero feel the shortage of skilled workers, and what are your approaches for tackling this problem?

Rosenstatter: The shortage of skilled workers and staff in general affects us just the same as everyone else and we know the causes.

There are different approaches here. Alumero is a secure and reliable employer. For us, the meaningfulness of the work is in the foreground. Our products are sustainable and serve the next generations. This applies from the management to the cleaning lady, as we can actively contribute something against climate change with our products. Working at Alumero is very attractive. We provide train tickets for Austria, there are employee participation models, an Alumero lounge and we go on a lot of excursions. There are other goodies as well. In addition, there is a lot of individual responsibility, and we make our employees feel appreciated.

The mobile solar container produces electricity where it is needed.

World Champion Austria Companies introduce themselves

PALFINGER: A work life full of opportunities PALFINGER is the world‘s leading producer and supplier of innovative crane and lifting solutions. An essential factor of success of the global technology group is its clear focus on education and training.

An interview with CEO Andreas Klauser.

Andreas Klauser, CEO PALFINGER

© Palfinger

Andreas Klauser has been CEO of PALFINGER since 2018. He is responsible for implementing the Global PALFINGER Organisation (GPO) and the Vision & Strategy 2030. With the GPO, Klauser successfully realigned the organisation of the global company in a volatile global environment. Strategy 2030 is geared towards the challenges posed by the megatrends of sustainability, digitisation and social change, and formulates long-term, sustainable answers with the aim of offering customers and partners integrated total solutions.

PALFINGER employs around 12,500 people at more than 30 locations worldwide and posted record results in 2021 and 2022 – most recently, total revenues of 2.23 billion euros. In the previous year, the Supervisory Board of PALFINGER confirmed Andreas Klauser as CEO for another five years.

What importance do training and further education have at PALFINGER? Andreas Klauser: An attractive working environment in line with our Vision & Strategy 2030 is a key factor in proactively shaping our future. At PALFINGER, our motto is: ‘We value people. People create value.’ Our employees are the key to PALFINGER’s global success and innovative strength. In order to secure and expand this path to success in the long term, a learning culture is indispensable. This offers future-oriented training and development opportunities both for existing employees and for new talents.

For this reason, we at PALFINGER train a large part of our staff ourselves. Apprenticeship training provides young people with the highest quality technical knowledge and skills and opens up numerous exciting prospects for them. Young junior staff perceive PALFINGER as a reliable, stable and promising employer in the region; around 92 percent of apprenticeship graduates stay with our company after completing their training and take advantage of the manifold career opportunities.

What role do training opportunities play in times of a shortage of skilled workers?

Klauser: They play an increasingly important role. Education and training have always been a central factor of success in the labour market. This will become even more important in the future, both for employees and employers. PALFINGER offers a wide range of further education opportunities and potential analyses, as well as a recruiting policy that advertises all positions internally and offers international career opportunities.

In order to attract skilled labour, a proactive approach in combination with an attractive working environment and great future prospects is of utmost importance.

Therefore, we offer our employees the opportunity to continuously develop themselves, making us all the more attractive as an employer.

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© Palfinger

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How does PALFINGER implement these offers in concrete terms?

Klauser: We are an apprenticeship workplace since 1970 with a central training and further education institution, the PALFINGER Campus in Lengau, and with specially established training centres in Central Europe, China and the United States – an offer that we are rapidly expanding worldwide. The most important position is occupied by the PALFINGER Campus in Lengau, where these activities are concentrated. This is where the majority of PALFINGER’s educational programmes take place – from apprenticeships with high-school diplomas (GCSE) to training programmes for managers. Currently, more than 180 apprentices are being trained in 17 different technical and commercial professions. At the same time, long-serving PALFINGER employees use the campus and its offerings to further their professional and personal qualifications, both on a practical and a theoretical level.

The recently expanded PALFINGER Campus in Lengau bundles training and further education programmes.

© Palfinger

We are an apprenticeship workplace since 1970 with a central training and further education institution, the PALFINGER Campus in Lengau, and with specially established training centres in Central Europe, China and the United States – an offer that we are rapidly expanding worldwide.

At the PALFINGER Campus in Lengau, more than 180 apprentices are currently being trained in various fields.

World Champion Austria Denios

Hazardous substances are best stored in products from Denios Hazardous substances can be found in almost every manufacturing company. Denios from Salzburg ensures safe storage.

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es such as paints and varnishes or gases for welding or as propellants in classic spray cans are also hazardous substances. As such, they must be stored in companies in a safe, legally compliant and environmentally friendly manner. We have the right products for the storage of hazardous substances of all kinds, such as spill trays.

Drums with water-polluting liquids, for example, are placed in or on these. We also produce fire protection cabinets in which flammable liquids such as paints, varnishes, nitro thinners or spray cans can be stored directly at the workplace and are thus always at hand.

fter a fire in a large chemical factory in Switzerland almost 40 years ago, the young engineer Helmut Dennig had a vision: Never again should the ground, soil or water, whether rivers or groundwater, be contaminated by chemical leaks or contaminated fire-fighting water.

This vision gave rise to Denios, which has become the market leader with products for the safe storage of hazardous substances, both indoors (e.g. hazardous substances and safety cabinets) and outdoors (fire-protected hazardous substance storage containers). Under the leadership of CEO Erich Humenberger, Denios, headquartered in Eugendorf in Salzburg, has been ranked in the top three in the business competition “Austria’s Leading Companies” for the past 15 years.

Denios

As a layman, I occasionally take my hazardous waste to a collection point. Why does Denios need hazardous waste storage in the industrial sector?

Erich Humenberger: In principle, we are only active in the b2b sector. Collection points that fall under the responsibility of municipalities are therefore also indirectly among our customers. Our clientele is mainly found in manufacturing companies. Pretty much, every company uses hazardous substances – be it in production as operating materials, as additives or as raw materials. The word hazardous substance sounds daunting at first, which is why many people think primarily of very dangerous substances. However, even normal lubricants, motor oils or hydraulic oils fall into this category because they are hazardous to water.

Chemicals, which are mainly used in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, as well as flammable substanc-

Everyone is likely to have many of these hazardous substances, such as spray cans at home and they are available in every drugstore.

Humenberger: A commercial enterprise and the manufacturing industry is subject to strict legal requirements. For the storage of flammable liquids, for example, there is a set of rules (VbF - Ordinance on Flammable Liquids) that stipulates exactly how and in what quantities a company may store these substances.

In the private sector, these regulations are completely irrelevant. In the new version of the VbF, which has been in force since March 2023, trade has now been included in many areas. In the past, for example, a large quantity of highly flammable windscreen cleaners was stacked in the salesroom, accessible to the public. A commercial enterprise, on the other hand, would not have been allowed to store such quantities in this way.

© Denios

Erich Humenberger manages Denios with its headquarters in Salzburg.

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The RFP-SD sliding gate container with REI 120 classification is just one of countless hazardous material containers from the Salzburg-based company.

How does a hazardous materials storage system work?

Humenberger: In principle, almost all liquid hazardous materials are also hazardous to water. All our safety cabinets, or in larger dimensions our safety containers, have an integrated catch basin at the bottom, where every weld seam is tested. This ensures that leaking liquids do not enter the ground, but the tray. A double frame system is used for the fire protection containers, consisting of solid inner frames and an outer frame made of steel. Between them are at least ten-centimetre-thick insulation panels made of non-combustible rock wool. This insulates so well that in the event of a fire from the outside, only the outer frame or the outside of the insulation panels become hot and the insulation inside the container keeps it cool. Cool means that it must take longer than 90 minutes for the internal temperature to reach 200 degrees Celsius at any point. This is relatively cold for steel, so the inner frame is statically strong, even if the strength of the outer frame is reduced in a massive fire. If there is a fire inside the container, it works the other way round.

A fire detector is installed inside the container to detect heat and smoke. If the fire detector goes off, it sends a signal to the control unit. The control unit switches off the electrical door holding magnets, so that the doors close automatically and in sequence if they are still open. Of course, the doors are also fire-resistant for 90 min-

utes. At the same time, the control system switches off the technical ventilation of the container. At a temperature of about 60 degrees, the door seals automatically foam up and seal the doors. Also temperature-controlled, the fire dampers on the ventilation openings close. The container is then hermetically sealed. This applies to fires both inside and outside the container. This gives the fire brigade enough time for a targeted extinguishing attack.

In recent months there have been repeated reports of exploding or burning lithium-ion batteries. What are your solutions for safe storage?

Humenberger: For small batteries used in everyday life, such as those found in gardening tools or tools like cordless screwdrivers, drills etc., or even bicycle batteries that already have a little more power, we offer fire protection cabinets for safe storage and charging. They are also fire-protected for 90 minutes. The danger of a used battery catching fire is greatest during charging. In a craft business, charging probably takes place in the workshop overnight.

Our SmartStore safety cabinets are equipped with sockets inside for this purpose, so that the batteries are stored safely and charged at the same time. If a battery burns down during charging in the cabinet, the workshop is protected. This safety aspect makes our lithium-ion charging cabinets a very popular product.

World Champion Austria Denios

“Our safety cabinets are equipped with sockets on the inside; batteries are thus stored and charged safely.”

Humenberger: Our founder started out in GerYour energy storage systems were recently many with collection trays and occupied the launched on the market. niche of environmentally compliant hazardous Humenberger: This is all about economic susmaterial storage. After that, the product range tainability and green electricity. Our existing, was expanded steadily. We differ from other walk-in fire protection containers are up to eight Erich Humenberger suppliers in some areas, as we have our own metres long, three metres high and three metres production facilities and can offer individual, wide. In cooperation with the company Tesvolt, tailor-made solutions for our customers. In addiwe build batteries and inverters into them, so tion, we produce everything from catch basins and safety cabinets that companies with large photovoltaic systems can store the surto fire protection containers ourselves. In sales, another USP is our plus energy. We call our product, the fire-protected energy storage expert advice, regardless of whether it is a simple collection tray or system, Power-Safe. This is a plug-and-play solution that can be a large hazardous materials storage facility. We are a one-stop shop used, for example, to cushion expensive peak loads or to cover part from the initial consultation to the installation and later mainteof the base load. nance of the hazardous materials storage facility – a carefree package, so to speak.

What made Denios one of the world’s largest providers of hazardous material storage solutions?

Do you supply customers worldwide?

Humenberger: Yes, apart from the current politically induced delivery restrictions. Denios is represented throughout Europe, either with production or sales. In addition, we produce in the USA for North America and Canada, and in China for the Chinese market.

© Denios

Can you be sustainable in your costly production? Is a circular economy even possible in your field?

Humenberger: Our collection trays are mostly made of steel or polyethylene, or in special cases stainless steel. The systems are also made of standard steel and rock wool panels. Our materials are therefore quite normal basic materials. In the Catalogue Products area, we offer our customers more and more carbon-neutral products and for years have been awarded the Eco Vadis seal for sustainability in the supply chain. As a climate-neutral company, Denios focuses on many measures to keep its carbon footprint as small as possible.

Denios also initiates environmental protection projects outside its own sites. Under the motto ‘Environment for the next generation’, our apprentices and students have joined forces and act as ambassadors for sustainable action.

“Denios connect” is a cloud-based web app for monitoring.

What does a digital hazardous materials storage system look like? Is real-time monitoring necessary?

Humenberger: We call the product in which we digitise the container DeniosConnect. This allows the customer to permanently monitor all relevant status data, such as the interior temperature or

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“With Denios Connect we have digitised our hazardous materials and fire protection containers.”

Guaranteed safe: the fire-resistant hazardous materials cabinet type 90.

© Denios

© Denios

Europe are our customers. We built a decontammeasurements of the liquid sensor in the collecination container for a university in Bavaria, tion tray. We can install a wide range of sensors, where radioactivity was involved. For a univerwhose signals are combined and transmitted to sity in western Austria, we not only equipped the customer’s end device via a cloud-based web Erich Humenberger the laboratory with fire protection cabinets, but application. If there are any abnormalities in the also built an outdoor hazardous materials storcontainer, there are different warning levels up age facility. Or, a few years ago, a hazardous materials storage fato an alarm. The customer has a permanent overview and automatcility consisting of several individual containers connected to each ic documentation. Where temperature-critical aggregates are other by locks for a very large hospital in eastern Austria. You can stored, for example in the food or pharmaceutical industry, a certain work with various substances in these containers like in a laboratemperature range must be maintained. It is eminently important tory. for a drug manufacturer, for example, to be able to seamlessly document the correct storage or the storage conditions. This automatWhen will the container for the archetypical evil mother-in-law ic documentation is one of the main benefits for the customer. arrive?

Humenberger: Since we are exclusively operating in the b2b sector What was the most complicated task you faced? and this is a requirement from the b2c sector, it does not fall within Humenberger: That’s hard to say, because large parts of the autoour field of business. (laughs) motive industry and almost the entire chemical industry in Western ◆

The fire-resistant SmartStore Li-Ion loading/storage cabinet type 90.

World Champion Austria Make Visions Group

Making the visions of start-ups come true Support in management and financing: In Radstadt, the Make Visions Group makes it possible for great ideas to bear fruit.

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ake Visions, says founder and CEO Martin Klässner, does not see itself as a classic financial investor, because in addition to monetary resources, the company from Salzburg also provides promising start-ups with support in the form of a specially developed management method and many years of experience. Klässner explains how he was able to achieve the most successful exit from a start-up to date.

The first thing we notice, is that your website is in English.

Why?

Martin Klässner: We are operating internationally, and bilingualism is always more work. That’s why we decided to keep it uniformly in English. This is quite a pragmatic reason.

Please briefly explain Make Visions’ business model.

Klässner: We are a group of companies. With Make Visions Capital, we are a classic investor and invest in early-stage companies with a focus on the energy, robotics, med-tech and life science sectors. With our subsidiaries, such as GrowthSquare, we support companies of all sizes in setting up internal management and strategy systems in such a way that these companies can be scaled strategically quickly and cost-efficiently.

© marcelkoehler.com

Why did you decide on the two locations Vienna and Radstadt?

Klässner: We still have our headquarters in Radstadt in Salzburg. I live in Radstadt, and we built up our first company Has.to.be there and made it big. We also wanted to stay in Radstadt as headquarters with our subsequent companies. In Austria, however, a large part of the IT environment still works in Vienna and the accessibility in Vienna is much better. That’s why we decided to open a second branch in Vienna.

Martin Klässner achieved the country’s largest exit to date with Has.to.be.

What makes Radstadt such an interesting location? Is it nicer in the countryside?

Klässner: The area is beautiful, and I believe that the Pongau region in particular offers excellent opportunities to build up IT and tech companies. On the one hand, IT and tech are some of the few things that can be optimally implemented internationally from a tourism region. On the other hand, we have a lot of qualified employees in the region who definitely have the skills to make a high-quality contribution in the IT and tech sector. Combined with little competition, these are excellent location criteria for setting up a business here.

© marcelkoehler.com

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Gerhard Roiss (l.), Senior Advisor at Make Visions, and Martin Klässner are passionate about start-ups in the health and renewable energy sectors.

Is there a trend in IT to move away from the big urban centres?

Klässner: In Austria we have the excellent situation compared to Germany that high-speed internet is available everywhere and therefore there are basically no restrictions on where you set up such companies. A very important criterion in the IT environment is to have a low staff turnover. We believe that trust creates innovation. Trust can only be built if employees stay with the company for a long time. A location in the countryside is more attractive than in the city, where fluctuation is higher than in our region.

There are currently twelve investments in which you are involved. In which region are these start-ups located?

Klässner: We are currently focusing on Germany, Austria and Switzerland; there are two companies in Switzerland, the rest are distributed regionally across Austria and Germany – from Freiburg, Darmstadt, Berlin, Vienna, to Linz and Radstadt. That is a certain

self-restraint. We believe that, especially with early-stage companies, it is simply important to have a close relationship with the founders and the company itself. We do not see ourselves as a financial investor, but as a strategic and operative investor, and we support our companies very intensively and actively. Despite all the possibilities of video conferencing, we see it as relevant not to neglect personal contact, which is why a radius of 1,000 kilometres around Radstadt is useful. This is not a hard cut for us, but we try to move within this radius to be able to support the companies efficiently.

Do you invest your own capital in start-ups, or do you take care of the financing?

Klässner: We only invest 100 per cent of our own capital, but we also support our start-ups in setting up follow-up financing, mostly from our network.

World Champion Austria Make Visions Group

identify companies that have an excellent team How do you select suitable start-ups? and have already developed a product into an Klässner: We have a very intensive but small “Since we start MVP (NB: Minimum Viable Product) under their network in which we search very specifically for investing very own steam and have been able to win their first suitable companies; on the other hand, we regearly in the precustomers with it. This is where we come in ularly receive inputs and pitches. When we inseed and seed with our expertise and provide this company vest, we look first and foremost at the team. We with a management method. With the manageinvest less in business models than in people. If phase, we also ment method that we have developed, we are I have identified an excellent team that still has have the highest building a company structure that makes it posone or two barriers in the business model, that risk.” sible to grow and scale as cost-efficiently as doesn’t stop us from investing. We believe that possible and to advance the product strategy to with the expertise we can contribute, we can Martin Klässner the point where follow-up financing customers optimise any business model or business models can be established. We expect this initial validathat are basically product-market fit. However, if tion in the first instance. We provide support for everything that we see an excellent business model but no suitable team, that is a follows. We support with funding clients, building the strategy no-go criterion for us to invest in such a company. execution frameworks and helping the team to scale up.

Is there a margin of error and a percentage of capital that you When is the right time to enter a company? plan for loss in advance?

Klässner: We try to enter as early as possible, but so late that we Klässner: Internally, we assume that about 30 per cent of our inhave seen that there is a product-market fit and thus interest in the vestments may not yield a return. Since we start very early or invest market for commercialisation. If there is only a concept, we don’t in the pre-seed and seed phase, we also have the highest risk. get involved unless we are 100 per cent convinced that it is going Nevertheless, we believe that our loss rate is lower than that of a to work. As a rule, we expect the founders to have developed a purely financial investor because we are also very active in the basic product from their own capacity to the point where they can companies ourselves. We can sufficiently control the strategy and at least win the first customers. With the investment they then direction of the companies with our Art of Acceleration method, want to collect, a product should be professionalised, distribution which we are introducing. If there is a fundamental product-market built up and commercialisation established. fit, we can establish and guarantee a sustainable development of the company.

You also send employees to the start-ups to support them in their daily business.

Do non-monetary sustainability criteria play a role in the selecKlässner: We have focused very strongly on attacking the relevant tion of start-ups in which you invest? points with our group of companies. We provide our companies Klässner: Where we do not invest is in the oil business or weapons with a legal department, which significantly reduces ongoing legal factories. Since we are currently very strong in the energy and medcosts. All our portfolio companies have access to our legal departtech environment, we basically assume that sustainability factors ment and can draw on a corresponding contract pool and advice. have been achieved. We don’t evaluate this separately, but we We provide accounting and controlling expertise and take care of make sure to invest in regenerative companies, in energy optimisabringing the finances in line and setting up reporting. And we suption and, in the life sciences sector, in sustainable companies that port the implementation of the Art of Acceleration management bring economic and ecological improvements. method with staff from GrowthSquare, which makes it possible to put the strategy in place that has been agreed between founders What are the three most important factors for you to take on and shareholders in a people-centric way. We make it possible to a start-up? promote the focused growth of companies and see ourselves as an Klässner: First and foremost, we only invest in companies when expert consultant. And the founders can lift scaling phases without they can demonstrate a fundamental product-market fit. We try to

© panthermedia.net/zagandesign

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cy factors. Therefore, we have started to develop our own management methodology, which in“The US mentality cludes elements of the OKR method, but is very does not work individualised. From this methodology, which we What is unique about your management smoothly called Art of Acceleration, we developed a framemethod, and can it be learned? work that can be implemented in companies of Klässner: It can be learned. We developed our everywhere in a any size. It is specifically designed to make a first company from two employees to 250 and European context.” coordinated strategy accessible to every employmade an early attempt to introduce the OKR Martin Klässner ee and to put the actions for achieving the stratmethod (Objectives & Key Results) as a strategy egy on paper in such a way that reporting and, execution model. We very quickly realised that above all, monitoring of strategy execution can the US mentality does not work smoothly everybe implemented there. This focuses on ensuring that employees where in a European context. On the one hand, the mentality of the have a high level of participation and that the resources provided people is different, on the other hand, the OKR method leaves a lot are used as efficiently as possible to generate company growth as of freedom in how issues are implemented, which often has a very cheaply as possible. negative impact on the efficiency and especially on the cost efficien◆ having to go through various learning phases first.

World Champion Austria Copa-Data

Industrial software that simplifies automation Countless machines worldwide use software from Copa-Data in Salzburg, one of Austria’s rare Unicorns.

A

© Florian Mitterer

t a time when computers were not yet everyday devices, Thomas Punzenberger started Copa-Data. The small software company became a global enterprise with automation and industrial software, one of the rare Austrian companies with a value of more than one billion euros – a unicorn. Currently, founder Thomas Punzenberger is beginning to hand over his life’s work to his two sons and explains, among other things, why Copa-Data remains a family business without any outside capital investment.

Thomas Punzenberger is one of Austria’s IT pioneers with Copa-Data.

In 1987, the founding year, the technological possibilities were quite different. How did you start developing your software in the digital stone age?

Thomas Punzenberger: We started developing the software with Windows back then. It was clear to me that we needed a graphical user interface for this kind of application, and the concept for it was floating around in our heads. Of course, it was infinitely more laborious to develop than it is today, but it worked, and we were able to release the first version of Zenon in 1992 and install it at our customers.

What is the Zenon software platform and what makes your software for industrial companies so successful?

Punzenberger: It all started as a simple user interface for technical processes in general, for operating a machine, systems such as compressed air systems or a small power plant. That was the first core, for a user interface for interaction with technical devices. Later, we turned it into so much more, adding such things as alarms, entire alarm systems, data recording, secured releases and everything that is necessary in critical infrastructures to be able to carry out switching operations. From this, the Zenon software platform developed, which is used today in the most diverse sectors for the most diverse tasks. At the beginning of the 2000s, we also developed a control system so that control tasks, regulation tasks and more can be taken over by Zenon.

This goes as far as the Historian recording, i.e. the recording of data in order to comply with legal requirements. Who changed or operated what and when? Especially in the pharmaceutical environment, it must be possible to verify that no operating errors were made and that everything is properly documented.

This also includes analysing the processes themselves to increase efficiency and to see where improvements might be possible.

© Copa-Data

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One of many areas of application for Copa-Data’s Zenon software platform: the management and visualisation of wind turbines.

How many companies would come to a standstill without your software?

Punzenberger: Many would definitely have no more power for their computers (laughs). I can only estimate the exact number, but there are more than 5,000 worldwide.

Which are the core industries that use Zenon?

Punzenberger: We are operating in four core industries – in the energy sector, in the life science and pharmaceutical industry, in the food and beverage industry and the automotive industry. In general, renewables have always been important, especially hydropower, photovoltaics and wind power plants. There, Zenon is very widespread. This applies to transformer stations, for example. In the Life Science & Pharma sector, we are very active in packaging, in the so-called secondary area, but now also increasingly in processes. In Food & Beverage, the applications are similar, ranging from chocolate production, chocolate wrapping, washing and filling bottles to labelling, packaging, palletising and beer brewing itself. We also work together with machine manufacturers there because Zenon very often runs as standard software in the machines for their customers. Many end customers do not even know that they are working with Zenon. That’s why Zenon is used all over the world, and

we ourselves often don’t even know where Zenon is actually running.

How do your services for the automotive industry fit in?

Punzenberger: Here, Zenon can be found in production in the most diverse trades – from the press shop to the body shop and the paint shop. Everywhere, systems are controlled and operated by Zenon.

Also important is Central Plant Monitoring (CPM), where we run the entire control and monitoring of production. Here you have a complete overview of the production in one location. These are quite demanding applications because an enormous amount of data comes together here. This no longer only affects the individual trades, but also the superordinate CPM. In addition, the entire production facility is often visualised and analysed with Zenon as the energy data management system: How is the building’s energy supply, or how efficiently is production running? Some of these are huge plants that are often only built gradually.

Does every Austrian come into contact with Zenon indirectly?

Punzenberger: You could say that. Everyone comes into contact with it through the electricity supply and everyone who has drunk mineral water or a beer. Zenon plays its part everywhere.

World Champion Austria

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Copa-Data

“We need mandatory labelling for AI-generated images, video and audio files and text.”

© Lukas Jahn

Do your future developments in automation What has made Zenon so successful worldgo in the direction of AI? Should we be afraid wide? Copa-Data will not have been the only of AI? company to develop industrial software in the Punzenberger: Zenon is a software tool that can past decades.

Thomas Punzenberger be used for a wide variety of tasks. AI will funPunzenberger: From the beginning, we have damentally change our lives, perhaps as much pursued a different strategy than other providas the internet has done. AI can also be used ers. Our motto has always been ‘projecting inprimarily as a tool to make our lives easier and possibly compensate stead of programming’. In the beginning, this was a rather unpopfor the lack of IT developers. We have a project underway to build ular approach, because the American systems in particular had an assistant for our software – controlled by AI – so that people can chosen a different approach, which always required a lot of proask questions and immediately get to engineering solutions on our gramming code for the realisation of the projects. In the end, the already very powerful platform. What I see very critically are persistence to follow the path of simple project planning prevailed.

AI-generated images, video and audio files and text. There is an Today, major standardisation efforts such as MTP (NB: Module Type urgent need to introduce mandatory labels as you can do a lot of Package) follow precisely this path of modularising things, encapmischief with them. You can get very far with certificates, but you sulating them and packaging them in units such as black boxes. It will never achieve 100% protection. doesn’t matter how the black box works inside, and you can be sure that everything works. These ready-made components can be comYou are currently preparing to hand over your company to the pared to Lego bricks. This will become even more widespread in next generation. Is that a simple procedure? Is the father the great the industry in the future, because everyone is moaning and groanguru who can teach the young? ing about the lack of skilled workers and no one has the capacity Punzenberger: I was never the great guru. My sons have said that or the time to construct everything from scratch. One has to fall they want to continue the business, and we are in the process of back on ready-made components, and this is also reflected in the hiring the two sons. So far, things are going quite harmoniously, but software. The end users themselves are then in a position to build of course there are discussions, that much is clear. automation projects without having an automation specialist with them. Everything is already so well prepared that they can assemYou are very reserved when it comes to the fact that Copa-Data ble the components themselves – in a sense, they orchestrate an is one of the rare unicorns with a valuation of one billion euros. entire modular system.

Why is that not important to you?

Punzenberger: It’s only a virtual valuation. It’s nice to be told that, but it has no real value. It would have value if the valuation was realised. Up to now, independence as a family business has always been much more important to us. And the possibility to realise our own ideas without having to consider a capital provider. That is perhaps the answer to what makes Copa-Data different. We have the possibility and also the staying power to drive innovations forward for longer than two years.

The classic period of an investor is two years, in which you have to prove that money can be earned. Otherwise, the idea is abandoned. This is what happened to many of our competitors. If we believe in an idea, we persevere and work on it successively for five years. We are profitable and earn our money, which gives us the opportunity to invest in our strategy in the medium and long term.

Copa-Data’s new, additional office building in Salzburg. ◆

We promote Innovation.

We accompany you and your business on the path to the future and stand by your side with our expertise to help you realize your projects and ideas.

We offer impartial and free services for:

/ Companies in Salzburg and

those looking to settle here

/ Film professionals

interested in Salzburg as film location

/ Start-ups looking to establish in or relocate to Salzburg

/ Skilled professionals / Researchers

www.innovation-salzburg.at

World Champion Austria Tyrol

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Tyrol Tyrol in figures Size Number of inhabitants Gross regional product per inhabitant* Disposable income of private households* Income per employee* Research ratio in % of the GDP* Number of enterprises*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of employees*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of lodging establishments** Overnight stays**

12,648 km² 773,491 45,400 € 24,000 € 46,300 € 2.83 %

3,095 4,191 6,849 60,205 37,636 53,327 22,513 44,800,225 Source: Statistik Austria; *2021, **2022, ***2020

World Champion Austria Feratel

Tyrolean tourism giant thanks to a window to the world From weather cameras on TV to marketing, advertising and logistics – Feratel conquered the market with completely new concepts.

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eather cameras that brought live images from tourist regions into the living rooms of Austrians – that was the start of the Tyrolean company Feratel in 1987. Over the years, hundreds of weather cams were added – also through simpler and more modern technology – and later various subsidiaries followed, covering many areas from advertising space in tourism regions, marketing tools to logistics such as booking and guest registration systems. Today, Feratel has a unique market position.

Mastermind and CEO Markus Schröcksnadel lets us look behind the scenes of the tourism giant.

© Feratel

Let’s first talk about “Window to the World”, the Feratel cameras. How many are there now and are there plans for further international expansion into new countries?

Markus Schröcksnadel turned Feratel into a tourism giant.

Markus Schröcksnadel: We currently have 1,038 cameras in 14 countries at 551 locations. There are fewer locations than cameras, as there may be two or three cameras in some places. We have very distant cameras, such as in Greenland, which I like to look at myself – it’s always quite exciting to see how long the pack ice lasts there.

Our focus is on Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but we also work in Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, a bit of Spain and Turkey.

That’s because our origin is winter tourism and that’s where we started. The cameras are very popular in summer and winter. This also applies to the city destinations, such as the camera at the Hotel Adlon in Berlin with a view of the Brandenburg Gate or the camera next to the Vatican with a view of St. Peter’s Square. The camera next to the Vatican has the most hits of all and is extremely popular. The pictures are not only distributed via television. That was the classic way, because when we started there was nothing else and it was unimaginable to bring live moving images to a phone via a phone line. Now both online and mobile are very strong, and in February 2023 we had the most hits on the camera network ever, with more than a billion. Then there are the viewers on television, where we are very strongly represented in public broadcasting. But private stations also take these pictures. This has been our formula for success since 1987 and it is always being adapted to the technological possibilities. The business is growing and is extremely popular among users.

Are streaming platforms or private cameras, which anyone can stream with their mobile phone today, a competition?

Schröcksnadel: On the contrary, it’s even better for us, because everyone is used to watching moving images on their mobile phone or smart TV. It has become quite normal. It used to be a sensation, because “Window to the World” was a tourism region’s shop window to the world in real time. That was actually the first virtual shop window and has become so much more. Our cameras have

© Feratel

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The headquarters of Feratel Media Technologies – including a camera location – in Pfarrwerfen in Salzburg.

very specific positions at very specific points of interest. The user-generated photos have a completely different background.

Therefore, it’s not competition, it’s fertilisation.

Who pays for all this?

Schröcksnadel: The network is paid for by the person who sets up the camera. Our customer buys a plug-and-play system from us and pays us an annual network fee for the distribution. The media company pays for the broadcast insofar as it has to provide the technology to broadcast the images.

Who selects the camera locations, who sets up and services them?

Schröcksnadel: The cameras used to be mainte“At the end of the Your live cameras are probably a point of nance-intensive; they were large devices conday, the tourism attraction for all those who like to show off in nected by radio link and weighed 60 kilos with front of a camera? their swivel heads. Today, however, the cameras flows and the Schröcksnadel: In the past you saw a nudist are relatively small and light and can usually be wishes of the walking through the picture or people holding installed by the operator himself. When they are guests are the up banners. In the early days we had a hacker serviced today, the whole camera is replaced, who copied our picture on Czech television and which is easier. The connection works either via same everywhere.” when he panned the picture there was a mushWiFi or directly via a fibre optic cable. When it Markus Schröcksnadel room cloud. There was a huge commotion. comes to selecting locations, both sides are active, either the points of interest or we, if we You link the live pictures with editorial information and links to think the location is interesting. The business case is that we provide booking possibilities. How demanding is the linking and networka technical service, namely the camera network, and guarantee ing, or do you use AI for this? distribution via the most diverse channels. However, there is no Schröcksnadel: The editorial system is based on human manual guarantee of coverage, as it is not an advertisement, but everyone work. We already use AI, and we also have a stake in the company who distributes the images is completely free to use them. Our meOnlim, which deals exclusively with AI. There are various projects dia partners want to use these images and are asking for more and with chatbots that are already running. The issue of bed availabilmore – obviously these images bring the media additional traffic. A ity or booking possibilities comes from our second business area, weather portal lives from the fact that you not only see a virtual map, with which we supply booking, reservation and CRM systems for but also a live image. And that’s the interesting thing about our tourism regions. This is a separate, very powerful system through business model.

World Champion Austria Feratel

which a lot of information flows. Of course, the more complex the systems become, the more they will be controlled by algorithms. It’s always a question of how much you push it to the extreme, because we’re not doing a ChatGPT and writing essays here.

“Winter tourism and Mediterranean tourism will of course exist in the foreseeable future.”

Are we talking exclusively about digital advertising media here?

Schröcksnadel: Most posters are analogue posters, which I also think very highly of, precisely because the atmosphere is relaxed. Sitting in an inn, waiting in line at the ski lift or sitting at the chairlift, a constant flashing in the background would not be so good.

© Feratel

With your Sitour company, you offer “analogue and digital information, safety and Markus Schröcksnadel On the other hand, Feratel offers marketing orientation systems for ski resorts as well as concepts for tourism businesses as a complete the marketing of a wide variety of advertising solution; this also includes systems for guest spaces and forms of advertising”. Is this a forregistration. Can all the elements, such as live cams and booking ward-looking business model if winter tourism goes downhill? systems, be put together like a modular system?

Schröcksnadel: Last winter a crisis was declared because of the Schröcksnadel: Generally, many destinations have these modules really precarious snow situation in January. In summer, a crisis in from us, but they also have their own large marketing departments Mediterranean tourism was declared because everything was burnthat then use these modules. We have a subsidiary, Pixelpoint, ing down, and it was much too hot. Winter tourism and Mediterrawhich actually creates marketing concepts in the digital field. We nean tourism will of course exist in the foreseeable future. It may don’t deliver marketing concepts ourselves, but the building blocks be that it will shift regionally, but the winter of 2022/23 was also for them. There are places that make very intelligent use of camera quite a successful winter, despite the poor snow conditions. The images with information from the ski resort, points of interest, hotel market is relatively stable, and so are the prices. Out-of-home is a and ski pass booking options and much more. That is our USP. As form of advertising that is offered in a relaxed atmosphere and not a rule, the entire guest registration system also runs via our techin an underground station where people are on the move in their nology, as do guest card systems such as the Carinthia Card or the daily lives. There, people are certainly not as positively receptive as Lower Austria Card. All this can be networked, of course. in a pleasant, relaxed holiday atmosphere. We can score a lot of points with that.

It sounds as if Feratel is already in most tourist regions.

Schröcksnadel: Yes, I would say so. But there is lively competition and rivalry.

Feratel uses state-of-the-art camera technology.

Where is Feratel heading in the coming years? Will there be new markets?

Schröcksnadel: Our growth is mainly abroad. We want to become stronger in the large tourism markets of France and Italy, but we also want to be successful in Slovenia and Croatia. Of course, this is very difficult because it is a different kind of tourism, there are other players and other norms. But at the end of the day, the tourism flows and the wishes of the guests are the same. Therefore, our system should fit quite well. Where we already are, we want to maintain our market position, at best increase it and get an even greater density of customers.

How open are people abroad to a new player like Feratel?

© Feratel

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With “Deskline”, Feratel offers a website module for tourism professionals.

Schröcksnadel: There are markets with systems that are comparable in some respects. There you are in a tough competition and have to prove yourself. There are also countries where there is no infrastructure yet and where basic work is being done so that these systems become important to be able to offer professional, digitised tourism.

A personal question: What is it like to follow in the footsteps of a legendary father (NB: Peter Schröcksnadel, longstanding President of the Austrian Ski Association and Vice-President of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation FIS)?

Schröcksnadel: In sports it would be a disadvantage. My son raced in the European Cup and it was always a problem when he was at the start. They would say, “Here comes the president’s grandson.”

For me, it was not a problem because we did separate things. My father was in the Austrian Ski Association, and I ran my business and made sure that I didn’t appear in public too often. ◆

© Feratel

Can you as an expert give a us tip: When is the best time to book a winter holiday?

Schröcksnadel: I can tell for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and I would think that booking early is cheaper at the moment because there is high demand. In contrast to other consumer goods, there seems to be an unbroken demand for holidays, and people prefer to save on incidental expenses. Many places also offer dynamic prices, and there the prices are usually significantly cheaper if you book early. We’re talking about 20 to 30 per cent, and that has changed in the past four to five years.

The installation of some camera has to be done by specialists.

World Champion Austria Lambda Heat Pumps

The world’s most efficient heat pump comes from Tyrol Two young engineers are shaking up the scene and construct their own heat pumps of the latest generation.

T

© Lambda Wärmepumpgen GmbH

he success story of Lambda Heat Pumps reads like a modern fairy tale reminiscent of Apple. Two young engineers in Brixen im Thale began to question the previous principle of heat pumps and built their own prototype. The year was 2019, when the first heat pump with the so-called 3K process was put into operation, and Florian Entleitner and Florian Fuchs founded their company Lambda Heat Pumps. Its special feature: The heat pumps from Tyrol can be installed relatively easily in existing buildings and work with existing radiators. Several subsidies and awards later, the two Tyroleans are producing around 3,000 heat pumps a year, and two joint ventures abroad are going well. Founder Florian Entleitner gives us a glimpse behind the scenes of this exciting start-up.

The two Lambda founders Florian Entleitner (left) and Florian Fuchs

Lambda indicates the thermal conductivity of a building material. So, the company name was not chosen arbitrarily.

Florian Entleitner: The Greek letter lambda stands for thermal conductivity, which suited us very well. We were able to improve the transfer of heat from air into the refrigerant in heat pumps, and achieve a high thermal conductivity.

Heat pumps are seen as the panacea for avoiding the use of fossil fuels. Is that true from your point of view?

Entleitner: The higher the temperature you have to provide, the more inefficient heat pumps become. People used to install heat pumps as underfloor heating in new buildings, and that works well.

For radiators in existing buildings, they were rather unsuitable. This has changed dramatically in recent years. Our product in particular has a very high efficiency, and you can also heat a building efficiently with radiators. If you want to operate a radiator at up to 55 degrees, this works perfectly well, and you can have lower costs compared to fossil fuels. If you need 70 degrees, then the operating costs with natural gas will currently still be cheaper.

In Brixen im Thale in Tyrol it gets extremely cold in winter. Was that a source of inspiration for the design and a self-experiment under extreme conditions?

Entleitner: That is indeed a competitive advantage. With heat pumps, the defrosting process is sometimes a critical moment. From the mechanical engineering point of view, you have to test and rebuild, because theory often doesn’t translate so easily into practice, and processes cannot be simulated. In such a place with long heating periods and very low temperatures in winter, you can detect problems early and take countermeasures.

What do you mean by the defrosting process – that is something most people are more familiar with from refrigerators and freezers?

© Lambda Wärmepumpgen GmbH

© Lambda Wärmepumpgen GmbH

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The most efficient air-source heat pumps in their class from Lambda in Tyrol can be installed almost anywhere – even on roof terraces.

Entleitner: A heat pump extracts energy from the outside air. This cools the air, and it can happen that the temperature slips below the dew point. Then water freezes on the air heat exchanger and the heat pump has to defrost from time to time. This works automatically, without the need for any additional action. If it is just below zero degrees outside and 100 percent humidity, it may be necessary to defrost briefly every hour and a half. The process is reversed, which takes two to three minutes. But you don’t notice that during operation.

Why did you specialise in heat pumps?

Entleitner: My colleague and I had already worked in the industry, so the technology was not new to us. We both studied energy and process engineering, and thermodynamics has always fascinated us. My master’s thesis was on heat transfer in air heat exchangers for heat pumps. When I wrote it, we discovered a concept that had not yet been implemented and set to work.

For a long time, heat pumps were considered large, noisy and complicated to install. What has changed technically here?

Entleitner: There are air, ground and groundwater heat pumps, although in recent years the trend has clearly been towards air heat pumps, as their efficiency has continued to increase. Our air-source heat pumps are extremely competitive with ground-source heat pumps in terms of operating costs, and the investment costs are much lower. Sound pollution is a big issue, but it can be managed.

We work a lot with soundproof covers and with well-dimensioned fans that operate in speed ranges where there are few sound emissions.

So, your units are also suitable for use in densely built-up areas?

Entleitner: You have to observe the planning guidelines, for which there are sound calculators such as from Heat Pump Austria or from the Provinces. Here, the necessary distance to the neighbouring property is calculated based on the selected model. With a sin-

World Champion Austria Lambda Heat Pumps

We were able to start from scratch and design a heat pump without having to adhere to in-house “90 percent of our standards and develop it freely. We have a very heat pumps are high heat transfer, i.e. in the transition from air used in renovato the refrigerant via an air heat exchanger. We achieve the high efficiency because we can cretions or in old ate a special flow in the air heat exchanger’s buildings.” pipes in the refrigerant-carrying components. At Florian Entleitner the end of the 1990s, there were already experiments on this by research institutions, but it was not possible to keep the operating condiYour heat pump is considered the most effitions stable. We were able to solve this problem. We bought a cient in the world in its class. What class is that? second-hand heat pump, in which we only liked the air heat exEntleitner: In our case, this regards air-source heat pumps. There changer, for 900 euros and converted it. After countless converare various efficiency criteria such as the SCOP value (NB: the ansions, measurements and comparisons in a simulation programme, nual performance factor of a heat pump within different operating we figured out how it worked best. From this we developed our states). For low-temperature applications we achieve a SCOP of 5.7, series product. for radiators the heat pump has a SCOP of 4.5, which means you get 4.5 times the electricity used for heat over a whole year. Our What do you understand by a 3K process? air-source heat pumps are on top in both criteria.

Entleitner: 3K stands for the temperature of three Kelvin. For us, that is the average temperature difference we need between air How did you manage to achieve such efficiency and outpace and evaporation temperature. The higher the heat transfer, the the international competition? lower the temperature difference can be kept. Normal heat pumps Entleitner: Sometimes it’s an advantage to approach a topic afresh. need between eight and twelve degrees of temperature difference for the process to work. Since we only need a difference of three degrees, this results in higher efficiency. For every one degree less temperature needed, you save between two and four percent of energy.

© Lambda Wärmepumpgen GmbH

gle-family house on a greenfield site, almost anything is feasible, with a terraced house you are a little more limited. However, a roof terrace or balcony may also be suitable for installing a heat pump. You have to look at this on a caseby-case basis. Basically, a good air exchange is needed, the heat pump should not be placed in a niche, and there must be a way to drain the condensation.

No huge systems: Heat pumps from Lambda

One of the great advantages of your heat pump is that it can also be operated in existing buildings with old radiators.

Entleitner: 90 percent of our heat pumps are used in renovations or in old buildings. Physically, it’s always better to get by with lower temperatures because that increases efficiency. In most cases, older radiators have a maximum flow temperature of 50 to 55 degrees (NB: the temperature that reaches the radiator), which is enough.

How does your heat pump protect against legionella when providing hot water?

Entleitner: That is actually due to the refrigerant, because we use natural R290, i.e. propane. We achieve a flow temperature of up to 70 degrees with it. Legionella multiply at temperatures of 35 de-

© Lambda Wärmepumpgen GmbH

© Lambda Wärmepumpgen GmbH

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The efficient heat pump from Tyrol: 3,000 units will be produced in 2023.

The control unit of the Lambda heat pump requires little space.

grees and above, and die at 60 degrees due to thermal disinfection.

No additional heating, for example with a heating rod, is needed to ensure thermal disinfection.

developed quite naturally, as our efficiency figures have put us at the top of the promotion lists and we have won several prizes. Great partnerships have developed through satisfied end customers and heating contractors. Word of mouth has also been very important.

For the past three years, we have been able to record a growth of 300 percent per year, and that without any investment in marketing.

Why do you use propane as a natural refrigerant?

Entleitner: This refrigerant is now becoming the new standard.

Standard synthetic refrigerants are considered very strong greenhouse gases and will be more or less banned by the EU by 2030 as How many heat pumps do you produce? part of a phased plan. A natural alternative is propane, which has Entleitner: We are in the middle of series production. In 2022, we a GWP (Global Warming Potential) factor of three, while the artificial have produced 1,000 heat pumps, in 2023 it will be 3,000 in total, refrigerant R410A has a GWP of about 2,000. Newly developed and in 2024 up to 7,000 units are planned. The synthetic refrigerants also have a GWP of 200 to necessary materials have already been ordered.

500, which is why natural refrigerants are curIn addition, we have recently established two rently gaining ground. In Germany, the use of “In 2023, we will joint ventures in Germany and Italy, which will natural refrigerants, such as propane, is explicproduce 3,000 heat produce about 1,200 units under licence as early itly promoted. pumps, and the as 2023, once production starts. We are on a pretty good track.

In the four years of your company Lambda’s year after that we existence, you have won various prizes and want to produce When can we buy Lambda shares? received several subsidies. Does that help with 7,000.”

Entleitner: Unfortunately, they don’t exist. But sales? our heat pumps are available from about 15,000 Entleitner: It definitely helps. We have had to do Florian Entleitner euros net (NB: plus installation costs). very little marketing so far. Our company has ◆

World Champion Austria Vorarlberg

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Vorarlberg Vorarlberg in figures Size Number of inhabitants Gross regional product per inhabitant* Disposable income of private households* Income per employee* Research ratio in % of the GDP* Number of enterprises*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of employees*** – Industry – Construction – Trade Number of lodging establishments** Overnight stays**

2,601 km² 408,343 51,700 € 25,400 € 49,300 € 1.82 %

2,003 1,926 3,659 54,864 17,020 31,262 4,946 8,537,369 Source: Statistik Austria; *2021, **2022, ***2020

World Champion Austria Doppelmayr

From Vietnam to Florida: ropeways from Vorarlberg The transport solutions of the future are being created in Wolfurt, as ropeways are increasingly conquering urban areas and not only mountains.

M

© Doppelmayr

ore than 3,100 employees in 50 countries around the world plan, develop, design, manufacture and build a wide variety of ropeways. To date, transport solutions from Austria – whether for passenger or material transport – can be found in around 96 countries. Alexander Klimmer is at the helm of the international ropeway giant, whose history began in 1893 with its foundation by Konrad Doppelmayr.

Alexander Klimmer, Executive Sales Director Doppelmayr Group

In 130 years of company history, you have built more than 15,400 installations worldwide and have become the world market leader. What makes your transport systems so sought-after and unique?

Alexander Klimmer: The long history and experience, in combination with pioneering spirit and innovative strength, form the basis for the worldwide success of Doppelmayr ropeways. In addition, partnership-based customer relationships are very important. As ropeways are very individual projects, they are created in very close cooperation with the customers. They are specifically adapted to the customers’ requirements so that passengers get the greatest benefit, the highest level of comfort and the best ropeway experience.

With your installation in Vietnam, which connects two islands, Doppelmayr holds the world record for the longest ropeway in the world at 7,900 metres. Was that a special challenge and is there a maximum feasible length?

Klimmer: Every ropeway is a special challenge. Ropeways with world records are, of course, too. The location on the Vietnamese islands is very unusual and required very well-coordinated execution and logistics during assembly. So far, this is the longest installation we have implemented in one section. The feasibility of such an installation is influenced by the topography, among other factors, but also by its usage. Since ropeways are limited in their travel speed, a long section also means a corresponding travel time. Doppelmayr is actively driving innovation – exemplified by the recently launched TRI Line and the single-cable ropeway for 20 passengers with a corresponding new cabin. With both systems, an unprecedented transport capacity of 8,000 passengers per hour and direction becomes possible. This means that the limits of ropeway technology are also being continuously pushed by technological progress.

© Doppelmyr

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The Ha Long Queen ropeway in Vietnam spans the bay between Vinh Ha Long and Cua Luc Bay for 2,165 metres.

How much have ropeways changed over the decades – from a pure means of transport to a luxury cabin?

Klimmer: In most cases, the driving forces behind innovations in ropeways are safety, performance and comfort. The latter refers, on the one hand, to the comfort of the ropeway employees who work on the ropeway every day as well as perform maintenance. This should be as comfortable and simple as possible. This is also how we develop our components. The other comfort factor relates to the passengers – they should be as comfortable as possible during the ride. Enough space, a great view, entertainment during the ride, accessible boarding, ergonomic seats, heating, air conditioning, WiFi and much more. Over the decades, cable cars have definitely changed – they have evolved for the better.

Due to the increase in energy costs, we have heard again and again that heated seats, for example, are being switched off. Will the ropeway of the future be more energy-efficient?

Klimmer: The ropeway is a very sustainable mobility solution.

There is, as everywhere, potential for savings in ropeway systems, and switching off the heated seats is one of them.

How much does sustainability play a role at Doppelmayr?

Klimmer: Both in the production of components such as gondolas and masts and in construction. Sustainability plays a major role, of course, both for us as a company and as a partner for our customers, who are very committed to the careful use of resources in their regions.

Are your carrier systems for mountain bikes a way to shift business to the summer months?

Klimmer: The solutions for transporting bicycles, mountain carts etc. enable our customers to operate their ropeways economically in the summer months as well. Our customers create attractive offers for this, and we as a solution provider have the right products to support this development economically and sustainably. That’s why there is a suitable solution for all ropeway systems, whether chairlifts, gondola lifts or surface lifts.

How have digitisation and connectivity changed your ropeway systems and where is the use of AI possible?

Klimmer: At Doppelmayr we use AI in various areas. At the product level, our autonomous ropeway, AURO (Autonomous Ropeway Operation), is a good example. We have introduced autonomous operation in gondola lifts, one example being the Valisera lift in

World Champion Austria

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Doppelmayr

“The task was to create a 1:1 replica of the Hogwarts Express from the Harry Potter films.”

© 2014 Universal Orlando Resort. All rights reserved. Harry Potter © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

portant issue as well as logistics in the city so St. Gallenkirch. In the meantime, autonomous that the existing infrastructure is not affected operation is also possible for chairlifts. Here, induring construction. Therefore, work often takes telligent image recognition is used in the exit Alexander Klimmer place at night. area in particular. At the service level, we are increasingly using the possibilities of digitisation How do you see the future of ropeways in urban environments, and AI in the area of condition-based maintenance (CBM). In this as they are repeatedly discussed and considered in Vienna, where context, we use machine learning algorithms to find correlations you are also involved? between operating data of ropeway components and other data Klimmer: We see very great potential for ropeways in the city; this such as weather data. This enables our customers to predict mainis already being impressively confirmed by numerous successful tenance activities in a very targeted manner and to plan them effiprojects worldwide. In Europe, too, we are convinced that ropeciently. These functions flow into our resort management platform ways will find their way into public transport, as they are a perfect Clair; the so-called Smart Maintenance is an application in this complement to the existing infrastructure network and can close system. gaps where there are still traffic problems in public transport. One AI tasks are also finding their way into our processes, e.g. for example is our project in the greater Paris area, which will start automated translations, combined with our ‘ropeway dictionary’. operations in 2025. The project in Vienna is a private initiative We are convinced that we will develop many more exciting features co-developed by our competitor from Italy. and possibilities in the digital area that our customers can use for safe and efficient ropeway operations.

What is the significance of material ropeways, and can they play a greater role in transport concepts in the future?

What are the challenges of building urban ropeways like the Klimmer: Doppelmayr has product solutions that are used excluone in Istanbul? sively for material transport. One example is the RopeCon, which Klimmer: The advantages of urban ropeways come to the fore in transports bulk and general cargo of all kinds. This solution is used an impressive way, especially during construction. Short construcin mining, for example, but also in renaturation. In an urban context, tion times, a minimal footprint on the ground in the case of aerial the combined transport of people and goods is an interesting task. ropeways and direct connections on a new level are just a few exWith the Eiger Express in Grindelwald, we have already implementamples. Coordination of the individual construction sites is an imed such a system – fully automated with a modern intralogistics solution and a newly developed loading robot.

The Hogwarts Express is powered by a funicular railway.

A special project is the replica of the Hogwarts Express from the Harry Potter franchise for the Universal Orlando Resort, with a funicular inside the steam locomotive.

Klimmer: The Hogwarts Express is an excellent example of how the Doppelmayr Group implements customer wishes. The task was to create a 1:1 replica of the Hogwarts Express from the Harry Potter films, with proven funicular technology and a unique carriage design. The result speaks for itself.

What has been the most complicated or exciting project so far?

Klimmer: Every project is exciting because each has its own story.

And with every project that you have supervised or visited yourself, you associate your own story. The fact that every installation is unique is the beauty of our industry. ◆

#SchlauSeit1839

ÖSTERREICHISCHER GEWERBEVEREIN

WIR SIND

WELTMEISTER VON GANZ ÖSTERREICH

u a l h c s h c i l k r i w und auch. sind wir

Wilhelm exner medaille bit.ly/WOEDMASTA

AUSTRIAN SHOWCASE COMPANIES

HOFMANN over 75 years of tradition Manufacturer of heat treatment plants for the automotive and aviation industry (aluminium and titanium) as well as the steel industry. Some of the world’s best-known companies are among our clients. Our export ratio is almost 85%.

From the entire planning stage to programming and manufacturing – all from one source. You can count on HOFMANN quality. Nothing is left to chance.

An enjoyable time in the fresh air is like a short break from everyday life! For over 40 years, the Meissl company from beautiful Pfarrwerfen in Salzburg has been creating the best conditions for people to meet, laugh, live and enjoy themselves outdoors with large umbrellas, umbrella bars and windbreak solutions – whatever the weather. No matter how extreme the location and the load: Meissl always finds a solution that is not only impressive, but also inspiring. Today, around 60 employees on more than 8500 sqm of factory space give their whole heart and soul to find the best solutions for the family business, which was founded in 1976 and is already run by the second generation. Wherever you are in the world, you will find a Meissl umbrella.

Meissl Open-Air Solutions GmbH Schirmbar- und Wetterschutzkonzepte Ellmauthal 40 | 5452 Pfarrwerfen | 06462/25100 | office@meissl.com | www.meissl.com

Saatbau Linz, with 3,200 farmer-owners, is the largest cooperative organisation for plant breeding and seed multiplication in Austria. The portfolio includes more than 400 varieties of around 85 crop species for conventional and organic farmers. 70 years after its foundation, Saatbau Linz operates as an internationally positioned company and distributes high-quality seed worldwide.

Kraus & Naimer is a manufacturer of electrical switches, founded in 1907 and headquartered in Vienna. As a specialist for industrial switches of all types, the company offers both standardized and customized switching solutions. The long-standing company is a strong partner for customers from various sectors such as PV systems, railways, vehicles, conveyor and lift systems as well as mechanical engineering, power generation and power distribution systems. Kraus & Naimer maintains a global production and distribution network with around 900 employees.

All products – whether as standard or special solutions – comply with the essential rules and regulations for safe switching.

Saatbau Linz has been active in contract farming since 1994 and is established as a reliable partner of the national and international food industry as well as Austria‘s largest organic trader.

Saatbau linz eGen | Schirmerstraße 19 | 4060 Leonding Tel. +43 732 389 00 | www.saatbau.com

Kraus & Naimer Produktion GmbH Schumanngasse 39 | 1180 Vienna | Austria +43 1 404 06 0 | salesknw@krausnaimer.com | www.krausnaimer.com

AUSTRIAN SHOWCASE COMPANIES

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SUNPOR Kunststoff GmbH Tiroler Straße 14, A-3105 St. Pölten Tel. +43 (0)2742 291-0 office@sunpor.at, www.sunpor.at

sunpor – innovations for people and the environment sunpor is the technologically leading manufacturer of EPS granulates (expandable polystyrene) in premium quality. With the world’s most modern production facilities, sunpor produces high-quality and 100 % recyclable EPS raw materials for a wide range of applications: From insulation, protection and packaging to innovative special solutions.

Internorm – Europe’s number 1 window brand Being Europe’s leading window brand, Internorm offers discerning customers trend-setting solutions for windows and doors. Since its founding in 1931, the family-owned company based in Traun, Upper Austria, has produced more than 28 million windows and doors. Internorm has developed from a former pioneer in UPVC windows into a technology and innovation leader in the industry and a renowned supplier of high-quality wood/aluminium systems. From development to production, all work steps are carried out at the three Austrian sites in Traun, Sarleinsbach and Lannach.

Thanks to 98 % air, sunpor-EPS saves valuable energy and resources when installed.

With product innovations and the development of new recycling technologies, sunpor is committed to a sustainable EPS circular economy.

The goal of the company with 190 employees and two production sites in St. Pölten: To implement with passion and expertise the best ideas for EPS with ecological and economic added value.

Internorm International GmbH Ganglgutstr. 131 | 4050 Traun | Austria +43 (0)7229 / 770-0 | www.internorm.com

RM Group – Welcome! to our world The RM Group is a leading manufacturer of mobile crushing and screening plants, which, due to their compact size, are used worldwide for the recycling of construction waste and in the processing of natural stone. The owner-managed company has been electrifying its machines for more than 30 years, thus making a significant contribution to sustainable recycling. With its crushing and screening plants with state-of-the-art hybrid drives as well as digital products, such as the specially developed RM XSMART app, RUBBLE MASTER offers sustainable solutions for a digital construction site of the future.

RUBBLE MASTER HMH GmbH Im Südpark 196 4030 Linz, Austria +43 732 7371170 sales@rubblemaster.com

TESTING THE FUTURE OF MOBILITY Comprehensive testing equipment for HEV, PHEV, BEV, FCEV, H2, e-FUELs, system validation and test of ADAS/AD, all from a single source.

Baiernstrasse 122a · 8052 Graz · Austria · www.ksengineers.com

AUSTRIAN SHOWCASE COMPANIES

Stage for the future: Innovation Corner at the Vienna Museum of Science and Technology

The highest standard for the industry We give 100% for our customers

The exhibition format “Innovation Corner” provides Austrian start-ups and innovative companies with a presentation space for future-oriented technologies at the Vienna Museum of Science and Technology. In cooperation with location agencies, innovation platforms or incubators, regularly changing presentations provide insights into a wide variety of innovation sectors. This shows the public how dynamic, diverse and close to life the STEM sector is as an economic and labour sector, and how an idea becomes a forward-looking and market-ready innovation.

GW St. Pölten is an innovative, certified and future-oriented industrial company with more than 40 years of experience and about 580 employees. Our services, which are 100% in line with the requirements of our customers, range from metal and electrical production, textile work, signs, printing and advertising technology to services such as green space maintenance, building cleaning and renovation. Customers benefit from our comprehensive offer as a full-service provider. GW St. Pölten develops tailored solutions with its customers, from order processing to production and logistics services.

Technisches Museum Wien

GW St. Pölten Integrative Betriebe GmbH

Mariahilfer Straße 212 | 1140 Vienna Tel. +43 1 899 98-0 | Web: www.technischesmuseum.at

Ghegastraße 9-11 | 3151 St. Pölten-Hart | Austria Tel. +43 2742 867-0 | www.gw-stpoelten.com | gw@gw-stpoelten.com

Industriell. Integrativ. Innovativ.

Energy Innovations in Upper Austria

ILF CONSULTING ENGINEERS.

ENGINEERING EXPERIENCE.

With its innovative and sustainable projects, RAG Austria AG sets new standards in the energy sector.

10,500+

PROJECTS SUCCESSFULLY EXECUTED The ILF Group is a completely independent international engineering and consulting firm that helps its clients successfully execute technically demanding industrial and infrastructure projects.

With over 2,600 highly qualified employees at more than 45 office locations across five continents, the companies of the ILF Group have a strong regional presence.

This enables ILF to locally interact with clients and project parties. At the same time, close cooperation within the network of the ILF Group makes it possible to call upon leading international experts and make use of their special experience, processes and tools.

ILF CONSULTING ENGINEERS AUSTRIA GMBH Feldkreuzstraße 3 ∙ 6063 Rum bei Innsbruck

www.ilf.com

For decades, RAG has made a significant contribution to the security of energy supply. With the implementation of projects for the large-volume storage of hydrogen in underground pore deposits and different electrolysis technologies, RAG actively supports the energy transition.

With us! Renewables and Gas

More information at: www.rag-austria.at sustainability.rag-austria.at

AUSTRIAN SHOWCASE COMPANIES

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Shine für Old- and Youngtimer

The IMA Schelling Group specialises in developing and producing modularised customer-specific manufacturing systems and processing solutions for the wood, metal and plastics industries. As a leading supplier of batch-size-1 systems for a digital, fully automated networked production, we sell and service our intelligent high-end solutions through our own sales and service companies all over the globe. Our product range includes systems for the entire process chain from storage, dividing, handling and transport, edge banding, CNC machining, drilling to sorting and stacking of panel-shaped workpieces made of wood, metal or plastic. Moreover, we offer you a comprehensive range of services and numerous digitisation products.

Gerry Holzweber and his team are THE specialists when it comes to professional car care and the preparation of automobiles from all segments.

Decades of experience and acquired specialist knowledge guarantee that your vehicle is in the best hands. In addition to our standard preparations, more and more customers appreciate our premium preparation with BRILA GLASS COATING – the quartz glass coating for vehicle paints, consisting of 100 % inorganic substances.

The revolutionary coating system from Japan.

Beauty for your Beast!

IMA Schelling Austria GmbH

Handelskai 90 (corner Stromstraße) | 1200 Vienna Tel. +43 676 390 37 07 | Web: www.BeautyForYourBeast.at

CSR Guide JAHRBUCH FÜR UN TERNEHMERISCHE VER AN T WORTUNG

2023

Gebhard-Schwärzler-Straße 34 | 6858 Schwarzach | Vorarlberg | Austria Tel. +43 5572 396-0 | E-Mail: info@imaschelling.com | Web: www.imaschelling.com

Das ultimative Nachschlagewerk für CSR-orientierte Unternehmen und Entscheidungsträger 246 Seiten Information pur 30 Case-Studies – von Regionalität bis Finanzierung Listing der „Engagierten 400“ Beispiele für die Umsetzung der UN-Nachhaltigkeitsziele 2030 (SDG) ■ BeraterInnen, Netzwerke, Ausbildungswege, Literatur, Fonds und Aktien im Überblick ■ ■ ■ ■

SCHWERPUNKT

Nachschlagewerk für alle an Nachhaltigkeit und CSR Interessierten

30

400+

vorbildliche Case-Studies

engagierte Unternehmen

Innovative Ansätze, Case-Studies und umfassender Serviceteil

aus 12 verschiedenen Themen, von Regionalität bis Finanzierung

Analysiert nach 52 Auszeichnungen, samt ihren wichtigsten Projekten und SDGs

Unbenannt-1 1

02.10.23 12:54

World Champion Austria Funding agencies

Austria’s most important funding agencies Federal funding agencies ACR - Austrian Cooperative Research ACR provides SMEs with resources for research, technology and innovation projects. acr.at

AMS Public Employment Service Austria Placement and promotion of employees and employers

ams.at

Representation of the Austrian Technology Centres (technology, start-up and innovation centres) economy.at

Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft mbH Low-interest ERP loans, grants, guarantees, know-how, consulting and services

aws.at

Austrian Business Agency Contact point for foreign companies wishing to set up their own company in Austria.

aba.gv.at

© panthermedia.net/Patrick Daxenbichle

Association of Austrian Technology Centres

Austrian Patent Owners and Inventors Association Support from patent application to marketing erfinderverband.at

Austrian Federal Economic Chamber The Economic Chambers of the Federal Provinces offer numerous subsidies and support for businesses.

Austrian Research Promotion Agency wko.at

National funding agency for business-related research

Austrian Hotel and Tourism Bank

Austrian Science Fund

Specialist bank for financing and promoting investments in tourism.

Central institution for the promotion of basic research in Austria

oeht.at

ffg.at

fwf.ac.at

Business Start-up Service of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber Offers founders, successors and franchisees professional support in starting their own business. gruenderservice.at

Export Fund Framework loans for export enterprises (SMEs)

exportfonds.at

© panthermedia.net/ohmaymay

go international Subsidies and measures to strengthen the Austrian export economy.

go-international.at

Junior Chamber Austria (Junge Wirtschaft) Platform for the representation of young founders and entrepreneurs jungewirtschaft.at

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Kommunalkredit Specialist bank for public infrastructure financing and municipal-related project business kommunalkredit.at

Funding agencies Burgenland

OÖ. Kreditgarantiegesellschaft, OÖ. Unternehmensbeteiligungsgesellschaft Support for the business community through the assumption of guarantees and through participations kgg-ubg.at

Wirtschaft Burgenland GmbH

Province of Upper Austria

Support for entrepreneurs in the implementation of their projects in Burgenland wirtschaft-burgenland.at

Subsidies and support for the Upper Austrian economy

land-oberoesterreich.gv.at

Funding agencies Carinthia

tech2b Incubator GmbH

Carinthian Economic Development Fund, Carinthian Business Settlement and Investment Company, Carinthian Redevelopment Company Carinthian economic development agencies

kwf.at

Promotion and support for technology-oriented start-ups

tech2b.at

TIM - Technology and Innovation Management

Development Agency Carinthia

Consultation and support for technological development projects at Upper Austrian companies

Promotion of expansions and settlements, innovations and businesses cooperation madeinkaernten.at

Upper Austrian Economic Chamber

Gründerzentrum Kärnten GmbH

Wide-ranging support for start-ups and companies in Upper Austria wko.at/ooe/foerderungen

Consultation and support for innovative business start-ups

build.or.at

tim.at

Funding agencies Salzburg Business Creation Center Salzburg

Funding agencies Lower Austria

bccs.at

Support for academic start-ups

ecoplus Business agency of the Province of Lower Austria

ecoplus.at

Business Location Agency Salzburg

Niederösterreichische Grenzlandförderungsgesellschaft

Salzburg’s location marketing and business settlement agency

Financing offers for businesses and municipalities in the Lower Austrian border regions http://noeg.grenzland.at

Bürgschaftsbank Salzburg

NÖBEG

Support for commercial enterprises in the province of Salzburg

Lower Austrian equity financing and guarantees

salzburgagentur.at

buergschaftsbank.at

noebeg.at

Province of Lower Austria Subsidies and support for Lower Austrian businesses

wirtschaftsfoerderung.at

Funding agencies Upper Austria Business Upper Austria Business agency of the Province of Upper Austria; an innovation driver and partner for location development, cooperation and subsidy consultation biz-up.at

ITG – Innovation and Technology Transfer Salzburg GmbH Subsidies and support for Salzburg’s economy

itg-salzburg.at

Province of Salzburg Funding and support for Salzburg’s economy

salzburg.gv.at/verwaltung_/Seiten/foerderungen.aspx

SUBG - Salzburger Unternehmensbeteiligungsgesellschaft Support for the business community

subg-skgg.at

World Champion Austria

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Funding agencies

tech2b Incubator GmbH Promotion and support for technology-oriented start-ups

tech2b.at

Funding agencies Styria Styrian Business Promotion Agency SFG supports Styrian companies to accelerate their economic success.

sfg.at

Business Location Agency Tyrol Agency of the Province of Tyrol with the aim of strengthening the business and science location standort-tirol.at

Province of Tyrol Subsidies and support for the Tyrolean economy

© panthermedia.net/faabi

Funding agencies Tyrol

tirol.gv.at

Province of Vorarlberg Start Up Tirol GmbH

Subsidies and support for the economy

Pooling the strengths of many existing start-up initiatives in Tyrol with the aim of supporting entrepreneurs and start-ups, and jointly creating an attractive start-up location. startup.tirol

inits - University Start-up Service Vienna GmbH

Funding agencies Vienna Consultation and support for potential young entrepreneurs

inits.at

Funding agencies Vorarlberg Business Location Agency Vorarlberg Service agency for the promotion of innovation in Vorarlberg

vorarlberg.at

LISAvienna lisavienna.at

Support for the Viennese biotech sector wisto.at

Vienna Business Agency Support for businesses and start-ups and for those wishing to locate or invest in Vienna. wirtschaftsagentur.at

Wiener Kreditbürgschaftsgesellschaft, KapitalBeteiligungs AG, Wiener Risikokapitalfonds Ges.m.b.H. Participations and guarantees for businesses

wkbg.at

Venture capital providers © panthermedia.net/whitechild

aws Gründerfonds Investments in the start-up and initial growth phases of companies based in Austria gruenderfonds.at

aws Mittelstandsfonds The aws Mittelstandsfonds invests in medium-sized companies in Austria.

mittelstands-fonds.at

Wir brauchen immer mehr grünen Strom.

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Wir alle leisten einen Beitrag zur Energiewende, indem wir fossile Brennstoffe durch grünen Strom ersetzen. Deswegen investieren wir bei VERBUND in die Erzeugung und Verteilung von immer mehr grünem Strom. Denn es ist wichtig, dass er überall bereitsteht, wo er gebraucht wird. Gemeinsam sind wir die Kraft der Wende.

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2024 WORLD CHAMPION AUSTRIA – The yearbook on the business location

Kostenloses Leseexemplar

World Champion Austria T HE Y E AR B OOK ON T HE B USINE S S L O CAT IO N

2024

FOCUS

Interviews with leading CEOs

Impressive start-ups

Influential economic experts

A glimpse into Austria’s top companies

Austria’s founders on their formulas for success

How Austria withstands crises