World Champion Austria Salzburg
Salzburg, the cradle of the domestic business location The quality of the tourism and culture sector in Salzburg is world-class. Research and development is also in the fast lane to success.
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alzburg: Mozart, Mozartkugel, the Salzburg Festival, mountains and lakes, the Salzkammergut Region, even though the largest part belongs to Upper Austria and only a smaller part is located in the province of Salzburg. Due to the region’s vast salt deposits, also referred to as “white gold”, Salzburg was populated early on. The Celts brought a certain degree of affluence in the 6th Century B.C and in the Middles Ages it brought Salzburg’s Archbishops both wealth and influence. So, you could say that Salzburg is the cradle of Austria’s business location. Nowadays, the business location Salzburg offers a balanced mixture of hard and soft location factors. It combines highly skilled staff, state-of-the-art infrastructure, excellent quality of life and security – and all of that makes Salzburg particularly attractive to companies. We spoke to Walter Haas, Managing Director of ITG Innovation Services for Salzburg, about the future of Salzburg.
What is the focus on? Or in other words, where is Salzburg setting its priorities? A big change for the business location is the increased focus on issues of the future and the establishment of critical sizes and competences in the research system. Also building bridges from research into the economy and keeping and using the results in Salzburg. With the Science and Innovation Strategy 2025 we are concentrating on concrete and excellent focal points within the fields of specialisations such as life sciences, IT/ digitisation, smart materials, intelligent building and settlement systems, creative industries and service innovations. Specialisation also means that we cannot cover all areas within Walter Haas, Managing Director of ITG Innovation Services for Salzburg Photo: Wildbild
Which topics are at the forefront when it comes to Salzburg as a business location? Research and innovation are central topics for the development of the business location both in the short and the medium term. Salzburg is putting serious effort into this. As a result of the Science and Innovation Strategy 2025, which was decided by the regional government in 2016, a powerful im-
pulse and motivation boost was given to this issue. Since then, it is being implemented and invested in consistently. Companies, universities, research and education facilities are working closely with policymakers and authorities in order to reach the ambitious goals. Our strength lays in the climate of cooperation and working together in order to put our relatively small business location on solid ground. Instead of theorising about the business location and thinking like a large institution we are making quick decisions and have short decision making-processes.
