“Our industry cannot be valued highly enough”

“Our industry cannot be valued highly enough”

Georg Knill, President of the Federation of Austrian Industries, on the challenges, the most important topics for Austria’s industrial sector and his Christmas wishes.

The Federation of Austrian Industries (IV Industriellenvereinigung), the voluntary and independent representation of interests of the Austrian industry and its related sectors has a new president, Georg Knill, since June. Georg Knill, President of IV Styria, Managing Partner at the Knill Group and Chairman of the Board at Rosendahl Nextrom GmbH, took over from Georg Kapsch after serving eight years as IV President. We met the new president for an interview.

Why does Austria need the Federation of Austrian Industries? The importance of the Austrian industrial sector cannot be valued highly enough as it is the guarantor for stability but also of progress and innovation. Strictly speaking it represents 22 percent of the national added value and around one million jobs. It stands for employment and prosperity, and that is what we will continue to focus on. As a lobby, think tank, service facility and network organisation, we strive to improve Austria as a business location – that is something everyone in the country should benefit from.

Alongside the Covid crisis, which challenges does the domestic industry face and in what way? And how can IV give support? The top priority for the industrial sector is combatting the effects of the Covid crisis. Crisis management still remains the key challenge. The fight against the economic effects of the pandemic will take a long time to combat. Certain industrial sectors are faced with a downright sharp drop in orders. A further challenge lies in the trade flow as well as maintaining contacts to the clients. I was hoping for a quicker solution when it comes to travelling, but it will take a bit longer until we can get to our clients and until they can come to us. Our exportorientated economy is hampered badly by this. The Federation of Austrian Industries supports its members

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as an unbureaucratic, fast information hub between businesses and policymakers. It is important that recommendations and feedback from the business environment are coordinated and implemented quickly with policymakers.

“The industry needs more staff specialised in STEM subjects,” said Christoph Neumayer, Secretary General of the Federation of Austrian Industries, referring to the subjects science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. I’m under the impression that our educational offer is often lagging behind demand. Is the reason really “only” the lack of training and university places or does the offer simply not connect with young people? What do we need to change? What would you recommend to young people who just finished school and want to continue their education? Being a country of innovation, we depend more than ever on motivated and creative people with a knack for technology – both men and women. In addition to the right educational offer, it is also important to spark enthusiasm for technology. This already has to start in kindergarten and school. Many people still have a certain kind of respect or even dread when it comes to mathematics, science and technology. We need to overcome this.

But despite the situation on the job market remaining very challenging due to the Covid crisis, the industry is still more than happy to train young people and offer them excellent career perspectives. Our apprentices are our future skilled staff. Many of the roughly 1,200 industrial businesses that train apprentices are looking for committed and motivated applicants. Doing an apprenticeship in the industrial sector opens up many career paths.

What do you wish from policymakers for Austria as a business location? It’s already autumn so some of us are already thinking of Christmas… We need to strengthen our business location and bring more added value to Austria. Our starting point is quite good when we think of the research bonus and the investment bonus. If we could lower our corporate tax it would help Austria a lot in terms of business. I see a need to catch up when it comes to digitisation, an area where we are only average. This also includes the availability of broadband internet, the digitisation within the administration and the digital education offers.

We also have a long and winding road ahead of us to reach climate neutrality. If we want to achieve it, we need to do so with a clear head so we don’t drive away added value. We need more from policymakers than financial instruments in order to bring about change.

So, what do we need to do in the future and for the future? What ideas does the Federation of Austrian Industries have? We are committed to being among the best. The industry is the reason why Austria is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We want to secure and increase this high quality of life, this high level of wealth. And to achieve this we need to catch up with the best in the areas that will decide our future – such as digitisation, research and development. We need to think about how the industry will develop and which conditions it needs.

This is also about the value we place on the industry within Austria and the European Union. In order to strengthen Austria’s industry in the longterm and in a sustainable way, we need an innovative and bold industrial strategy with clearly defined and measurable targets. We will make a proposal by the end of the year. It will include the expertise of our provincial departments, of our member businesses and of our experts at our headquarters in Vienna. ◆