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Salzburg – 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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Salzburg: 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.
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 impulse 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.
What is the focus on? Or in other words, where is Salzburg setting its priorities?
Photo: Wildbild
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
MedPhoton, one of the small yet excellent medical technology companies in Salzburg developed a computer tomography ring.
Education
c Paris Lodron University Salzburg c College of Education Salzburg c University Mozarteum Salzburg c Paracelsus Medical Private University c Private Business University Schloss Seeburg c College of Applied Science Salzburg c University of Salzburg Business School c Salzburger Bildungsnetz c IFM – Institute for Management c University Schloss Seeburg
Research
c Salzburg Research c ICTS Center Advanced Studies and Research in Information and Communication c ZGIS – Centre for Geoinformatics University of Salzburg c Academy of Sciences “Geographic Information Sciences“
Job market and economic structure
c Total number of jobs c Apprentices c Jobseekers (annual average)2
c Unemployment rate2
c Members at the Economic Chamber 262,127 8,454 12,694 4.6%
45,944 c Business formations3 2,410 c Gross value added in mln euros (2018) 25,953 c Gross regional product in mln euros (2018) 29,045 c Share in the Austrian GDP (2018) 7.5% c Gross regional product per capita in euros (2018) 52,400 c Foreign trade in mln euros (Q1+Q2) c Imports 6,809 c Exports 5,298 c Tourism overnight stays (x 1,000) 29,971 c Patent issuances nationally (2018) 48
the region and will have to cooperate even closer with other locations.
The Science and Innovation Strategy 2025 was introduced in 2016. What has been done since then? Over 100 projects have been pursued as part of the Strategy and 80 million euros have been invested in Salzburg through it. This includes research foundation professorships from the Province of Salzburg in strategic fields such as data science, human computer interaction, or in biomedicine for the development of research and transfer centres for cancer, construction and materials research. We also increased the number of cooperation projects of the research facilities with companies. In total, we create around 180 research-based full-time jobs per year. It is really important that we make ourselves more visible in this area and showcase our expertise in addition to our very strong and internationally recognised tourism and culture sector. The efforts in research are starting to bear fruits, such as the settlement of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Digital Health and Prevention at the Salzburg University Hospital.
Let us take a closer look at a few of these developments. How is digitisation coming about in Salzburg? Some elements of the Science and Innovation Strategy are currently under evaluation and digitisation – the IT Masterplan – is one of them. The Province of Salzburg, the Salzburg Economic Chamber, the ITG Innovation Services for Salzburg and other partners launched a digitisation initiative in 2016. Since then, a number of measures have been implemented which are already bearing fruit.
Some of them are the broadband expansion in Salzburg, which is already at a top level within Austria, connecting science and businesses, offering new university courses and promoting Salzburg as a modern location for work and innovation. More information on the latter can be found at digitalsalzburg.at. Various seminars and qualification workshops about digitisation have attracted thousands of participants.
In addition to the Science and Innovation Strategy 2025, our cornerstone is the Province’s subsidy programme Digital.Salzburg for small and medium-sized enterprises in their various stages of digitisation – from the first steps up to the implementation phase.
Since the programme’s launch about a year ago, one hundred companies have applied with their projects and 80 were granted a subsidy. About forty percent of them use the subsidy in order to start digitisation and plan the first steps, more than half are already implementing their projects. The overall investment volume of these digitisation projects amounts to more than nine million euros, which serve the further development of our business location. Salzburg’s Ministry of Economic Affairs provided more than one million euros of this amount.
What can company founders expect from Salzburg? When it comes to establishing a company, we are cooperating closely with the incubation network Start-up Salzburg at startup-salzburg.at, which was launched four years ago. It supports knowledge- and technology-based start-ups from their first ideas all the way through the pre-founding phase, an incubator and a mentoring programme. Universities and universities of applied science are also important partners that try to spur enthusiasm for entrepreneurial spirit among students and teachers.
Photo: Land Salzburg/Gerald Valentin
Research project on the Ödenwinkelkees on the rock stability of permafrost
We are also working to improve the innovative mindset in Salzburg, setting up the right conditions and promoting a creative spirit. One example for this is the Startup Salzburg Demoday that also includes Western Austria and neighbouring Bavaria. The incubation programme Factory, run in cooperation with the Salzburg Economic Chamber, has already supported about thirty start-ups.
You mentioned start-ups, which usually depend on innovation – what does Salzburg do for innovators? When it comes to innovation, the creative industries and start-ups, we also have a lot to offer: The Pioneers’ Garage Salzburg will be the first innovation workshop with offices for inventors in Salzburg. We want to build a strong innovation network in our province by linking various regional players from the fields of education, science, research, economy and public sector organisation. The idea of a Pioneers’ Garage is to have a central innovation workshop within a radius of 60 kilometres. That way we want to meet the high regional demand that we notice with the increasing number of investments, the increasing number of new start-ups and the dynamic development of the research and technology sectors.
Our new Open Innovation platform at openinnovation-salzburg. at aims to give our region and our businesses more access to innovation. We want to create a new innovation crowd and are implementing innovation challenges; a recent one dealt with innovations in the timber industry. This gives sectors and the entire business location a boost and creates new ideas.
What is Salzburg doing for climate protection and how does it meet its climate targets?
The Masterplan Climate and Energy 2030, available at salzburg. gv.at/salzburg2050 is part of the long-term Climate and Energy Strategy 2050. It will be the Province’s implementation programme for the next decade, which will be decisive for climate protection and the energy revolution. We are taking measures on a number of levels, from the expansion of solar power and environmental subsidies for businesses to the expansion of local public transport.
AustroCel produces bio-ethanol from wood sugar, a by-product when making pulp, which in turn comes from leftover wood in the timber industry.
Climate protection also plays an important role in the fields of innovation, research and development. Is this also the case in Salzburg? When it comes to research and innovation, we are putting the focus on specific issues such as expanding biogenic material research of wood. The aim is to utilise by-products from the timber industry and to process biomass into material products such as chemical substitutes. One leading project is the new Salzburg Center for Smart Materials (smartmaterials.at), which develops new adaptive and intelligent surfaces and interfaces based on biogenic resources. Supporting material development, we want to test the use of such materials in the increased digitisation and connectivity of our environment. Compact and energy-efficient sensors and actuators are not only significant for Industry 4.0 but also in every interaction, in data gathering and in specific process controls.
Salzburg can generate new added value in a sunrise field after putting Austria’s first second-generation plant for the production of bio-ethanol into operation in Hallein. AustroCel’s pulp mill does not use potential food or feed as a raw material but wood sugar. This can reduce the Austrian petrol consumption by about one percent and CO2 emissions by about 50,000 tonnes. These are innovative added value chains in the timber industry. Biogenic resources also take up a central role in life sciences in the field of medical biology. The eco-economy is therefore an important pillar of development for Salzburg.
Why should companies settle in Salzburg? Salzburg is a well-known top location. Many companies have their headquarters in Salzburg, particularly from the automotive industry and retail. Renowned companies such as Sony, Red Bull, Spar, BMW, Porsche, Bosch, Hofer-Aldi, Lidl, DM and many more can be found here. There are several other factors that speak for Salzburg: Our geographic location near Munich and Upper Bavaria, the quick access to Vienna and Northern Italy, being along major European motorway and railway lines, Austria’s second largest airport, the excellent broadband network. Salzburg also has a very positive image internationally as a city of culture and trade fairs. Then there is the excellent quality of life and the ample opportunities for leisure activities thanks to mountains, lakes, cultural offers, sports and a large number of highly skilled staff. Furthermore, we have six universities and universities of applied science, the largest sec“The Science and Innovation Strategy 2025 already ondary college of engineering implemented more than 100 projects, triggering inin Western Austria and intervestments of 80 million euros into our business locaesting tertiary education offers in fields such as life sciences, tion.” IT, multimedia and expert staff for knowledge- and technoloWalter Haas gy-based businesses. Another reason to settle in Salzburg is our slim bureaucracy with quick decision-making processes and good access to our innovation eco-system and our technology networks with other businesses and research facilities. The revamped ITG as an innovation and location agency for Salzburg is a one-stop-shop, which is appreciated by many companies and investors. ◆
ITG Innovation Services for Salzburg is a regional innovation service for businesses, research institutes and regional players. It is an implementation partner for cluster networks, economic key areas and helps implement the Province of Salzburg’s technology and innovation policies.
ITG’s services are free of charge for all Salzburg-based businesses. It is open to companies from all sectors, with or without experience in innovation. Small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, who only have few resources for research and development, can benefit from ITG’s services.
ITG – Innovations- und Technologietransfer Salzburg GmbH
www.itg-salzburg.at
Research and development Examples from life sciences and digitisation
c The Transfer Center for Extracellular Vesicles Theralytic
Technologies (EV-TT), a cooperation of the Paracelsus Medical Private University and the University of Salzburg, was founded in 2019. Researchers at the EV-TT want to use vesicles to transport medication as the little cell structures can overcome many barriers within the human body. The
Province of Salzburg and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) provide additional subsidies through the
Investment in Growth and Job (IJG) Programme.
c The newly settled Ludwig Boltzmann Institute will do practical research combining health and digitisation. The main question is how digital applications can help patients with cardiovascular diseases.
