Lower Austria – companies full of optimism

Thomas Salzer, President of the Lower Austrian Federation of Industries, and Wolfgang Ecker, head of the Lower Austrian Economic Chamber, speak about the essentials for the business location.

The optimism among Lower Austrian businesses is increasing. Almost every other company – 47 percent in fact – expect there will be higher turnovers over the next twelve months, says an economic trend survey by the Lower Austrian Economic Chamber. The same survey from last winter showed that back then only 20 percent of businesses expected increased turnovers over the next twelve months.

Only 15 percent of businesses expect falling turnovers; in winter 2020 more than double as many (36 percent) thought so. The rising expectations are reflected by the willingness to invest. Three quarters of those surveyed believe there will be rising (30 percent) or constant (45 percent) investment volumes. Last winter less than half of all businesses thought so. The leading reason for investments is digitisation projects (59 percent), followed by capacity utilisation (50 percent), a positive business outlook and investments into green technologies (49 percent each).

Thomas Salzer, President of the Lower Austrian Federation of Industries, and Wolfgang Ecker, head of the Lower Austrian Economic Chamber, know more about the economic situation in Lower Austria.

Mr Ecker, Mr Salzer, how are the Lower Austrian businesses doing? Wolfgang Ecker: Many companies have used their time wisely to develop new strategies and roadmaps for the years to come. They pooled their resources and developed new ideas. This was reflected by the number of projects submitted to our Encouragement Initiative 2021. It proved how creativity can give businesses a huge boost for their economic success. The diverse mix of different industries in Lower Austria has also been a major advantage. We managed to overcome the economic crisis better by being so diversified. Some businesses, however, are still working on their economic comeback. Thomas Salzer: We see a spirit of optimism right now. Businesses have done their homework and are confidently looking forward. The in-house Covid test centres at the companies were important to come through these difficult times. In May, in-house vaccinations started. Unfortunately, we still need to convince some staff to get

Wolfgang Ecker, head of the Lower Austrian Economic Chamber: “Of course, nobody wanted a pandemic but there were also positive sides to it.”

the jab. This is something we need to tackle as we need a high vaccination rate to stay safe in autumn and winter.

The number of vaccinations kept rising before the summer while the number of infections fell. When will the crisis be over? Ecker: A pandemic doesn’t simply disappear at once. In order to keep the virus at bay, safety measures were necessary and a high vaccination rate is key. The Lower Austrian businesses are making a significant contribution here. It is important to actively create opportunities for Lower Austria as a business location and its companies. We need to facilitate growth, increase the competitiveness and create incentives for investments. And it is equally important to train and further train skilled staff. It is a good sign that according to our economic trend survey almost half of all businesses believe in rising turnovers. Another good sign is that the top reasons for investing are digitisation, capacity utilisation, business outlook and investments into ecology and sustainability. We are looking forward with optimism and I am convinced that we will leave the Covid crises behind us with team spirit in Lower Austria. Salzer: Even though the current situation is encouraging, other countries show us that the pandemic is unfortunately not over yet. Despite the happiness about easing the Covid measures we need to remain vigilant – especially as we haven’t reached the target vaccination rate yet. The economic upswing that we see in the industrial sector must not be endangered by new taxes, levies and environmental regulations under any circumstances.

We all should always think positive – so what are the positive findings you are taking with you from the Covid crisis? Ecker: Of course, nobody wanted a pandemic but there were also positive sides to it. The awareness for regionality is definitely higher now. We are doing everything to keep it that way and call for people to not shop online at international retail giants but in our province. This secures jobs and apprenticeships, and increases the quality of life locally. The crisis has shown how important local businesses are for local supply.

Digitisation is another thing that wouldn’t have gotten such a boost without the pandemic. It is surely something that helped us overcome the economic crisis better than other countries. I consider the digitisation of processes and procedures a big opportunity that we need to keep seizing. It is admirable how businesses reorganised their workflows in very short time, creating and expanding digital offers.

Despite the Covid pandemic, the first half of 2021 saw such a high number of business establishments in Lower Austria like never before. The founding boom defies Covid. A study shows that the virus is considered much less of an existential danger for business establishments than the previous year. Lower Austria’s entrepreneurial spirit is crisis-proof. Salzer: A crisis is always also an opportunity. And we saw how important the industrial sector is in times of crisis. Thanks to industrial firms, the supply of groceries, medical products and convenience goods was kept up. Despite the restrictions and lockdowns, companies kept producing and kept the country running.

What is the Lower Austrian Economic Chamber going to focus on in 2022? Ecker: Top of our priority list continues to be managing the pandemic and its effects. It is important that we do everything to help the economy recover in a quick and sustainable way.

We have developed a work programme with entrepreneurs from all industries by the title “Back to the Front!”. It shows that the pandemic has not changed the essential questions of entrepreneurship significantly.

In future it will be all about innovation, skilled staff, new markets and opportunities that arise from ecology and mobility. It will also be about living entrepreneurship. We need clear regulations that are comprehensible and understandable. Red tape needs to be reduced to a necessary minimum and we need to increase self-reliance.

And: We need long-term planning. If you invest you need to rely on the regulations not changing. The practicability of regulations matters, not their quantity. And of course it will be about the financial boosters for our companies: Low taxes, low non-wage labour costs and additional investment incentives through a higher investment tax credit.

And what is the Lower Austrian Federation of Industries planning for next year? Salzer: On the one hand, we fear that the lack of skilled staff will get worse. The Lower Austrian industrial firms had fewer new apprentices in 2020 than in 2019. This is in part due to an easier progression in school because of the pandemic but also due to the demographic development and the overall trend towards higher school-leaving qualifications. But in reality, an apprenticeship in the industrial sector leads to above-average career and earning potentials.

On the other hand, it is becoming more important to add realism to the climate debate. We have a global problem that we can’t solve locally. There is no point in making the industrial sector in Austria less competitive and close it, and then import products from other regions with higher emissions. That’s a lose-lose situation. We want to get to a win-win situation through innovative solutions in the industrial sector. ◆

Lower Austria impressed at the Falling Walls Conference in Berlin

Lower Austrian ideas convinced an international jury of experts. Accent and Tecnet expand their collaboration with Falling Walls.

Initiated by the Falling Walls Foundation, this international competition honours young researchers who are developing groundbreaking ways to solve the greatest challenges of our time. Research institutes, including many top universities, select their most promising candidates to participate in the Falling Walls Lab finals in Berlin. Daniela Inführ and Sebastian Vogler from Lower Austria represented Austria.

“Falling Walls offers an excellent opportunity for young scientists to present their innovative solutions to major current societal challenges in a global environment, and to discuss them with key decision-makers from research, business and politics,” says Lower Austria’s governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner. “Through this great collaboration, the research province of Lower Austria will become even more visible internationally and also sustainably competitive through the further networking of science and research.” 75 young scientists from 58 nations presented their research work, business models and initiatives in just three minutes each in front of a jury of experts from ETH Zurich, the Nobel Foundation, Google and Huawei Technologies, among others. In addition

Facts & figures

As a Tough Tech Incubator, Accent supports projects that combine forward-looking technologies with state-of-the-art science and technology. Each year, Accent is presented with around 200 projects, most of which come from science or have a close connection to scientific institutions. 10 to 15 of these are included in Accent’s incubation programme after intensive review.

accent Inkubator GmbH Viktor-Kaplan Str. 2/Haus C/2. Stock, 2700 Wr. Neustadt Tel. +43/2622/90 613 office@accent.at, www.accent.at

© NLK Filzwieser

Lower Austrian Technology Councillor Jochen Danninger, Daniela Inführ, founder of Agrobiogel, Lower Austrian Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner and Sebastian Vogler, founder of BeetleForTech

to prize money, the winners had the opportunity to present their groundbreaking research results in front of investors, media representatives and Nobel laureates at the Falling Walls Conference.

Optimal conditions in Lower Austria

“In Lower Austria, we always strive to turn scientific findings into added value. To this end, we have created optimum conditions in Lower Austria for researchers and students so that they can also implement their ideas commercially,” explains Provincial Councillor for Research Jochen Danninger. “Falling Walls offers a great springboard to network globally and drive innovation. With this international networking, we are taking the next step to further strengthen Lower Austria as a business location.”

This year, the Province of Lower Austria was a partner of the national qualification process with the province-owned company Accent Inkubator and the venture capital fund Tecnet Equity. The implementation was carried out with the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology. The Falling Walls Lab aims to advance exceptional scientific and entrepreneurial visions and to promote exchange between young researchers and young professionals from various fields.