Governor Hermann Schützenhöfer on the business location Styria

Dear readers,

Styria is on an unprecedented road to success. With an R&D ratio of around five percent, Styria is the number one province in Austria when it comes to research and development and is one of the most innovative regions in Europe.

Our economy benefits greatly from this, but most of all, all Styrians benefit and this creates new opportunities and perspectives for workplaces of the future. Education and training as well as science and research are areas which are of central importance in Styria.

Styria has the most universities outside of the capital Vienna. With Graz as the centre of student life in our province, Styria is in a good position and is striving towards an active science and research policy. Styrian higher education institutes make a significant contribution towards the business location and thus to the affluence of the province.

In order to ensure Styria remains at the top of Austria and Europe, we will have to ensure we continue to focus on this area. Our universities, technical colleges and non-university research institutions together with research-intensive business enterprises are the key to a successful future.

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to the “World Champion Austria 2022” book.

Best regards, Hermann Schützenhöfer Governor of Styria

© Erwin Scheriau

TU Graz physicist and ERC Grant award winner Birgitta Schultze-Bernhardt is working intensively on laser technologies for measuring light-induced processes.

Competence centres

c acib (Austrian Center of Industrial Biotechnology) c Virtual Vehicle (K2-Mobility) c MCL – Materials Center Leoben Forschung GmbH c Bioenergy 2020+ c CBMed c Evolaris c Know-Center c LEC EvoLET c PCCL Polymer Competence Center Leoben c RCPE Research Center for Pharmaceutical Engineering c ASD– Acoustic Sensing and Design c MedUni Graz c ECO – Cool c ECO Power Drive c Flippr² c Join c SeCoS c Vision+

1 2019 data, 2 2020 data , 3 preliminary figures 2020 Source: Statistics Austria, Association of Social Security Institutions, Austrian Economic Chamber, Austrian Patent Office, Province of Styria

Economic data

c Gross regional product in mln euros1 c Change from 2000 to 2019 50,831 +87.4%

c Gross regional product per capita in euros1 40,800 c Gross value added in mln euros1 45,433 c Production sector1 15,950 c Services1 23,582

c Members at the Economic Chamber2 96,061

c Business formations2 5,944

c Apprentices2

c Tourism overnight stays (x 1,000)2

c Foreign trade in mln euros3 c Imports c Exports c Total number of jobs2

c Patent issuances nationally2 15,323

10,021

17,188 22,265

520,642

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