Austria plays an active part of the European Research Area. To further strengthen Austria´s position as a knowledge society and to foster innovation, investments in research and development have been increased in recent years, working towards the goal of becoming one of Europe’s most innovative countries.
To achieve this goal Austria also strives to provide favorable conditions and adequate support for researchers. With its active research landscape, a dynamic and innovative economy and a high quality of life, Austria is also an attractive destination for international researchers and their families.
The Research Landscape
Vision of science in Austria is focused on achieving the best possible influence of research and development activities on the economy and society. Main facilitators for the fullfillment of this vision are research organisations, which are listed on this website.
Detailed information also can be found in the Researcher's Guide to Austria.
Numerous institutions and bodies are acting in R&D in Austria. The site gives a survey of the Austrian Research Landscape but NOTE: The following divisions and classifications of research institutions are neither authoritative nor exhaustive!
Research Cooperation
Open Science Austria (OSA)
This website provides information on the activities of the network and its working groups as well as on events and various resources on Open Science in Austria.
www.forschungsatlas.at (in German only)
Information on science and research in Austria is pooled in one place.
Austrian Polar Research Institute (APRI)
The Austrian Polar Research Institute (APRI) is a research consortium that promotes and coordinates research and education in the area of polar sciences at the participating organisations.
Austrian Technology in Space
Austrian space industry and space research are presented on this website with the aim of increasing their international visibility and to support networking of national and international players.
Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSH)
Societies become more and more dependent on their ability of handling, interpreting, and making sense of complex systems. Understanding complex systems on a quantitative and predictive basis rests on the ability to combine complex systems science (mathematical concepts and methodology) with big and comprehensive datasets. The number of experts in this new scientific field is limited which poses a bottleneck to understand and eventually manage complex systems. The objective of the hub is to host, educate, and inspire complex systems scientists who are dedicated to collect, handle, aggregate, and make sense of big data in ways that are directly valuable for science and society. Focus areas include smart cities, innovation dynamics, medical, social, ecological, and economic systems. CSH is a joint initiative of AIT, IIASA, Medical University of Vienna, TU Graz, TU Wien, and Vienna University of Economics and Business.
ViennaBioCenter
The Vienna BioCenter is one of Europe’s biggest life sciences hubs with over 1,800 employees from 70 different countries. Its research institutes and biotech companies are among the world leaders in their fields.
Zentrum für Wissens- und Technologietransfer in der Medizin (ZWT)
Lively networking between science and industry: The ZWT is directly connected to the Med Uni Graz campus (MED CAMPUS Graz) and the LKH University Hospital Graz. The close ties with industry are supported by SFG and Med Uni Graz as ZWT co-owners with their networks. Due to the dynamic development, the ZWT Accelerator is currently being implemented as an extension specifically for start-ups and spin-offs in the life science sector.
TU Austria
In 2010 the three Austrian Universities of Technology, the Vienna University of Technology, the Graz University of Technology, and the Montanuniversitaet Leoben founded "TU Austria".The TU Austria-Universities join forces and use synergy effects in order to accomplish more in research, teaching and higher-education policy and to be convincing as a strong partner in the industrial and economic sectors with their cumulative expertise.
BioTechMed-Graz
BioTechMed-Graz is a research alliance of the University of Graz, the Graz University of Technology, and the Medical University of Graz that merges research activities at the interface of basic biomedical science, technological developments and medical/clinical applications with the aim of joint research for health.
ACR – Austrian Cooperative Research
ACR is a network of private research institutes offering applied R&D for companies. Our demand-oriented services are tailored to meet the needs of SMEs, in order to support their innovation efforts, to provide the necessary know-how and to strengthen their competitiveness.
IUFRO – International Union of Forest Research Organizations
IUFRO is a global, not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation for the promotion of international cooperation in forest-related research, based in Vienna, Austria.
VSC – Vienna Scientific Cluster
The Vienna Scientific Cluster is a collaboration of several Austrian universities that provides supercomputer resources and corresponding services to their users.
AWS - Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft
CDG - Christian Doppler Forschungsgesellschaft
FFG – Austrian Research Promotion Agency
LBG - Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft
NFB - NÖ Forschungs- und Bildungsges.m.b.H. (Life Science and Science Calls; only in German)
OeAD – Austria’s Agency for Education and Internationalisation
OeNB - Oesterreichische Nationalbank
Austria has put in place various measures to increase the rate of women in science and industry. This section is devoted to gender issues containing special information for female researchers. A systematic structure on gender issues in science, links to research funding especially for woman and to national projects supporting woman in research have been pooled.
In this section you can find further information and a collection of documents about research policies.
Practice Guide for Integrity and Ethics in Science (published in 2020; "Praxisleitfaden für Integrität und Ethik in der Wissenschaft"; in German only)
Universities Austria (uniko) adopts new guidelines for standards of good scientific practice and ethical principles.
Research Infrastructures in Austria
The database for research infrastructures in Austria is maintained by the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy (BMWFW).
Research and Development 2022 | Vienna in Figures
This brochure offers an overview of the most important aspects of developments relating to Vienna as an Research & Development (R&D) location. Available in German and English as pdf.
acib - Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology
The Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib) is bridging the gap between science and industry and connects about 200 partners in the field of industrial biotechnology.
AplusB Centres
AplusB supports innovative, technology-oriented spin-offs from the academic sector.
ÖGMBT (mainly in German)
Austrian Association of Molecular Life Sciences and Biotechnology (Österreichische Gesellschaft für Molekulare Biowissenschaften und Biotechnologie)
Eurodoc is the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers. It is an international federation of 35 national organisations of PhD candidates, and more generally of young researchers from 34 countries of the European Union and the Council of Europe.
life-science.eu (in German only)
Career network for academics in environmental and life sciences
Living and Working in Europe and broschure_lebenarbeiten-dt_web_2021.pdf (in German; pdf)
Information folder about important European Union service points in Austria
www.europass.at
Europass aims at improving the documentation and transferability of qualifications and competences.
www.rat-fte.at
Rat für Forschung, Wissenschaft, Innovation und Technologieentwicklung
www.forschungsatlas.at
The Research Atlas is an online platform designed to concentrate information on the Austrian science and research landscape at a single site. It facilitates networking and highlights Austria’s science and research achievements in “real time”.
ASEA-Uninet - ASEAN-European Academic University Partnership Network
ASEA-Uninet supports the exchange of knowledge between partner universities in the member countries in Europe and South-East Asia.
The Global Incubator Network (GIN) is Austria's one stop shop for investors, startups and incubators. It connects the Austrian startup ecosystem with international partners interested in the Austrian and European markets respectively. Based on international cooperation agreements, it has a special focus on hotspots in Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Isreal and South Korea).
The Austrian Startup Monitor (ASM) provides information about the development of the Austrian startup ecosystem and will be continuously updated and monitored. The data behind the Monitor comes from 1,500 Austrian startups that were identified as such and invited to participate in an online-survey. Of those, 512 founders and CEOs participated in the ASM survey conducted in spring 2018 and provided information and insights about the the status quo, outlook and ecosystem surrounding startups in Austria.
AScinA – Austrian Scientists and Scholars in America
Network of Austrian scientists and scholars in the USA and Canada
Austria's position in international comparisons
By international comparison, Austria has the second highest R&D rate, in terms of gross domestic expenditure on R&D relative to gross domestic product, and the seventh highest in the world. Austria ranked third for R&D intensity in 2020, placing it amongst the leading group in Europe and was able to overtake Germany and improve its ranking by on place compared to 2019.
According to the altest estimates of Statistics Austria € 15.5 billion, have been spent on research and development (R&D) in Austria in 2023.
The estimated research ratio in Austria in 2023 is 3.22%, which is above the European target value of 3% for the tenth year in succession.
Further information:
> Austrian national ERA Action Plan 2022-2025
> Austrian Research and Technology Report 2023 | Factsheet
> Austrian Research and Technology Report 2022 | Factsheet (in German)
> Booklet Wissenschaft in Österreich/Science in Austria 2020