For Henrietta Egerth and Karin Tausz, Managing Directors of the FFG, the situation is clear: “Only by working together can the ambitious goals of the Industrial Strategy be achieved. That is why the FFG’s shareholder ministries have been advocating a balanced RTI Pact since last autumn.” The effective interplay between basic research, applied research and industrial application has so far been a key success factor for Austria.
Innovation funding as a driver of growth
“Cuts in innovation and technology have a direct impact on growth, employment and future opportunities,” say the FFG Managing Directors. Reduced funding for applied research, technology and innovation makes it more difficult to implement key measures of the Industrial Strategy and weakens international competitiveness in the long term. Innovation funding has been proven to generate significant employment and value creation effects: every 100 million euro in innovation funding supports more than 2,000 jobs.
RTI Pact as a central implementation framework
The Federal Government’s Industrial Strategy places a targeted focus on nine newly defined key technologies. Around 2.6 billion euro are earmarked for this within the framework of the RTI Pact. “Particularly in times of economic and geopolitical uncertainty, companies must be able to respond flexibly to new developments. This requires reliable, broad-based funding instruments,” say Egerth and Tausz.
Reductions currently under discussion not only put ongoing innovation projects at risk, but also jeopardise the goal of maintaining Austria’s long-term international competitiveness and increasing the research intensity to 4 per cent of GDP as planned.