EU accession has given Austria new impetus in research and technology development. After a certain ‘culture shock’ and initial fears of remaining a net contributor in this area, the opportunities have apparently been well utilised. As a result, the funding acquired within the framework of EU research programmes has increased more than tenfold from around 200 million euros to over 2 billion euros.
One of the success factors was that the ministries responsible for research, technology and innovation worked together on a national support structure. ‘The Austrian researchers didn’t know how the European game worked,’ explained Klaus Schuch, Scientific Director of the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI), in an interview with APA-Science. He also wrote an article for the ‘Research and Technology Report 2025’ recently published by the ministries responsible for innovation on developments since EU accession in 1995.
If you want to read the whole story, check the APA-SCIENCE article from 12.06.2025 here.
