What characterizes Lower Austria as a business location?
Lower Austria has a decisive and investment-friendly climate; in addition, political stability and short administrative paths contribute to a positive development – for example, with regard to new business settlements: With the support of ecoplus, 73 companies were able to establish themselves in Lower Austria or expand their business in 2009 alone. This created and secured approximately 1,200 jobs. With innovative strategies and targeted investments in the education, research and transport infrastructure, Lower Austria has also made a name for itself as a high-tech region.
In light of the economic crisis, can Lower Austria’s businesses also expect support from the provincial government?
Yes – especially in challenging economic times, it is important to invest and to create the right conditions for the future successes of Lower Austrian businesses. Lower Austria immediately reacted to the economic slump and passed the first stimulus package as early as November of 2008. To date, a total of four stimulus packages have been implemented with a total volume of 850 million EUR.
The “Business Park 2020” concept was presented recently. What can investors and business owners who want to settle at a business park expect?
For years, the ecoplus department Location & Service has successfully offered a wide range of services for businesses looking for a location to settle in Lower Austria, such as assistance with the choice of location, contacts to public authorities, banks, lawyers and tax advisors. In addition, ecoplus offers comprehensive information about Lower Austria as a business location. With 16 ecoplus business parks (eight of their own and eight in which they have shares), they also can provide concrete location offers. It is important to know the requirements of a business and its demands regarding the location, since this is a prerequisite for purposeful service. The “Business Park 2020” concept analyzes factors such as infrastructure, communal services, transport connections, labour cost, grants and subsidy means, as well as the cultural and recreational offerings. Based on the results, a multitude of optional measures was developed, which provide the potential to differentiate significantly compared to other locations.
What significance does the field of research have for Austria’s largest province?
Research has great significance for Lower Austria; the province is continuously investing in ultra-modern infrastructure for research-oriented businesses. Since the launch of the technology offensive, which started in the year 2000, Lower Austria has positioned itself as a modern business location with innovative first-class technology, and has already made a name for itself all over Europe thanks to the high-tech business and research institutions that have settled here. An important component is the technopole programme, which has initiated and implemented more than 60 research projects with a project volume of over 30 million EUR since its beginning in 2004. A significant portion of the province’s activities is dedicated to the construction of new and expansion of existing technology centres. In November of 2009 for example, we opened a new technology centre in Wieselburg-Land. From now on, the K1 competence centre “Bioenergy 2020+ GmbH” will operate from there and, as part of the COMET programme, will conduct elite research in the field of biomass heating systems, combined heat and power for single and multi family homes, and the development of bio fuels such as pellets. |
