For many years, Vienna has always taken one of the top spots in the city ranking; the most recent Mercer study on quality of life even ranked the metropolis on the Danube as number one worldwide. This was followed by an excellent fourth place in the “European Green City Index” ranking, which analyzes the achievements and ambitions of 30 European metropolises with regards to environmental and climate protection. Besides a high quality of life and the great safety level of the city, Vienna’s main trump cards in the international location competition are the local human capital, the high per-capita productivity and the capital’s good infrastructure, according to Vienna Mayor Michael Häupl. Despite the continuing eastern expansion of the EU, Vienna has not lost its function as an important economic bridgehead into Central and Eastern Europe. Häupl: “At the moment, more than 300 international groups of companies have their European or Eastern European headquarters in Vienna. And many signs are pointing to that number rising even further in the next few years.”

Business Location Vienna

“We need to invest to get out of the crisis, not save up for the next crisis.” Renate Brauner, Provincial Councillor for Economic Affairs and Deputy Mayor of Vienna, clearly lays out the direction Vienna’s economy will follow – despite, or maybe even because of the difficult economic times. The consequences of the financial crisis on the real economy may have affected Austria too as of early 2009; in Vienna, however, the crisis started at a later point and is running a comparatively moderate course, according to Peter Huber from the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO). An economic stimulus programme of nearly two billion EUR, initiated by the Vienna provincial government, is also showing positive effects. With a total of approximately 193 million EUR, economic funding remains at a high level in 2010 as well.

Research Location Vienna

In order to maintain its good position in the international comparison of business locations, Vienna is investing intensively in research and innovation. Together with the federal government, the City of Vienna is supporting the expansion of the research infrastructure at Campus Vienna Biocenter in the urban development area of St. Marx with approximately 52 million EUR; another 10 million EUR will go to building an equipment park at the new biotech centre (VIBT – Vienna Institute of Bio Technology) on Muthgasse. Another scientific-technical hot spot is located at the Danube plate, near

Reichsbrücke Bridge. At the thematically and spatially interconnected Tech Gate Vienna, research and development, science and economy, start-up entrepreneurs and global groups of companies are cooperating under one roof. By now, approximately 60 research and technology businesses have settled at the location. Focused, high-end education is intended to secure the quality of Vienna as a business location for the future. With the construction of the new university building, the FH Campus Wien University of Applied Sciences will offer space for 4,000 people to study, teach, research and administer. After completion of the new building, over 40 study programmes from the departments of “Applied Life Sciences”, “Engineering”, “Construction Engineering”, “Health”, “Social Work” and “Public Sector” will be concentrated at four locations instead of the previous fourteen.

City of Creative Start-Ups

Young creatives are supported through a special agency by the City of Vienna. The agency “departure” assists entrepreneurs and start-ups in the creative industries of fashion, music, audiovisual, multimedia, design, publishing, arts and architecture, who want to make a difference in the urban environment and provide an important contribution to the capital’s prosperity. The media sector is particularly important for Vienna - after all, the metropolis has 2,000 companies with approximately 50,000 employees in the field. In order to further strengthen this sector, Media Quarter Marx, the “nerve centre” of the media scene, located on the premises of the former St. Marx abattoir, is consistently being expanded since 2003. At its centre are modern film and TV studios that will be complemented by multimedia-suitable office buildings with a total space of 40,000 square metres by the end of 2010.

City with Dev elopment Potential

Vienna is in the enviable situation of having large land reserves inside the city limits at its disposal – enough space to create new, modern districts for people to live and work in. The development of aspern Urban Lakeside is probably one of the largest projects in all of Europe. In the next 20 years, a new city within the city will emerge on a total area of 240 hectares. Besides thousands of apartments, office and commercial properties, aspern Urban Lakeside is set to be expanded into a central research and development location for energy technology and environmental technology. Through the construction of the Vienna Central Station, the city advances from a dreaded bottleneck to an important European railway hub. At the same time, a new, attractive neighbourhood is being developed around the Vienna Central Station, featuring 5,000 apartments, a shopping centre and office buildings. “Construction on the first apartments and offices on the 59 hectare large area surrounding the Central Station will begin in 2011,” says Rudi Schicker, Vienna City Councillor for Traffic and Urban Development. All in all, approximately two billion EUR will be invested into the mammoth project. On the 44 hectare large area of the former North-West Railway Station, situated between the Danube and the Danube Canal, another modern district will emerge in several stages. In this new district located in the middle of the city, construction of approximately 5,000 apartments as well as office and commercial space of approximately 750,000 square metres is planned to be completed by 2025. Ten hectares of green space are set to provide great recreational value.

Construction & Residential as

Drivers for the Economy

While construction activity in many places drastically decreased in 2009, Vienna was able to record the highest increase all over Austria at 8.7 percent. Michael Ludwig, City Councillor for Housing: “Most of all, subsidized housing construction in the City of Vienna has significantly contributed to stimulating the economy. A total of 475 million EUR was made available in 2009 for new construction and renovations. As part of Vienna’s stimulus and labour package, another 17 million EUR were invested in thermo-energetic upgrade and restoration measures in 2009. This way, the province of Vienna has triggered a construction volume of 1.425 billion EUR.” For 2010, subsidies of 283 million EUR are allocated for new construction. With this amount, approximately 7,000 subsidized new construction units can be funded in the coming year. More than 190 million EUR will be available in the coming year for renovations; revitalization measures for approximately 10,000 apartments are planned to be funded. The reconstruction of the “Vienna Thermal Spa” (“Therme Wien”) is also securing the business location and creating new jobs; during the three-year construction period alone, it will provide work for approximately 1,000 people. The project was initiated by WOP Wien Oberlaa Projektentwicklung GmbH, a subsidiary of Wien Holding, and the thermal spa and wellness oasis was designed by “4a Architects”. Once completed, the new “Vienna Thermal Spa” will be one of the largest urban thermal spas in Europe, and will relieve the time-honoured Oberlaa Thermal Spa (“Kurbad Oberlaa”). Opening of the 115 million EUR project is planned for the fall of 2010.

New Ship Terminal in the City

A city on the Danube of course also requires adequate landings for ship traffic. With the construction of the new ship terminal on the Danube Channel between Marienbrücke and Schwedenbrücke bridges, Wiener Donauraum, a subsidiary of Wien Holding, is not only building a new landing, but also creating another attraction for the City of Vienna. The highlight of this 127 metre long and 17 metre wide glass/steel construction is its eight metre long cantilever protruding into the Danube Channel, which functions as a covered “pit stop”. Once the season starts in May, the two Twin City Liners as well as smaller cruise vessels of DDSG Blue Danube Schifffahrt will arrive and depart from here. “The new ship terminal is designed for a capacity of approximately 200,000 passengers per year. With the new landing, we want to further strengthen the competitive ability and market leadership role of our two subsidiaries,” says Peter Hanke, Managing Director of Wien Holding. His company, which also operates the Twin City Liner express catamaran connection between the two EU capitals of Vienna and Bratislava, is investing 6.8 million EUR in the project. [ IN ]