On June 15th, 2009, a new chapter was opened in the Austrian research landscape: The Austrian Research Centers (ARC), formerly Seibersdorf Research Centre, was transformed into the AIT - Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH. The new strategic positioning of Austria’s largest non-university research institution, which is owned by the infrastructure ministry (50.46%) and the Industrial Federation (49.54%), is outlined as follows: Focus on existing strengths as well as major infrastructure matters of the future such as energy, traffic, environment, health, information technology and security research. In five specialized departments (Mobility, Energy, Health & Environment, Safety & Security and Foresight & Policy Development), technological stimuli, methods and solutions will be developed for the industrial sector and clients from public institutions. Hannes Androsch, President of the Board of Directors: “By splitting the activities in the Austrian Research Centres, a sound structure with distinct focus points was created. We have taken over a company in deficit, but since 2008, we have been back in the black.”

New Strategic Positioning

At the locations of Vienna Tech Gate (management office), Vienna Tech Base (formerly arsenal research), Seibersdorf, Wr. Neustadt, Ranshofen and Leoben, the AIT is working on “the tools and technologies of tomorrow, to be able to develop solutions for the time after tomorrow,” says commercial director Anton Plimon. AIT plays the central role of an interface between application-oriented research centres (Comet, Christian Doppler laboratories) and universities – even beyond national borders. Regarding the cooperation with universities, there is still some room for development. Androsch: “For example, AIT’s top scientists could qualify for professorships at universities.” This would create more distinction, which in turn attracts interesting researchers as well as international attention. “We want to become a research institution of European calibre, which primarily focuses on infrastructure,” adds Plimon. It is not by coincidence that the acronym AIT hints to the probably best research centre in the world, the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in Cambridge near Boston. Androsch: “MIT in the USA; AIT in Austria.” The Energy Department is a prime example: At Tech Base in Vienna’s Floridsdorf district, technologies for the implementation of energy-efficient buildings and systems for a secure and sustainable energy supply are being developed. “In photovoltaics – a technology with great potential – we are the largest research group in Austria,” says Brigitte Bach, head of the Energy Departments. In a brand new laboratory, for example, research is being conducted on thin-layer solar cells – a hopeful field in the sector of renewable energies.

IST Austria as the new Flagship

Only a few days before the start of AIT, an entirely new flagship of domestic research was launched. After a seven-year discussion and planning phase, the ceremonial opening of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) took place on June 2nd, 2009. Under the keyword “Elite University”, the institute which is based on an idea by quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger, was awarded to the (initially heavily disputed) location of Maria Gugging in Lower Austria by then science minister Elisabeth Gehrer in February of 2006. The focus of IST Austria is natural-scientific/technological basic research. The research areas are being tailored to the hired top-level scientists. “IST Austria first gets the brains, irrespective of their domain, and then establishes a research infrastructure around them,” Thomas Henzinger (47), the first IST president, explains the recruitment principle. So far, British evolutionary biologist Nick Barton, Austrian mathematician and computer scientist Herbert Edelsbrunner (until recently professor at Duke University in the USA), German experimental biologist Carl-Philipp Heisenberg (a grandson of the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics), and Krishnendu Chatterjee, a computer scientist from India, were recruited to Maria Gugging. Henzinger, a Linz-born first-class computer scientist himself, gave up guest professorships in the USA (Berkeley) and Switzerland (ETH Lausanne) to help build a premium institution in Austria. IST Austria is designed as a pure research institution; no basic study programme will be offered. However, like at most graduate universities, doctorates will be awarded. In 2016, at the end of the first expansion phase, 40 to 50 research groups and just as many professors as well as 500 doctoral candidates and post-docs are anticipated to be active there. “An institution like IST will incredibly strengthen Austria’s research landscape,” Henzinger is convinced and refers to “his” institute as a unique opportunity for interdisciplinary research: “Here, we can really start from Zero. There are no traditions, no structures and no limits. Together with colleagues from other disciplines, a joint vision can be implemented. Ideally, this brings about unique things from which the economy and society as a whole can benefit.”

Technology Offensive in Lower Austria

Even before IST Austria, Lower Austria had developed into a technology location of international calibre during the last few years. The technology offensive, launched in the year 2000, resulted in the development and implementation of the “Lower Austria Technopole Programme”, in which approximately 55 million EUR were invested to date. “Technopoles are technological-economic centres that connect research with the needs of the economy and educational institutions,” explains provincial governor Erwin Pröll. Since the start of the technopole programme in 2004, managed by the Lower Austrian business agency, ecoplus, more than 60 research projects with a total project volume of 30 million EUR were implemented. In Tulln, which is currently in the final expansion phase, the main topics are bio analytics, environmental biotechnology, plant breeding and the use of renewable raw materials. In Wiener Neustadt, the Technopole for Modern Industrial Technologies (materials, procedure and process technologies, medical technology, sensor actuating technology and surfaces) is currently being expanded by approximately 4,000 m2 of laboratory and office space. By mid 2010, the addition of the Technology and Research Centre (TFZ) is scheduled to be completed and offer space for another 150 scientists. Main focus areas at the Technopole Krems are medical biotechnology and regenerative medicine. Completely newly opened is the bio-energy competence centre in Wieselburg-Land, which dedicates itself to biomass furnaces, combined heat and power for single and multi family homes, as well as the development of bio fuels. Other large-scale projects in the near future will be the cancer research centre MedAustron in Wr. Neustadt, where cancer patients will be treated with ion therapy as of 2014, and the new construction of the University and Research Centre Tulln (UFT). “In coming years,” says provincial governor Erwin Pröll, “investments between 150 and 300 million EUR are planned.” [ GH ]