FHK supports demand for effective research funding by the public sector

"Austria is in danger of missing out on developments in the important future fields of research. It is the "Global Challenges" that show us the areas in which Austria needs to expand its research capacities. Application-orientated solutions must be developed quickly and effectively. Topics such as health, social affairs, sustainability and energy are just as important as the STEM sector. We also need more university graduates who are qualified for these areas," said Raimund Ribitsch, President of the Austrian University of Applied Sciences Conference (FHK), in response to a press release issued by the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) yesterday, Wednesday.

"It is unacceptable that the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) is lacking substantial funding for application-orientated research projects that will advance Austria in this area. There is an urgent need to take countermeasures here," Ribitsch continued.

The FHK has repeatedly pointed out that research programmes aimed at improving networking between companies and science and thus at transferring technology and innovation to society must be ambitiously expanded. The focus should be on programmes such as COIN, in which application-oriented, business-related research institutions are heavily involved. They encourage companies to participate in research activities in order to generate innovations and further develop their own products and processes. The disproportionately high share of SMEs participating in programmes such as COIN is also noteworthy.

"As applied research universities, universities of applied sciences are faced with the situation that, unlike basic research-oriented universities, they do not receive any sustainable research funding from the public sector, but are dependent exclusively on temporary programme funding. This situation is unsatisfactory, as it weakens cooperation between industry and science and thus also Austria as a centre of innovation. Effective research funding must therefore include both sustainable basic funding and a massive expansion of programme funding for research. These directions must be clearly and visibly reflected in the federal government's future RTI strategy," Ribitsch concluded.