News and Publications
To mark the publication of the FTI Monitor 2026, Alexandra Mazak-Huemer, Theresia Vogel, and Georg Kopetz discussed Austria’s ability to transfer knowledge into practical application.
In its recommendation, FORWIT sets out how efficient study at Austria’s higher education institutions can be facilitated—and why this is urgently necessary.
The proposal to reduce the budget of Horizon Europe to €168 billion sends a worrying signal—particularly at a time when Europe is facing significant geopolitical, technological and economic pressure.
Precisely because of budget constraints, there is an urgent need to continue the higher education dialogue and swiftly develop and implement a future-proof higher education strategy.
With this analysis, FORWIT provides a key foundation for the federal government’s Higher Education Strategy 2040 and offers input for its development.
The innovation economist and former Chair of Germany’s Expert Commission on Research and Innovation (EFI) is contributing to the further development of Austria’s innovation system.
Theresia Vogel becomes Deputy Chair of the Federal Government’s advisory council, while Sylvia Schwaag Serger leaves the Council after more than ten years of commitment to Austrian STI policy.
When deployed effectively, it can generate the demand that enables businesses to bring innovations to market and to scale locally.
We are globally recognised for our innovative energy and environmental technologies, yet R&D spending has recently fallen significantly—while countries like Japan and Finland invest four times as much.
What are the causes of the gap in transferring knowledge into impact and value creation—and what solutions exist?
How is research financed in Austria, and how has the R&D ratio developed over the past two decades?
Evidence for Policy
With the STI Monitor, FORWIT makes a significant contribution to science-based policymaking in Austria: Visualisation of the development of indicators over time and their long-term contributions to change as well as trends, I/O performance and the degree to which the goals of the STI Strategy 2030 have been achieved provide stakeholders and political decision-makers with a basis for strategically and systemically effective decisions and actions.
Green Transformation Opportunities
FORWIT’s ECTO dashboard identifies green products that are not currently produced on a significant scale and therefore represent a special opportunity for Austria to position itself as a market leader in global competition in the future. The Workforce Calculator makes it possible to calculate the skilled labour, training and qualifications required for the desired added value.
Knowledge transfer into commercialisation: The core problem of the RTI System
— NewsTo mark the publication of the FTI Monitor 2026, Alexandra Mazak-Huemer, Theresia Vogel, and Georg Kopetz discussed Austria’s ability to transfer knowledge into practical application.