Three shortcomings are holding back Austria’s innovation transfer

Austria invests heavily in research, but economic exploitation has so far lagged behind. A new analysis by the Council for Sciences, Innovation and Technology (FORWIT) now clearly shows what is slowing down successful innovation transfer in practice – and what needs to be done so that the Federal Government’s recently presented industrial strategy is reinforced in its impact through a smart innovation policy.

“We need to remedy the systemic shortcomings in the transfer process from research, through application, into the market and its impact.”
Georg Kopetz

“We on the Council have been working intensively for some time on the question of how we can once again increase Austria’s competitiveness. Research and innovation are the keys to getting Austrian industry back to the forefront. However, this will only succeed if we remedy the systemic shortcomings in the transfer process from research, through application, into the market and its impact,” urges Council member Georg Kopetz.

Three key shortcomings: market needs, speed and sustainability

The analysis “From Science to Business: Speed, Market Impact and Sustainability” identifies the causes of Austria’s transfer gap in three critical dimensions:

  • Lack of product–market fit: Technologically excellent developments miss real market needs because market requirements are integrated too late into the innovation process.
  • Low speed-to-product: Funding, governance and decision-making cycles are not synchronised with global technology and market cycles. As a result, Austria loses pace in international competition.
  • Lack of sustainability in financing and technology pathways: In particular during the transition to high technology readiness levels (TRLs), scaling and market entry, reliable financing (patient equity) is lacking.

From diagnosis to implementation

“Our analysis now provides such an operational implementation logic for innovations.”
Georg Kopetz

The FORWIT analysis closes a crucial gap: while the 2025 Productivity Report provides the macro diagnosis – Austria’s weakness lies less in research excellence than in technology diffusion and economic exploitation – and the industrial strategy is intended to provide the political and implementation-oriented framework for transfer into industrial application, what had been missing until now was an empirically grounded operational logic for implementation.

“Our analysis now provides such an operational implementation logic for innovations and for what the Productivity Report and industrial strategy demand in political terms. The new industrial strategy will be particularly successful if the shortcomings in the transfer of research results into successful products are systematically and swiftly reduced,” emphasises Council member Georg Kopetz.