Federal government appoints new research council as central advisory body

The Council for Sciences, Technology, and Innovation is an important part of the government programme. The legal framework for the Council was created in summer 2023, as recommended by the OECD. The 12 members of the Council have now been appointed, 6 of whom were appointed by the Federal Minister of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), 4 by the Federal Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK) and one by the Federal Minister of Labour and Economic Affairs (BMAW). The Chairman, Prof. Dipl.-Ing. DDr. H. c. Thomas A. Henzinger, was appointed by Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler.

I warmly congratulate them and am sure that these outstanding personalities will shape the forward-looking work of the Council.

Federal Minister Martin Polaschek, BMBWF

“Austria’s prosperity is closely linked to its innovative strength in research and science. To ensure that our country can continue to be a pioneer in this field in the future, we need a forward-looking and sustainable research and innovation policy. By merging the existing bodies into a single, centralised Council, we have created an important advisory body that will support the federal government in making well-founded decisions in these areas. The BMBWF has now nominated six excellent experts as councillors. I warmly congratulate them and am sure that these outstanding personalities will shape the forward-looking work of the Council and look forward to working with them in the future,” said Martin Polaschek, Federal Minister of Education, Science and Research.

“Protecting our climate is the great challenge of our time—we also need research and innovation if we are to succeed. We are focussing on a transformative innovation policy, in other words, a policy that combines research with implementation and thus takes effect as quickly as possible. The Council is a valuable advisory body for the Federal Government and fulfils a linking function. It will communicate scientific findings and research results to policymakers and, conversely, convey political issues to the scientific community,” emphasises Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler.

The Council is an independent legal organisation under public law whose main task is to provide the Austrian federal government with systematic, independent and well-founded advice on matters of science, technology and innovation policy. Merging the Austrian Council for Research and Technology Development and the Austrian Science Council into a single council will enable better coordination of measures and more effective utilisation of resources.

The appointed members of the Council Assembly

• Jörg Flecker, University of Vienna
• Dietrich Haubenberger, University of California San Diego/Neurocrine Biosciences
• Georg Kopetz, TTTech
• Werner Lanthaler, Evotec
• Helga Nowotny, Founding member and former President of the European Research Council (ERC)
• Johanna Pirker, LMU Munich – Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München/Technische Universität Graz
• Monika Ritsch-Marte, Medical University Innsbruck
• Sylvia Schwaag Serger, Lund University
• Sonja Sheikh, ACR – Austrian Cooperative Research
• Barbara Stelzl-Marx, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz
• Theresia Vogel, former Managing Director of the Climate and Energy Fund