2nd Session

The second meeting of FORWIT took place as a two-day working session on 27 and 28 May 2024 and involved a series of substantive discussions. In particular, the Council adopted a recommendation on the use of the 2024 funds from the “Zukunft Österreich” (Future Austria) Fund, which was submitted on time to the National Foundation for Research, Technology and Development and will be published at the end of June 2024. Further agenda items under the work programme concerned the preparation of a position paper on the European Union’s next Framework Programme for Research (FP10) (scheduled for publication in July 2024) and the development of scenarios for how the Austrian RTI system can be designed to be resilient and antifragile in the future.

The Council also held an in-depth discussion on a draft set of recommendations for the government programme of the next legislative period. In addition, it defined its role as an expert advisory body to the Federal Government in a mission statement, which was adopted together with a vision statement.

The first day of the meeting took place in the Austrian Parliament building. On this occasion, the current edition of the RTI Monitor was also presented to the public in an evening event. On the morning of the second day, Council members were invited to a working breakfast with Federal Minister Martin Polaschek, at which the future role of the Council for the Austrian RTI system was discussed in detail.