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.
Austria’s STI performance compared with the Innovation Leaders, the Top 3 and the EU average.
The areas of the STI system are bi-directionally linked to the objectives of the STI and circular economy strategies in terms of impact.
More than 240 indicators from data from OECD, Eurostat, CIS, WGI and other sources are analysed.
Relevant areas link to the ECTO dashboard for green product potential and their skilled labour requirements.
Relevant recommendations, statements and studies provide context and background knowledge.
References to external statistics, sources and monitoring such as SDG, EGD or impact targets link information.
Concise analyses of the data describe the findings and derive recommendations for action.
All data is publicly available and free for further analyses and calculations.
The STI Monitor describes the STI system in 16 areas, which are organised into four subsystems: A. STI framework conditions (A.1 Regulation, financial and tax system, A.2 Education, A.3 International integration), B. STI core system (B.1 Tertiary education, B.2 Research university and non-academic, B.3 Corporate STI, B.4 Start-ups, B.5 Financing), C. STI cross-cutting topics (C.1 Digitalisation, C.2 Environment and Climate, C.3 Circular Economy, C.4 Location Attractiveness, C.5 Gender Equality, C.6 Sovereignty) and D. Impact (D.1 Effectiveness, D.2 Efficiency). These areas are linked bi-directionally with the objectives of the STI Strategy 2030 and those of the federal government’s circular economy strategy. This makes systemic connections and the direct and indirect leverage effect on the individual strategy goals visible. This logic allows to locate the objectives in the STI system on the one hand and to make the impact of the areas of the STI system on the achievement of the objectives comprehensible on the other.
The area pages visualise and contextualise the data and make it possible to change the comparative perspective between Innovation Leaders, Top 3 and EU average. In addition to the linked objectives of the STI Strategy 2030, selected impact objectives are also assigned here, which are particularly important for the administration. Depending on the context, links are provided to the eurostat monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals and the European Green Deal as well as to the ECTO dashboard of FORWIT. Relevant Council recommendations, statements and studies provide further foundations and evidence. The performance of the respective area is examined in concise analyses and specific recommendations for action are derived.
Long-term contributions to change show the positive or negative influence of individual indicators on the areas.
Time series show the historical development of individual indicators over the years.
Graphics visualise the status of target achievement and the projected degrees of target achievement.
All individual indicators are recognised as input or output in the respective areas.
In its STI Strategy 2030, the federal government set itself the goal of becoming an Innovation Leader in the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) by 2030. For this reason, the STI Monitor uses the group of Innovation Leaders as a benchmark for the performance of the Austrian STI system. In order to gain additional information, the STI Monitor also makes it possible to compare performance with the sector-specific Top 3 and the EU27.
The EIS provides a comparative assessment of the research and innovation performance of EU Member States, other European countries and global competitors. Each country is categorised into a performance group based on its innovation performance compared to the EU average. Innovation Leaders are those countries that achieve an innovation score of more than 125% of the EU average. In 2024, these are Denmark, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands. Strong Innovators are those whose innovation performance is between 100% and 125% of the EU average. Austria has ranked in the Strong Innovators group since the start of the EIS in 2017 and currently holds sixth place overall. As of 2024, the other countries in this group are Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Germany, Cyprus, Estonia and France.
Theresia Vogel
Vice Chair
“Research, technology and innovation are the keys to Austria’s and Europe’s prosperity, sovereignty and future. If we know how we are developing, we are in a position to act decisively and with foresight. FORWIT actively contributes to this with the STI Monitor.”
Thomas Henzinger
Chair
“The STI Monitor makes Austria’s strengths and weaknesses comprehensible and transparent and thus helps not only STI policy, but also other stakeholders and actors to make evidence-based and systemically effective decisions.“
Alexandra Mazak-Huemer
STI Monitor Project manager
If you have any questions about the STI Monitor or require further information, please contact Alexandra Mazak-Huemer by e-mail at amh@forwit.at or by telephone on +43 1 713 14 14 12.
From 2012 to 2023, the former Council for Research and Technology Development (RFTE) published its annual ‘Report on Austria’s Scientific and Technological Performance 2022’, which was based on an extensive and complex data set. In order to utilise the large, valuable information potential that cannot be meaningfully presented and exploited in a printed medium, the RFTE launched the STI Monitor in 2022. This web-based monitor provides structured, comprehensive data, resources and functions that analyse and visualise innovation policy interrelationships and their development over time, making them easier to understand. The aim of the STI Monitor is to provide stakeholders with the basis for strategic and systemic actions and to enable them to explore Austria’s performance in an international context and in comparison to the innovation leaders. The STI Monitor is now the central instrument with which FORWIT not only informs its own work, but also provides all stakeholders in the Austrian STI system—and beyond—with reliable, data-based evidence for strategic and systemically effective decisions.
