Upper Austria

Around a quarter of Austrian industrial production and exports derive from Upper Austria, which is thus the leader among the nine federal provinces.

Austria's leading industrial region is characterised by high levels of dynamism and economic stability. Powerful employment, growth and low levels of unemployment are the result of the competitive strengths of the region and its companies.

The reasons for the Upper Austrian "economic wonder" relate to a number of factors, the most important of which are:

A highly qualified and motivated work force
An economic structure with a healthy mix of branches and company sizes, as well as
numerous innovative, flexible and therefore competitive companies.

Many of these companies have focused on market niches and number among Europe's leaders with regard to market share and technology.

Clusterland Upper Austria

Project partner within the REGINS-RFO is the Clusterland Upper Austria Company which is a subsidiary company of the technology management and location development agency (TMG) of the federal province of Upper Austria. On behalf of its owners, Clusterland fulfils assignments relating to technology policy through the furtherance of innovation and co-operation as a service-oriented, non-profit making organisation.

One major aspect of this programme is a systematic expansion of the existing areas of economic and technological strength in Upper Austria, which is aimed at enhancing the innovative capacity of companies, in particular through networked co-operation

The Clusterland Oberösterreich GmbH is responsible for six clusters: Automobile Cluster (AC), Drive Technology Cluster (CDT), co-financed through the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs, Plastics Cluster (KC), Wood Cluster (MHC), Health Cluster (GC) and Mechatronic Cluster (MC).

At present, some 1.575 companies, R&D bodies and educational institutes are partners in the inter-branch networks. This represents clear evidence of the fact that the local business community has recognised the necessity for close cooperation between companies and a co-ordinated approach to the world at large.

Today, regional competitiveness is not determined by the strengths of individual companies, but to an ever-increasing extent by the innovativeness of complete industries and branch complexes, as exemplified by the Upper Austrian cluster initiatives. Teamwork is the key to success, as it not only strengthens each of the companies involved, but also the entire economic structure of a region in a far-reaching and sustained manner.
The Upper Austrian Future Fund provides most of the finance for the cluster initiatives, although these are gradually raising the levels of their own funding through service-related contributions from the participating partner companies.
In this environment Clusterland acts as a:

Supplier of services for investors and regional economic development
The managing and coordinating organisation for cluster initiatives
The promoter of the Upper Austrian Technology Network

The aim is to achieve a sustained improvement in the competitiveness of the branches by means of the following measures:

Expansion in the research and technology field, increase in the R&D quota.
A strengthening of the innovative capacity and productivity of Upper Austrian companies with the aim of securing competitiveness.
Support of business location.

The Automotive Cluster in Upper Austria (AC)

The AC was founded in July 1998 and represents the largest superordinated network of leading industrial companies and their direct and indirect suppliers in the road vehicle area, which includes cars, trucks, special vehicles and motorcycles.
The AC activities focus on the expansion of the existing strengths of its partner companies and the long-term protection of competitive strength. This is intended to answer major challenges, such as cost pressure, overcapacity, falling prices as well as production and innovation cycles that are constantly growing shorter.
With more than 300 partner-companies, the AC is Austria´s biggest automotive network. Special attention of the AC activities is paid to the innovative potentials of SMEs. The partners, who come from all business sectors (from MAN Steyr to Voestalpine Europlatinen GmbH to the ARC Light Metal Competence Centre in Ranshofen) as well as research and development facilities, contribute their know-how to the network. The companies in the cluster have a turnover of 16.2 billion Euros (7 billion in the automotive sector) with 81.000 employees.
Regional strategies and objectives for the structural development of the automotive sector in the Upper Austrian Region are for instance to strengthen cooperations, to offer systems and to build up specialised regional networks. Due to the high relevance of networks for future applications in the Automotive Industry, the AC attach importance on establishing a fuel cell competence network.

The Health Cluster in Upper Austria

The Health Cluster (Gesundheits-Cluster, GC) is a network which spans various sectors and aims at strengthening the innovative potential and the international competitiveness of companies operating in the area of health technology, their suppliers and relevant training and technology transfer institutions. A main focus of the Health Cluster network is meeting needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).
The health cluster supports and consolidates companies operating in the fields of:

Medical equipment and appliances
Medicinal supplies and pharmaceutical compounds
Specific installations and institutions
Services
R & D, Training

With a total amount of 216 partner institutions coming from various sectors, the Health Cluster's companies (more than 90% SMEs) have a total turnover of 4,47 billions EUR with 30.813 employees.

Further Links

The Federal Province of Upper Austria: www.ooe.gv.at
TMG: www.tmg.at
Automotive-Cluster: www.automobil-cluster.at
Health - Cluster: www.gesundheits-cluster.at