Investment in Incentives

Austria has established an effective research promotion system for entrepreneurs with promising ideas: direct grants, tax advantages and other measures are assisting companies to make money by exploiting good ideas .

Since 2005, companies aiming to do R&D have been able to take advantage of one single contact point: Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft (FFG).  In 2007, 586 million euros in grants were awarded, a total of 1,800 projects were approved and support provided to the research activities of 1,500 companies.

All firms with a registered office in Austria are entitled to apply for these grants, including subsidiaries of foreign companies. The “headquarters program” even promotes  the targeted setting up and expansion of research hubs. 

FWF is responsible for supporting basic research, and is open to applications from researchers in all fields.
Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) promotes companies which want to change, further develop or which are in the start-up phase. AWS also frequently assists spin-offs, providing risk capital or identifying potential investors.

Research more, pay less

This maxim applies to all companies operating in Austria, which are entitled to take advantage of a tax-exempt research allowance of 25 percent for all R&D expenditures, including contract research. This means that 125 percent of research expenditures can be deducted from profits. If the research expenditures exceed the average made during the preceding three years, a tax-exempt research allowance of 35 percent may be possible. Alternatively, companies can benefit from a research premium of 8 percent which is refunded in cash.