Austria’s Tech Innovations Attract International Attention

Austria is convincing as a business location because of the close integration of science, business and talent promotion. Here international companies gain access to know-how, research facilities and an innovation-friendly environment which quickly puts pioneering technologies into practice. 

One example of an Austrian high-tech startup with international visibility is Gate SpaceGate Space (). The company is developing a chemical propulsion and throttling system for a Mars landing module in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA). The technical requirements are enormous: a space capsule must be able to decelerate from 48,000 km/hour to zero within just a few minutes. Gate Space is part of the growing space tech cluster located at the AirportCity at Vienna Airport, a location with global connectivity, a strong infrastructure and intensive collaboration between research, industry and technology companies.   

A new infrastructure for applied technologies is also arising in the field of AI. On the basis of its AI Innovation Factory, Microsoft aims to strengthen its AI offering in the country and enable companies to test and implement AI solutions within the context of pilot projects starting in the summer of 2025. Among its partners are Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws), KPMG, PwC, EY and Tietoevry. 

Further impetus provided by other companies shows how the AI and deep tech ecosystem is evolving. For example, Emmi AIEmmi AI (), a Linz-based startup for industrial AI simulations, raised € 15 million in a seed financing roundraised € 15 million in a seed financing round () – a record in Austria’s AI scene. Linz is also the home of the LIT LIT ()AI AI ()Lab at Johannes Kepler University in Linz led by Sepp Hochreiter, one of the founding fathers of speech recognition technology.  

Foundation for future-oriented technologies 

Supported by the EU programme “European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking”, the AI Factory Austria (AI:AT)AI Factory Austria (AI:AT) () is strengthening the country’s AI infrastructure. A high-performance supercomputer and an AI hub offer resources for new AI technologies to the research community, startups and companies.   

Initiatives such as Women in AI Austria enhance the visibility of female talents and promote international networking. Thanks to its three ELLIS units, Austria boasts the highest per-capita density of European Laboratories for Learning and Intelligent Systems in the EU.  

For its part, the company Salzburg Research is developing digital solutions with practical relevance, from 5G testing environments to data-based mobility analyses. Due to its interdisciplinary research and modern infrastructure, it offers an ideal environment for companies involved in quickly scaling deep tech innovations and aiming to turn them into real-life applications.  

You can find more information on the deep tech sector in Austria here: Deep TechDeep Tech ().