New institute conducts research into supply chains

The coronavirus pandemic and the Ukraine war have clearly demonstrated the importance of functioning international supply chains. The availability of raw materials, packaging materials, chips and car parts was suddenly no longer guaranteed. Recently such shortages have also affected medicines. A new institute based in Vienna and Steyr (Upper Austria) should contribute towards detecting such problems in the future at an earlier stage. The Supply Chain Intelligence Institute Austria (ASCII) has the objective of conducting research into the security and reliability of global supply chains. A comparable institute does not exist in Europe at the present time.

The institute will be led by complexity researcher Peter Klimek and will be funded over the next five years to the amount of € 5 million. The initial work of the institute focusing on the shortage of medicines is expected to be completed in the near future. Processes relating to the far-reaching connections in microchip production will also be examined. The economic damage of bottlenecks in the supply chain is shown in many years, most recently the shortage of fruit and vegetables in Great Britain. It is extremely important to answer the large number of questions relating to designing more sustainable and resilient supply networks, according to ASCII Director Peter Klimek, who is working as a scientist at the Complexity Science Hub. Up until now sufficient data has been lacking, a gap which should be filled in the future by the Supply Chain Intelligence Institute Austria (ASCII).

• Read more about the research location Austria.