Package of measures for Startup Location Austria

Austria is an attractive location for startups. Company founders benefit from extensive support services and funding, amongst other advantages. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2022, Austria is ranked first in an international comparison when it comes to startup funding.

In order to further promote innovation and the founding of startups, a comprehensive package of measures - the new Startup Package - is currently being subject to a formal evaluation procedure. It brings significant improvements and thus strengthens Austria’s attractiveness for startup founders. The draft legislation stipulates the creation of a new type of corporation. The so-called flexible corporation (German: “Flexible Kapitalgesellschaft” or FlexKapG) targets startups as well as innovative SMEs and leads to simplifications with respect to formalities and written voting or circular resolutions. Furthermore, entrepreneurship is promoted by reducing the minimum share capital to € 10,000 for limited liability companies (GmbHs) and for the FlexKapG.

Another important step is the frequently demanded measure of establishing a legal foundation for employee participation programmes based on corporate and tax law and complemented by tax relief. This is considered to be a crucial labour market initiative to retain highly qualified skilled workers. In this way, selected employees can receive employee stock options in the form of enterprise value shares in addition to their regular salaries. The advantage is that this will not only be offered in line with company law with few formal requirements, but also result in substantial relief with regard to duties and taxes.

Learn more about startup-founding in Austria

AI location Austria: Top research, talents and international events

Austria is a dynamic business location for AI. A strong research network, targeted funding programmes, an active community and a large talent pool promote the exchange between science, business and society. This makes the country an exciting hub for AI developments and international events such as TEDAI.

NXAI: Top researchers in Austria develop solutions for industrial companies

Research on alternative AI models conducted by Sepp Hochreiter and his team at the JKU in Linz is recognised worldwide. With their company NXAI, founded in 2024, they want to transform basic research into industrial companies and develop products from it. NXAI aims to raise 100 million euros by the beginning of 2025. Thanks to the excellent reputation of JKUI and the AI degree programmes, many talents come to Austria.

AI as a booster for life sciences innovations

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising the field of life sciences and strengthening Austria as a location for research and development. Research institutions such as the Research Centre for Molecular Medicine (CeMM) and the newly founded Research Institute for Biomedical Artificial Intelligence (AITHYRA) are making a significant contribution to this.