Vienna, January 22, 2025: The new Industry Strategy 2035 sets clear priorities for key technologies and addresses the entire innovation cycle—from basic research to applied research and development to technology transfer, scaling, production optimization, and training the necessary skilled workers.
It is precisely in this implementation chain that applied research unfolds its particular strengths and its full effect: it brings technologies into industrial practice – via demonstrators, piloting, validation, and test and measurement infrastructures, right through to scaling in value chains. This turns technology development into concrete industrial applications that strengthen competitiveness and secure technological sovereignty.
"Applied research ensures that the industrial strategy hits the mark – where technologies are transformed into processes, products, and industrial value creation. This is precisely where the immediate impact on competitiveness and technological sovereignty arises," emphasizes Brigitte Bach, President of Forschung Austria.
Securing the RTI Pact: Stability and a growth path for impact along the value chain
Forschung Austria underscores the importance of the RTI Pact 2027–2029 as a central framework for planning security, strategic investments, and the sustainable development of competencies—so that innovations can be effectively and successfully transferred into economic applications.
"Applied research is becoming enormously important. This requires a clear growth path in the RTI Pact and the nominal stabilization of all budgetary subdivisions – under no circumstances budget reductions in applied research, but rather predictability and expansion," says Bach.
The industrial strategy relies on instruments in which application-oriented research plays its role as a bridge between knowledge and the market particularly effectively. This focus on rapid, effective, and practical implementation is also expressly demanded by industry – and underlines the role of applied research as a key implementation partner for industry.
Complementary – with clear roles throughout the innovation cycle
Basic research and applied research are complementary and fulfill different tasks in the innovation system. To ensure that the entire innovation cycle—from scientific discovery to industrial implementation and scaling—functions consistently, reliable framework conditions and predictable budgets are needed for all phases, especially for piloting, validation, and testing and scaling infrastructures.