Austria’s technology and AI landscape is located in much smaller places than the typical international hubs. The capital of Upper Austria, Linz, is the perfect example. At the core of the Linz AI ecosystem is the Artificial Intelligence Lab at the Linz Institute of Technology (LIT), where Austrian AI pioneer Sepp Hochreiter and his team conduct research in the field of deep learning, thus facilitating the industrial use of AI. Companies like Dynatrace benefit from this set-up. Founded in 2005, this pioneer among Austrian startups has grown into a global leader with more than 4,200 staff worldwide. Dynatrace uses hypermodal AI – a combination of predictive, causal, and generative AI – in a unified platform to enable their vision of a world where software works perfectly.
Networking and a high standard of living
With just 200,000 inhabitants, Linz makes networking easy. The existing network is hands-on and anything but closed shop. In fact, one of the characteristics of Austria’s AI scene is its strong diversity as evidenced e.g. in a female founder percentage of nearly 40%. In the field of AI this is particularly important as prejudices and discrimination easily find their way into the systems – diverse teams help avoid this pitfall.
Another plus is the high standard living in Austria. Both Austria and its cities regularly do exceedingly well in international quality of life rankings, at a comparatively low cost of living. At the end of the day, when every bill has been paid, individuals and families living in Linz, Vienna or other Austrian cities can put more money aside than their colleagues in places like Paris, Amsterdam, or San Francisco.
Strong educational backbone
Austria has emerged as a frontrunner in the field of AI education. Thanks to its cutting-edge educational system, renowned universities, and research institutions as well as a thriving technology industry, Austria provides an ideal environment to fully harness the potential of AI. The close collaboration between academia and the business sector allows students to benefit from hands-on projects and interdisciplinary partnerships, enhancing Austria’s position as a leading hub for AI education. With three highly selective research sites called ELLIS units, Austria boasts the highest density per capita of any EU country for European Laboratories of Learning and Intelligent Systems. In addition to the LIT, these are the Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) and the ISTA – Institute of Science and Technology Austria in Lower Austria, near Vienna.
Funding and support
Austria’s funding and tax regime further sweetens the pot. In May 2023, the government announced a range of measures to attract and support startups and scaleups, including simplification of the process for starting a company. By January 2023, corporation tax was reduced from 25 to 24% — with a further reduction to 23% scheduled for 2024.
For founders or companies looking to set up shop or expand in Austria, the Austrian Business Agency (ABA) offers information, advice and support – free of charge – and ensures new arrivals hit the ground running.
