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EU Strategy for the Danube National factsheet -

General comments

Austria, together with had taken the initiative to in June 2008 to ask the Commission for the development of a Strategy for the Danube Region, through a joint letter of Chancellor Gusenbauer and Prime Minister Tariceanu to Barroso.

The National Contact Points have established a platform to coordinate the implementation in Austria. This platform includes all relevant ministries and Länder, and meets 2-3 times a year. The government is regularly informed though “Ministerratsvorträge”.

The thematic interest in Austria focuses on navigation (driven by the agency viadonau), support for SME (driven by the Austrian Chamber of Commerce), institutional capacity building (driven by the City of ), investing in skills, and facilitating the financing for Danube Region projects (through the Danube Financing Dialogue or a Technical Assistance Facility for the project development phase).

Austria perceives that the Danube Strategy has reinforced its central position in South-East and has helped opening up to growth markets, such as the Region. Furthermore the Strategy has strengthened cooperation throughout Austrian stakeholders.

The Danube trip of Commissioner Hahn in June 2012 started in Austria, with a series of political meetings on the implementation of the Strategy, i.e. with Vice Chancellor Spindelegger, Minister Rudolf Hundsdorfer, Minister Claudia Schmidt and Mayor Michael Häupl, as well as a visit to the Vienna Central Station as a key transport hub for the Region, and a boat visit to a navigation and environment project on the Danube .

Key stakeholders

National Contact Points

Mr Werner Almhofer Mr Werner Almhofer

Mr Roland Arbter Mr Roland Arbter

Priority Area Coordinators

PA 1a Navigation PA 1a Navigation Mr Reinhard Vorderwinkler Mr Reinhard Vorderwinkler

Mr Markus Simoner Mr Markus Simoner PA 9 People and Skills PA 9 People and Skills Mr Roland Hanak Mr Roland Hanak

Mr Jürgen Schick Mr Jürgen Schick

PA 10 Institutional Capacity PA 10 Institutional Capacity Mr Kurt Puchinger Mr Kurt Puchinger

National coordination platform for the Strategy

There are informal communication channels and formal communications tools such as the Austrian EUSDR Coordination Platform. According to the report, the level of cooperation and communication among partners, the public and stakeholders need to be improved.

Initiatives/ projects Austria is involved in:

New research projects on innovative vessels

New research projects on innovative vessels, such as the project NEWS, led by Austria, are developing technological solutions to renew the Danube fleet, with more competitive and environmentally friendlier approaches, e.g. through more efficient, cleaner engines, and better body design. This contributes to the overall goal to increase sustainable cargo transport on the river by 20 % by 2020, compared to 2010.

Maintenance of the Danube waterway

At the invitation of the Commission, the ministers of transport of the Danube Region on 7 June 2012 adopted a Declaration on maintenance of the Danube waterway, committing themselves to concrete measures, including surveillance of water depth and signalling navigation routes in shallow sections. This has in turn led to an agreement between Romania and to plan work together jointly and to share equipment.

Important networking platform for over 300 SMEs in Vienna

The Danube Region Business Forum coordinated by the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, provides an important networking platform for over 300 SMEs. It encourages business-to-business meetings, and supports links with knowledge providers such as research institutes and universities. The 3rd Forum will take place on 14-15 November and will focus on ICT.

Danube Research and Innovation Fund

Work has started to create a Danube Research and Innovation Fund, pooling national and regional funds, building on the experiences of the BONUS programme in the Baltic Sea Region. A joint Declaration of Danube Region Ministers for Research was signed in on 9 July 2012, paving the way for preparatory work. The Directorate General for Research and Innovation and the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy supports this work, notably through a Danube INCO.net and other assistance. The Austrian Ministry for Research is leading on this work.

Access to finance in the Region

With the aim to improve the access to finance in the Region, the Danube Financing Dialogue matches project ideas to funds, bringing project promoters, such as SMEs, together with banks, international financing institutions and funding programmes. The first Financing Dialogue was held in the Austrian National Bank, in March 2012. The third one will be held at the Romanian National Bank in , during the Annual Forum of the Strategy, in October 2013.

Upcoming events, interesting for Austria

17-18 April Danube wide Steering Group meeting on “Navigability”,

27-28 June Cluster Conference “Boosting Innovation Policies with Clusters along the Danube” PA8, Linz

4-5 July Danube Region wide conference on “Empowering young people – connecting Europe”, Vienna

14-15 November 3rd Danube Region Business Forum – Sector focus on ICT, Vienna, Wirtschaftskammer Österreich

28-29 October 2nd Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, Bucharest

3rd Financing Dialogue, National Bank Romania, Bucharest

For all country factsheets and more on the EU Strategy for the Danube Region: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/cooperate/danube/index_en.cfm http://www.danube-region.eu/