25 November 2016 Regional Innovation Monitor Plus 2016 Regional Innovation Report Upper Austria (Advanced materials) To the European Commission Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Directorate-General Directorate F – Innovation and Advanced Manufacturing www.technopolis-group.com Regional Innovation Monitor Plus 2016 Regional Innovation Report Upper Austria (Advanced materials) technopolis |group| in cooperation with Christoph Brandstätter, Wolfgang Stadlbauer, Christoph Burgstaller www.technopolis-group.com Table of Contents 1. Advanced Manufacturing: Advanced materials 6 1.1 Overview of performance and trends 6 1.2 Business sector perspective 8 1.3 Scientific research potential 10 1.4 Role of intermediary institutions 12 1.5 Developing skills for the future 13 1.6 Major investment projects 14 1.7 International cooperation 17 1.8 Policy support and delivery mechanisms 18 1.9 Good practice case 21 1.10 Leveraging the existing potential 26 2. Regional Innovation Performance Trends, Governance and Instruments 28 2.1 Recent trends in innovation performance and identified challenges 28 2.2 Institutional framework and set-up 31 2.3 Regional innovation policy mix 35 2.4 Appraisal of regional innovation policies 39 2.5 Policy good practice 41 2.6 Possible future orientations and opportunities 43 Appendix A Bibliography 45 Appendix B Stakeholders Consulted 47 Regional Innovation Monitor Plus 2016 i List of Tables Table 1 List of top 10 manufacturing companies based in Upper Austria ...................... 8 Table 2 ERDF Budget Upper Austria 2014–2020 ......................................................... 35 Table 3 Regional innovation support measures ............................................................ 38 Table of Figures Figure 1 Yearly changes of regional GDP in selected Austrian regions (OÖ stands for Upper Austria, Ö stands for the national average) .......................................................... 6 Figure 2: Winglet test setup with optical measurement system .................................... 15 Figure 3: Hot and Cold Rolling Mill (Source: Alureport 01.2015) ................................ 16 Figure 4 Groundbreaking of the new innovation and customer centre at Fill ............... 17 Figure 5. Johammer J1 e-motorbike ............................................................................... 21 Figure 6 HAI E3 e-car 2009 ........................................................................................... 22 Figure 7 Examples of the equipment developed in the scope of the EFRE-co-funded project at the TCKT (Source: TCKT) .............................................................................. 23 .Figure 8 Upper Austrian Innovation Prize given to enterprises voestalpine and AMAG for their development of deep temperature metal forming ........................................... 23 Figure 9 Winglet test setup at CoLT facilities ................................................................ 24 Figure 10 Examples of pictures from specimens, generated with different equipment for computer tomography .............................................................................................. 25 Figure 11 Roadway simulation for an agricultural trailer .............................................. 25 Figure 12 Human Resources in Science and Technology (HRST) among manufacturing-oriented European regions (by % of working population), Source Mayerhofer, P., et.al., 2012 ............................................................................................ 29 Figure 13 Structure of the Innovation Holding (IH) Upper Austria ............................. 33 Figure 14 Regional technology impulse centres of Upper Austria ................................ 34 Regional Innovation Monitor Plus 2016 ii PREFACE In the context of the growth and investment package set out in the Investment Plan of the European Commission, the Regional Innovation Monitor Plus (RIM Plus) provides a unique platform for sharing knowledge and know-how on major innovation and industrial policy trends in in some 200 regions across EU20 Member States. Launched in 2010, the Regional Innovation Monitor aimed at supporting sharing of intelligence on innovation policies across EU regions. Building upon the experience gained and results obtained during the period 2010–2012, the RIM Plus 2013–2014 provided practical guidance to regions on how to use the collected information, via a network of regional experts. Since 2014, the RIM Plus has introduced a thematic focus on advanced manufacturing. The RIM Plus 2015–2016 evolved from a general monitoring of innovation policies towards establishing a more thematic focus in selected areas in order to contribute to improving the competitiveness of European regions. Particularly, the RIM Plus aims through its activities and in close cooperation with the regional stakeholders and other relevant initiatives to: • Contribute to the development of new and open spaces of collaboration and exchange on advanced manufacturing, each with a clearly defined thematic focus. • Play an enabling role in providing evidence-based information on specific themes and bring in outside perspective from other regions. • Map out regional practices in support of advanced manufacturing and relevant pilot/demo projects and work towards involving the relevant stakeholders. • Provide an easy access and comparative overview of regional innovation policies and relevant actions in the field of advanced manufacturing. • Share the lessons learned with the European Commission services to feed into the preparation of future programmes. The main aim of 30 regional reports is to provide a description and analysis of developments in the area of advanced manufacturing with a clearly defined thematic focus and regional innovation policy, taking into account the specific context of the region as well as general trends. All regional innovation reports are produced in a standardised way using a common methodological and conceptual framework, in order to allow for horizontal analysis, with a view to preparing the Final EU Regional Innovation Monitor Plus report. European Commission official responsible for the project is Alberto Licciardello ([email protected]). The present report was prepared by Christoph Brandstätter ([email protected]), Wolfgang Stadlbauer (Wolfgang.Stadlbauer@ fh-wels.at), Christoph Burgstaller ([email protected]). The contents and views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Regions, Member States or the European Commission. Copyright of the document belongs to the European Commission. Neither the European Commission, nor any person acting on its behalf, may be held responsible for the use to which information contained in this document may be put, or for any errors which, despite careful preparation and checking, may appear. Further information: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/regional-innovation-monitor Regional Innovation Monitor Plus 2016 1 Executive Summary 1. Advanced Manufacturing: Advanced Materials Upper Austria's enterprises are among the most innovative in Europe and are highly competitive in several global niche markets. In lightweight technology and production, enterprises and R&D institutions cover broad material domains such as steel, aluminium and composites. Several intermediaries aim to promote the further development of innovation competencies and science–industry collaboration to stimulate absorption of new knowledge and technology. Initiatives such as Industry 4.0 and the Austrian Advanced Lightweight Technology platform complement this regional approach. Nonetheless, to be successful in the future some challenges have to be overcome: • Challenge 1: Increase attractiveness of lightweight technology as future employment opportunity for high school and university students Upper Austria, like several other European industry-oriented regions, faces a continuing challenge due to the high demand for a skilled and well-educated workforce and low unemployment figures. This, in combination with a higher mobility of young students, leads to a lack of qualified potential employees in the region in technology or production-oriented fields such as lightweight. The area of lightweight technology covers many disciplines, including material science, product development, mechanical engineering and mechatronics, to name just a few. These subjects typically require many years of education and experience to reach a certain proficiency level, which might also be a reason an above-average number of local students do not choose such science/technology subjects. On the other hand, the future-oriented field of lightweight technology, with strong internationally active enterprises such as FACC, KTM, Fill and Polytec, often requires the application of cross-discipline knowledge, which might be attractive for persons with diverse backgrounds, if communicated well. Upper Austria has launched several 'attractiveness' programmes and extended the capacity of university curricula in lightweight and material science. However, more emphasis might be necessary both to communicate future opportunities in lightweight technology to high school and university students and, together with enterprises, to shape work environments that seem attractive from more than just a classical career- oriented point of view. • Challenge 2: Improve understanding and skills of lightweight technology including advanced manufacturing