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NIEDERÖSTERREICH
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GEOGRAPHY AND DEMOGRAPHY
Niederösterreich is located in the Northeast of Austria. The region is bordered to the north by the Czech Republic and to the east by Slovakia (total 414km). In the south the foothills of the Eastern Alps form a natural boundary with Steiermark. In the south-east, Niederösterreich borders the Burgenland and this is where the province also has a share in the Pannonian Plateau, which then stretches into Hungary which lies just 4 km away.
Vienna, which is Austria's capital and at the same time a separate federal province, is located in the centre of Niederösterreich.
Niederösterreich with 19,174km² has the largest area in Austria and the second largest population (after Vienna) with 1.56 million inhabitants. The population density is 83 inhabitants per km².
Niederösterreich makes ups 23 % of the land area of Austria, 19 % of the population, 16 % of the gross value added and 17 % of the people in employment.
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INFRASTRUCTURES
Lower Austria has a well elaborated highway system (A1 and A2), high-speed trains and is the location of the Vienna International Airport in Schwechat. The river Danube crosses Lower Austria from West to East (e.g. it takes around 1 hour to go by hovercraft to Bratislava).
Still, there are some infrastructural deficits as the transport connection to the neighbouring countries Czech Republic and Slovakia lack of a net of well elaborated high-speed travelling/transport system. Major ease for travelling eastwards is already the new S1 connecting the highway A4 towards Hungary with the A2 heading South towards Italy. The international airport Schwechat is being extended to welcome more than the 15.9 mill passengers in 2005 and thus to become an East-West-transport hub that may handle around 30 mill passengers in 2015 (besides the airports Bratislava and Kos¡ice have been acquired e.g.). Further extension of the highway system is being planned.
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ECONOMY
Niederöstereichs' economic growth figures show an average annual GDP growth rate of 3.6% in the period 1997 to 2002 (Austria: 3,6%). In 2005 the Lower Austrian economy has grown with a rate of 1.7 % (Austria: 2.0%).
Lower Austria's GDP per capita (21,044 € in 2004) is little below the Austrian average development because the high number of retired and migrating people has strong influence on this indicator especially in Lower Austria where a vast majority of the commuters work in the federal capital and metropolitan area Vienna.
The Lower Austrian GRP (Gross Regional Product) per inhabitant in 2002 reached 97,3 % of the European average (EU-15) and 99,5 % of the EU-25-average but a value above average of the GDP per capita per purchasing power of 101,3 % in the period from 2000 to 2002 in the EU-25.
The economic structure in Niederösterreich is very heterogeneous - a high level of industrialisation is apparent in the region around Vienna and the areas along the major rail arteries. However, in the northern Wald- and Weinviertel as well as in big parts of the south the dominant sectors remain agriculture and forestry.
The main sectors in Lower Austria are mechanical engineering, metal processing, wood, food, chemistry, oil industry as well as rubber and plastic (Lower Austrian Industry map 2001).
The agglomeration known as the VIENNA REGION which includes both Vienna and the neighbouring parts of Niederösterreich and the Burgenland is characterised by a formidable economic dynamism which is benefiting not only the countless suppliers in the surrounding area but also the economic position of Niederösterreich as a whole.
The economic system is dominated by SMEs which is documented in a share of SMEs in total business fabric of 99,1% (2004).
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LABOUR MARKET
The Region has a total of 534000 employees (2005).
According to EUROSTAT, the unemployment rate in Lower Austria is remarkably below the Austrian and EU-15 average (2003: 3.5 % vs. 8 % and 7.6%) but growing (2004: 4.2%). Within 1998 and 2000 the employment rate increased faster in Lower Austria than compared to the Austrian average but still, since 2001 the growth rate has been below the Austrian average (in 2004: 0,2 % points below).
In terms of distribution of the labour force 7.3 % works in agriculture and forestry, 25,8% in industry and 66,8% in the service sector (2004, calculations by Lower Austrian Government based on ERUOSTAT)
For comparison: The EU-15 average share of employees in industry was 28,9% in 2000.
Numeric differences between people working in tertiary vs. secondary sector are growing. Finally, due to the vicinity of the metropolitan area Vienna, the commuting trend is interesting for the region: the number of commuters increased when there were 386.700 people in 1991 and 469.210 in 2001 who lived in Lower Austria but worked outside the federal province compared with some 363.671 (282.908 in 1991) commuters who travelled to work in Lower Austria but lived outside the region.
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DATA RELATED TO REGIONAL STRUCTURAL FUNDS MECHANISMS
ERDF objective applicable for the Region: objective 2 + phasing out area.
This area covers 73% of the NÖ area, 52% of the inhabitants and 64% of the NÖ Communities
Total amount of ERDF funding for the current programme period (2000- 2006): 213.5 million Euro (including Interreg III)
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RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Public R&D expenditures in Lower Austria (GERD - BERD) add up to 0,06% of GDP, Business expenditures on R&D (BERD) add up to 0.78% of GDP (2002). The low public R&D expenditures are closely connected to the fact that Vienna was traditionally the pubic Research and Development, especially educational centre also for Lower Austria. Therefore it is more significant to consider the Vienna Region.
The Vienna Region (including Vienna and Lower Austria) represents the strongest concentration of research institutions and universities in Austria. It is proud of the high level of productivity and the motivated, well trained labour force.
In order to increase the public and private R%D activities Lower Austria has developed an effective infrastructure for innovation support (e.g. Technopoles and competence centres, proactive coaching by the Technology and Innovation Partners, innovation oriented funding schemes, start-up initiatives and platforms for knowledge/technology based start-ups) and is positioning itself as a central platform for the Access to Eastern European Markets).
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DATA RELATED TO REGIONAL PROGRAMME OF INNOVATIVE ACTIONS
The first Regional Programme of Innovative Actions (RIS++ NÖ) was approved on the strategic theme “Regional economics based on knowledge and technological innovation” and the theme “e-EuropeRegio: the information society at the service of regional development” with the relevant strategic sub themes:
- strategic user value orientation
- pre seed acceleration of technology based firms
- Innovation Assistant, Innovation Assistant - Internationalisation
- Experts dialogue ("Fachdialog")
- b to b solutions
RIS++ NÖ had a total budget of 6 million Euro, thereof 3 million ERDF, 2 million regional government, 1 million private (enterprises).
The second Regional Programme of Innovative Actions (RIS3+ NÖ) was approved on the strategic theme “Regional economics based on knowledge and technological innovation” with the relevant strategic sub themes:
- Strengthening innovative Leaders
- Strategic approach for SME
- Management service with regard to accelerating Pre Seed support
- Fostering market competence in technology commercialisation
RIS3+ NÖ has a total budget of 3.75 million Euro, 1,688 million ERDF, 1.875 million regional government, 0.187 million private (enterprises).
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