14 workshops examine competitiveness from all angles

Technology Talks Austria - Austria's leading technology conference - will bring together more than 20 internationally renowned top speakers at the MuseumsQuartier Vienna in 2025 under the title "Boosting Competitiveness - The Power of Research and Innovation". Led by EU Vice-President Henna Virkkunen and Samsung top manager Young Sohn, the focus on 11 and 12 September at the MuseumsQuartier Vienna will be on securing and expanding the competitiveness of Austria and Europe. The issues raised in the keynote speeches and plenary sessions will be explored in greater depth or supplemented by related topics in a total of 14 workshops. All workshops will take place on the first day of the conference (Thursday) in the afternoon and will be organised by Austrian research and technology organisations.

High-calibre debates on relevant future topics

The following workshops will take place in parallel in the second time slot on 11 September from 5 to 6.30 pm:

• The workshop jointly organised by AIT, Austria Wirtschaftsservice (AWS) and TU Wien "Bridging the Gap! From Academic Research to Scale-ups", jointly organised by AIT, Austria Wirtschaftsservice (AWS) and TU Wien, will address one of Europe's most pressing challenges in the field of innovation: How can the gap between scientific excellence and entrepreneurial scale be closed? Against the backdrop of the EU Competitiveness Compass, leading innovation players will discuss scaling, network alliances and EU-wide financial strategies for promoting high-growth spin-offs.
• The Federal Ministry for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure (BMIMI ) isfocussing on the topic "Austria's key technologies in focus: shaping the future, driving innovation". The focus is on Austria's areas of strength and converging technologies with high innovation and growth potential. An interactive workshop format will be used to discuss the objectives and design of the key technology offensive, with which Austria aims to strengthen its competitiveness in the long term.
• The workshop "New Value Chains as Part of the Transformation of Industry Towards a Sustainable Net-Zero Economy" organised by the Climate and Energy Fund will focus on the application and development of Net-Zero technologies in the context of industrial transformation, leading to the creation of new, cross-industry value chains. It discusses how new industrial business models and partnerships are emerging along these emerging value chains and which platforms promote the international exchange of knowledge and strategic alliances.
• In the workshop "Competitive Europe needs Space", the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG ) will discuss with experts from industry and investment how space technologies and space data are already strengthening Europe's and Austria's competitiveness today and what enormous potential exists for the coming years. Europe needs a competitive and strong space industry and the integration of space data and services into the economy and society - as a key factor for technological sovereignty, innovation and economic, ecological and security-oriented resilience.
• The Federal Ministry for Women, Science and Research (BMFWF) is organising a workshop entitled "Algorithms of inequality? Gender, discrimination and power in AI" will take a critical look at artificial intelligence, which could reinforce existing inequalities due to gender stereotypes in data and the low representation of women in AI development. It will discuss how AI can be used to promote gender equality and thus a fairer future.
• In the workshop "Innovative Technologies for Future Sustainable Transport Made in Austria",A3PS will discuss sustainable drive technologies, the energy sources used for them "made in Austria" and their contribution to improving competitiveness. The focus is on technological openness, sustainable change and application-orientated basic research. The aim is to exchange expertise and network relevant players.
• In the workshop "Research to Impact - Competitive advantage for SMEs through effective knowledge transfer", the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy and Tourism (BMWET) and Austrian Cooperative Research (ACR) ask how we can better utilise the innovation potential in Austria. The workshop will show how targeted cooperation with research institutions and effective knowledge transfer can make SMEs internationally competitive and which transfer gaps need to be overcome.
• The Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO ) is organising the workshop "Boosting competitiveness: Innovation Map meets Digital Decade", the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO) will address the question of which trends, technologies and ambitions will shape our tomorrow - and how nation states and companies can actively shape the digital future. Using examples from the EU Digital Decade, best practices from Europe will be explored and, with the help of the Innovation Map(www.innovationmap.at)- an innovative foresight tool for recognising transformative opportunities and ideas for competitiveness - images of the future will be created with pioneering technologies.

Attractive ticket price

In addition to the keynotes, panels and workshops, there will be several side events, an evening get-together (Thursday evening) and a final farewell - plenty of space for personal dialogue and networking with the most important players in the technology scene.

The Technology Talks Austria will take place directly after the FFG Forum (on 10 September). Details of the programme and tickets (regular price: 240 euros, students 120 euros) can be found at www.technology-talks-austria.at.

Note to editors: A mailing with the workshops in the first time slot on 11 September from 3 pm was already published on 13 August.

www.technology-talks-austria.at