Technology Talks Austria 2026, which took place on 10 and 11 September 2026 – immediately following the FFG Forum – brought together, under the title “Empowering Europe: Technological Leadership for a Resilient Future”, featured high-calibre discussions and valuable insights into how we in Europe can better and more swiftly translate scientific excellence into technological leadership, industrial strength, strategic autonomy and long-term resilience. A total of 48 partners from the domestic R&D&I community were involved in organising Austria’s most relevant research and technology conference with a European perspective.
More than 1,000 participants
With more than 1,000 participants over the two days, 140 speakers and a total programme lasting around 30 hours, comprising 2 keynote speeches, 6 plenary sessions, 3 events for early-career researchers, 12 workshops and 5 side events – complemented by a networking session and an exhibition featuring ten exhibitors – the theme ‘Empowering Europe: Technological Leadership for a Resilient Future’ was examined from various angles and proposals for improving the situation were developed.
Cooperation among all stakeholders
It is essential that all stakeholders across the entire value and innovation chain – science/research, business/industry and politics/the public sector – are involved in such debates. “Together, we are developing concrete visions for Europe’s technological future,” explains Brigitte Bach, spokesperson for the Executive Board of the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and Chair of the Technology Talks Austria event board. “In doing so, we discuss key technological developments and important questions for the future,” emphasises Andreas Kugi, Chair of the Programme Committee for Technology Talks Austria and Scientific Director of the AIT.
High-profile speakers
Among those taking to the stage were Christian Ehler (European Parliament), Jo De Boeck (imec), Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (European Parliament), Dominique Foray (EPFL Lausanne), Sabine Herlitschka (Infineon/IV), Lars Reger (NXP Semiconductors) and Natalie Guichard (EDA) discussed resilient infrastructure, innovation ecosystems, industrial leadership, dual-use technologies and technological sovereignty.
Impetus for the innovation ecosystem
Here are some key messages from the rich and in-depth debates:
- Turning research and innovation potential into lasting strength: Europe boasts excellent research, innovative start-ups and a strong industrial base. It is crucial to develop these into globally successful companies and generate industrial value, whilst at the same time securing technological leadership through long-term skills development, high-performance research infrastructures and critical mass.
- Greater speed: In the global technology race, speed is increasingly becoming a decisive competitive factor. Europe must speed up decision-making and approval processes, mobilise investment more quickly and scale up successful technologies more rapidly.
- Focus on European strengths: Europe does not need to be a leader in every technology, but should build critical mass and international leadership positions where scientific excellence, industrial strength and strategic relevance converge.
- Building in resilience from the outset: Critical infrastructure and technological systems must be designed to be robust, adaptable and secure from the outset; this also includes diversified supply chains and reliable access to critical technologies.
- Forge closer links between research and industry: Scientific excellence must be translated more quickly into technological and economic impact – through seamless transfer pathways between universities, non-university research, start-ups and industry, as well as through better opportunities for demonstration, testing and scaling.
- Mobilising more growth capital: A deeper and more integrated European capital market, more private growth capital and attractive exit opportunities are crucial to enable innovative companies in Europe to scale up.
- Think of Europe as a single market: Technology companies need a European home market in which they can scale up rapidly. To achieve this, national fragmentation and regulatory hurdles must be reduced, and strategic investments must be coordinated more closely at European level.
- Securing access to critical resources: Technological sovereignty requires reliable access to critical raw materials, energy and intermediate goods. Europe must reduce unilateral dependencies, promote the circular economy and substitution, and make its supply chains more resilient through diversified international partnerships.
- Strategically addressing dual-use potential: Many key technologies are relevant to both civilian and security and defence applications. These interdependencies should be taken into account at an early stage, and security – in the sense of ‘security by design’ – should be integrated from the outset.
- Strengthening technological sovereignty: Technological sovereignty does not mean self-sufficiency, but rather Europe’s ability to make autonomous decisions and take action regarding critical technologies, whilst possessing the necessary expertise and capacity to do so – whilst remaining open to trustworthy international partnerships.
Photos and downloads are available on the website www.technology-talks-austria.at
To look back on Technology Talks Austria 2026, you will find photos of the plenary sessions, workshops, special events and networking events on our website www.technology-talks-austria.at. In addition, we will gradually make workshop summaries available for download at www.technology-talks-austria.at/downloads. You will also find a highlights video there.
Save the Date: Technology Talks Austria 2027 on 9 and 10 September 2027
After the conference is before the conference: make a note in your diary now of the dates for Technology Talks Austria 2027, which will take place on 9 and 10 September 2027, once again back-to-back with the FFG Forum at the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna.
Supported by the Austrian R&D community
Technology Talks Austria is organised by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology in close cooperation with the Federal Ministry for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure, the Federal Ministry for Women, Science and Research, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy and Tourism, the Austrian Research Promotion Agency and the Federation of Austrian Industries.
The scientific partners involved are acatech, AIT, the Christian Doppler Society, Forschung Austria, the Institute of Science and Technology Austria, TU Austria, the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Austrian Science Fund.
Strong partnerships
JOANNEUM RESEARCH/Province of Styria and TU Austria (TU Vienna, TU Graz, Montanuni Leoben) are on board as event partners. Partnerships have also been established with AI Factory Austria AI:AT, accent, ams OSRAM, AT&S AG, Austrian Cooperative Research (ACR), Austria Innovativ, Austria Press Agency (APA), Austria Business Service (AWS), Boehringer Ingelheim, Bosch, the Federal Ministry of Defence (BMLV), Cercle Diplomatique, Die Presse, ESA Phi-Lab Austria, ESBS Austria, Gaia-X Hub Austria, InnoRegio Styria, Innovation Salzburg, Kunsthalle Wien, Ludwig Boltzmann Society (LBG), message, Salzburg Research, Siemens Healthineers, Styrian Business Development Agency (SFG), MuseumsQuartier Vienna, Neat, Industry 4.0 Platform, City of Vienna, Tecnet Equity, TU Wien Spinoff Factory, UNICEF, Association for the Promotion of Research and Innovation (VFFI), Volkshilfe Wien and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO).
Programme, speakers and follow-up: www.technology-talks-austria.at