Lower Austria's start-ups: export champions and ecological pioneers!

Lower Austria's start-ups: export champions and ecological pioneers!

Lower Austria not only causes a good cause of the landscape, but also in the start-up scene. According to a current report by meinzirk.at is at the forefront. The results of the Austrian Start-Up Monitor, which was carried out in autumn 2024, show that Lower Austrian start-ups are not only regional, but also internationally.

The start-up landscape in Lower Austria is both diverse and dynamic, with a clear focus on the St. Pölten, Tulln, Krems, Klosterneuburg and Wiener Neustadt. On average, the companies employ 8.5 employees, which is above the average of Austria. It is particularly noteworthy that 58% of these start-ups generate more than half of their sales abroad. A quarter of them even achieved over 90% outside of Austria. Business relationships with North America are also strong-10% of the start-ups in Lower Austria have contacts there, which is twice as much as in the rest of the country.

sustainability is very important

Another trend that marie.wko.at has been on environmentally conscious and socially responsible business practices. More than half of the start-ups in Lower Austria pursues ecological or social goals, the so-called green or social impact start-ups. This trend is supported by new legal framework conditions that put sustainability to the fore.

The Austrian Start-Up Monitor 2023 showed that over 50% of start-ups in Austria are now classified as green or social startups. This is particularly strong in founding teams, which often involve a larger number of women - this leads to an increased anchorage of ecological and social goals. The EU ESG guidelines also support this development because they anchor ecological and social aspects in corporate reports.

innovative support for founders: inside

In order to further promote this positive trend, the Chamber of Commerce Lower Austria offers various support programs. Among other things, founders can use the "Startupnow" initiative, which provides a digital platform with information on funding, webinars and e-learning courses. In addition, the "Wîse up" platform is a valuable resource with over 25,000 courses from a wide variety of educational providers that enable digital training.

Another ray of hope is the high patent quota among the deep tech start-ups in Austria: 62.5% have already registered patents, which is an indication of the sector's innovative strength. Lower Austria takes second place behind Styria in this category.