In Vienna, ICT enterprises benefit from numerous location factors, especially with respect to the work of service providing companies and universities but also clients, contractors and competitors.
An analysis of the innovation processes of the enterprises shows that they strongly focus on development and introduction on the market. It is less important for companies to permanently carry out research activities themselves. This lack of science activity strongly influences their innovation power: more often enterprises try to improve already existing products than concentrating on a completely different innovation process.
The main obstacles within innovation processes are high costs, economic risk and a lack of financial aid.
Sources of knowledge and knowledge transfer
During their innovation process enterprises often benefit from external knowledge provided by clients, competitors, vendors as well as universities. The knowledge transfer is mainly based on informal activities like participating in conferences and fairs, informal contacts but also on the reading of scientific literature, on observation and imitation of competitors, the employment of experts etc.
Cooperation within the Viennese ICT sector
Most of cooperation work is done in the fields of development, prototyping and testing; science and commercialisation are of little interest. Though, these to areas could be enhanced by new cooperation funding.
The main goal of cooperation is to establish new and radical innovations but also exploring new fields of technologies and improving already existing products play an important role.
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The information stated above bases on the analysis “Innovation und Wissensnetze im Wiener Informations- und Kommunikationskluster” carried out by the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (edited in May 2007). I supported this project where more than 150 Viennese IT enterprises have been analysed and interviewed and we have been successful.
However, there should be a stronger cooperation between science and economy. I think that this process is a great challenge as people working in the field of science concentrate on finding results whereas economists are more interested in profit. In my opinion we should find a way to combine these two aspects to work together more efficiently and to benefit from each other.
Do you have a link to that study, Bernhard? (Even if it’s only German, that’s fine.)
Unfortunately there is no link but a German version that I can send you per e-mail if you want to.
Plenty of our readers speak German and a link is always good content for a blog. Please post the link in a comment to this post. Thanks!
Sorry, therse is no link. Please ask for the German version by sending me e-mail: schmid(at)vite(dot)at. Thank you!