Austria – an attractive location for foreign investors
The BMWFJ has an efficient institution at its side to promote investment in Austria: the Austrian Business Agency (ABA-Invest in Austria) provides international investors with professional consultancy services.
Consultancy services with a global base
ABA, a consulting firm owned by the Republic of Austria, supports international investors planning to locate in Austria by providing extensive services free of charge. ABA is headquartered in Vienna. It also has offices abroad (in New York and Tokyo), along with an extensive network of consultants.
Remarkably successful
Between 2000 and 2009 ABA was remarkably successful in attracting international companies to locate in Austria: during this period ABA successfully assisted a total of 1,405 companies in locating in Austria, which invested some €4.38bn and created 24,031 new jobs.
Despite a sharp decline in total results, 2009 was the third most successful year in ABA’s corporate history (established in 1982) in relation to the number of projects managed: ABA Invest in Austria, together with its regional centres, succeeded in attracting 158 companies to locate in Austria in 2009 (-38% compared with 2008); 968 jobs were created and a total of €83.1m invested (compared with 2008, -60% and -81% respectively).
Record number of projects despite economic crisis
2009 was also a difficult year for ABA, not least due to the fact that international investment projects are in general highly susceptible to economic cycles. It is thus all the more remarkable that the number of investment projects reached a historic all-time high at the beginning of 2010.
Making a fresh start – new initiative launched
In order to enable a fresh start in the wake of the decline, caused by the economic crisis, in the number of companies locating in Austria, the BMWFJ is investing nearly €2.5m in a new initiative facilitating four premium investment programmes:
- the “Austria – a centre for research” campaign focuses on R&D companies and on improving Austria’s R&D image abroad;
- the headquarters initiative is intended to attract additional companies to locate their headquarters in Austria;
- in order to develop added-value chains, ABA cooperates with clusters and competence centres in identifying the most suitable targets for foreign investments;
- ABA also supports locations affected by the crisis according to their specific needs.
Broad range of services
ABA offers both general information about Austria as a business location and provides specific consultancy services to foreign investors looking for a site in Austria, assisting them also in completing formalities such as applications for financial support or facility permits. In providing these services, ABA works closely with the industrial location agencies in the Austrian Länder (federal states).
The BMWFJ regards the task of setting the parameters for Austria to be a competitive and attractive location as an important and weighty responsibility.
More detailed information about ABA can be found at http://www.aba.gv.at/EN/ABA-Invest+in+Austria.aspx
Location Austria
The ABA Location Austria business unit promotes Austria as a film location, actively seeks to attract new international film projects to Austria (cinema and TV productions, documentaries etc.) and provides support for realising such projects.
In 2009 Austria’s film commission dealt with 50 enquiries. Of these, 19 international film projects were realised in Austria, most of them originating from the UK (6), Germany (4) and Hungary (3), resulting in more than €3.13m being invested in Austria. Two films starring world-famous actors were also produced in Austria in 2009: “Knight and Day” with Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise (in Salzburg) and “Pillars of the Earth” with Donald Sutherland and Ian McShane (in Vienna and Lower Austria).
During the past ten years Location Austria supported 122 film projects with a total budget of €30m.
More detailed information about Location Austria can be found at http://www.location-austria.at/
ABA best IPI according to World Bank
In its Global Investment Promotion Benchmarking 2009 (GIPB 2009), the World Bank Group ranks the Austrian Business Agency (ABA), the investment consulting firm of the BMWFJ, as the top global performer among 181 investment promotion intermediaries (IPIs).
On 8 June 2009 the World Bank Group and ABA jointly presented the GIPB 2009, prepared by the Investment Climate Advisory Services (FIAS). FIAS had investigated the service quality of IPIs in 181 countries. Its independent consultants conducted a benchmarking study of agencies, assessing their responses to two potential investment projects as well as their websites. The result: more than 70% of all agencies missed out on investment projects because of providing inadequate information; 90% of all investors contacted IPIs when looking for locations.
ABA-Invest in Austria was ranked first in this study, followed by Sweden, Germany, Canada, the UK and France.
According to Karin Millett, head of the FIAS office in Vienna, Austria did so well because ABA-Invest in Austria’s staff had answered and handled investor enquiries in a highly professional manner. Companies looking for sites often limit their search to locations they already know. Targeted marketing may make them aware of new countries and possibilities. Even though the current economic climate makes investors more cautious, well-researched, easily accessible and concrete information engenders investors’ trust and saves them time and money.
René Siegl, ABA Managing Director, sees the key to ABA’s success in its effective organisation and in a corporate culture aligned with private business, despite being publicly-owned.
