About

aeronautics.at is an online-platform, initiated by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK) to provide stakeholders from all over the world with an overview of Austrian aeronautics technologies. The platform lists all registered companies and research centres from A to Z and offers a structured search for products and services as well as a structured search for competences in Austrian aeronautics technologies.

In addition to the structured search, a digital 3D-model of a generic aircraft was designed for aeronautics.at. The model allows an interactive search for aircraft components produced by Austrian companies.

In 2009, when BMK, then BMVIT, commissioned a survey to acquire a database of all Austrian companies involved in aeronautics technologies, 241 companies were identified, and 87 of them volunteered to present their competences in a brochure and on this website. Today 198 companies and research centres are registered on aeronautics.at of which 156 are presented in FRESH VIEW magazine on aviation technologies (pdf, 17.7MB).

The ministry invites all Austrian companies, research organisations, universities and competence centres involved in aeronautics technologies, which are not yet listed on aeronautics.at, to register and present themselves on the website.

Austrian Aeronautics Technologies

More than 100 years ago, Austrian aviation made history. In 1909, Austrian Igo Etrich developed the so-called Etrich Taube, a monoplane aircraft which was the first military plane ever mass-produced in Austria and Germany. As its translucent wings made the Etrich Taube difficult to detect at an altitude above 400 metres, it is often also referred to as "Invisible Aircraft" or "world's first stealth plane".

Throughout the past 100 years, Austrian aeronautics technologies sector has shown a dynamic development and constitutes an important economic factor today. Between 2009 and 2014, annual turnovers of the Austrian aeronautics technologies sector increased from about EUR 1.6 billion to EUR 2.2 billion. This means a growth in sales of 40% in five years (cumulated). Overall employment is around 9,200 staff, 13% of which work in research and development. To a large extent, Austrian aeronautics technologies sector is export-oriented, with an average export quota of around 72% – an increase by two thirds vis-a-vis 2009. The greatest market by now is Europe (57%), followed by North America (31%).

Austria's Strategic Promotion Framework

Initiated in 2007 by BMK in close cooperation with stakeholders from research institutions and the industry, the aeronautics strategy for research, technology and innovation contributed greatly to the dynamic growth of aeronautics technologies in Austria over the last years. Since 2002, the Austrian research, technology and innovation programme for aviation called Take Off provided the most efficient support to the Austrian aeronautics technologies sector. Between 1999 and 2015, 442 research projects were funded with a public and private budget of around EUR 405 million.

At the beginning of 2014 BMK set up a new strategy in the field of aeronautics and air transportation that paved the way for implementing another five-year flagship funding program called Take Off 2015-2020. Until 2020, the ministry will provide EUR 40 million of public funding.