Austria 2025 – Innovation: A Motor of Growth and Employment in the Rural Economy

Innovation is the motor of growth and employment. This is true for all sectors in the economy including agriculture. Howerver, the state of knowledge about the innovation system in Austrian agriculture is relatively scarce. In order to address this deficiency, two aspects were investigated in depth in this study. Firstly, an overview is presented about the state of the agricultural innovation system relative to other countries. Austria is lagging behind countries like the Netherlands or Switzerland with respect to important variables like research expenditures. In the second part of the study results are presented that are based on a survey among Austrian farmers. They show that substantial innovations were made only by a minority of farmers in a four year period. The study presents and discusses options to enhance the innovative capacity of farms in Austria.