Fourth Report on the International Competitiveness of Vienna

Our study presents internationally harmonised data for all 255 metropolitan regions of the EU 27 in a functional definition by Eurostat and analyses them with regard to Vienna's international competitiveness within the ranking of European cities. Using indicators of regional competitiveness and its major determinants, we assess Vienna's performance in comparison with competitors of similar characteristics, i.e., the 52 first-tier metropolitan regions (comprising the EU capital regions as well as other metro regions of more than 1.5 million inhabitants in the agglomeration), the large cities with similar market structure and those with similar population dynamics. Our results indicate a clear above-average position of Vienna in the European hierarchy of metropolitan areas, but also reveal considerable challenges to make new parts of the labour force productive in the demographically growing city. On the basis of this evidence, we plead for an explicitly growth-oriented urban economic policy and identify key areas and measures for it in structural policy, innovation policy, qualification policy, internationalisation policy, and labour market policy.