IST Austria welcomes not-for-profit initiative

With the start of the review phase for the not-for-profit initiative, the Austrian federal government sets a signal for the encouragement of private initiatives for more research funding, is the conclusion of IST Austria President Thomas Henzinger. The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) counts among those research institutes, which in terms of private contributions have been able to acquire donations for research with considerable success, despite difficult framework conditions. The positive changes in the framework conditions are the beginning of a development that is to be welcomed, says Henzinger.

“I welcome the not-for-profit package by the Austrian government as an important signal and concrete step in the right direction. We need more initiatives for basic research in Austria, in order to better address and tap into the potential for private donations that is doubtlessly present”, Henzinger specifies. The magnitude of this potential can be judged by the fact that IST Austria has been able to acquire, under the current framework conditions, 17.5 Mio Euro in donations since 2007.

With the not-for-profit-initiative presented now, Austria follows in the path which the neighboring countries of Germany and Switzerland have chalked out and followed with demonstrable success. “If we are able to close up to the orders of magnitude of our neighbors, a lot would be achieved for the science location Austria”, Thomas Henzinger concludes.