Carinthia makes it easy to set up a business
A new company location raises many issues, from finding a site to coordinating with the authorities. In Carinthia, companies receive professional support throughout the entire settlement process.
The Carinthian Agency for Investment Promotion and Public Shareholding (BABEG) is the central point of contact for the Province of Carinthia. People interested in start-ups and founding a company receive targeted support from build! Gründerzentrum.
Four steps to successfully setting up a business in Carinthia
BABEG accompanies new companies from the first information meeting through to ongoing operations. The entire process is clearly structured, efficiently organised and free of charge. The four phases show how business settlement is implemented in Carinthia.
1. Orientation and initial consultation
Individual support instead of standard processes: location advantages, legal framework conditions, target industries and possible cooperation potential are analysed together at the beginning. The company’s requirements form the basis for all further steps.
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2. Choice of location and networking
Carinthia offers a wide range of commercial real estate, technology parks and industry-specific clusters that are embedded in a stable economic environment. BABEG provides support in selecting the right location and arranges contacts with relevant partners from business, research and administration.
© Johannes Puch
3. Implementation and access to funding
The settlement process is actively supported, which includes coordination with authorities, support with language issues and coordination with funding bodies and innovation partners. The entire process is geared towards realising projects smoothly and efficiently.
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4. Integration and growth
Support is even provided after the start-up. BABEG provides support for expanding, recruiting specialists, as well as integrating into the regional innovation network. This creates long-term added value for the company and the region.
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INTERVIEW with Markus Hornböck, Managing Director of BABEG
“Carinthia is a place where innovation is lived”
An excellent research landscape, international relationships and an innovation-friendly ecosystem with strong clusters: Carinthia is doing a lot of things right and is therefore also attractive to entrepreneurs and investors from abroad. In this interview, Markus Hornböck, BABEG’s Managing Director, reveals how Carinthia’s BABEG supports them in setting up businesses and how a deliberate focus on specific sectors and innovation can help the entire region move forward.
Markus Hornböck, Managing Director of BABEG
“Companies that invest in Carinthia gain not only a location but also access to a tailor-made innovation ecosystem.”
Carinthia.com: Mr Hornböck, the Carinthian Agency for Investment Promotion and Public Shareholding – BABEG in short – is a central instrument for the economic and technological development of the region. If you had to describe BABEG’s services in a few words, what would you say?
Markus Hornböck: We see ourselves as a central hub between business, science, education and the public sector – with the aim of sustainably strengthening Carinthia as a business location. We support companies in successfully investing, growing, researching and innovating in Carinthia. We focus on specific projects – from digitalisation and Industry 4.0 to sustainable technologies and applied research. Our focus is on individual support, tailored information and access to strong networks in research, training, infrastructure and funding.
BABEG supports foreign and domestic companies in their location search, company foundation and settlement in Carinthia. What exactly are the advantages compared to founding a company ‘on your own’?
Markus Hornböck: We offer companies independent, structured, personal and confidential advice – free of charge. The advantage is that we know the regional conditions, we know how projects can be implemented efficiently, and we have a strong network of local authorities, research institutions, funding bodies and other partners.
Companies benefit from tailor-made solutions – whether searching for company premises, dealing with legal issues, contacting specialists, having access to innovation and research institutions or finding the right match with suitable cooperation and project partners.
International companies in particular value our experience in cross-border cooperation and our ability to implement projects quickly and pragmatically.
BABEG’s website says that its tasks have become more diverse in recent years and the challenges have become greater. What exactly do you mean by that?
Markus Hornböck: Today, it is no longer just a question of finding premises or supporting start-ups, but of active location management on several levels, namely technological, social, ecological and international.
We therefore increasingly see ourselves as an enabler. This means that we create the conditions for innovations to emerge. We develop RTI infrastructure, initiate research projects, expand technology parks, secure specialists, bring international networks to Carinthia and help companies to actually implement their ideas.
In doing so, we are placing a particular focus on information and communication technology (ICT), electronic and software-based systems (ESBS), as well as the circular and green economy – in other words, on those key areas in which Carinthia is already internationally visible and is continuing to raise its profile.
Carinthia should not just be a place to work, but a place where the future is envisaged and made. This is why we deliberately operate at the crossroads between research, education and business in order to accelerate innovation processes and build sustainable ecosystems. Some examples include strategically expanding technology parks, investing in research centres, ensuring active location development and securing land.
On behalf of the Province of Carinthia, BABEG has a share in various facilities and institutions to promote the development of the region, including several technology parks that are continuously growing. Can you give us an insight into further developments, for example with regard to efficient management?
Markus Hornböck: The technology parks in Carinthia are far more than just commercial locations. They are strategic innovation spaces in which research, education, companies and infrastructure are linked in a targeted manner. We play an active role in shaping these areas through investments, infrastructure development and management.
Lakeside Park Klagenfurt, Technologiepark Villach (TPV) and the emerging Technologiepark Lavanttal (TPL) are central hubs of this strategy. While the clean room for Silicon Austria Labs is being expanded at TPV, a future-oriented site with a focus on new materials and the circular economy is being created in the Lavanttal valley, supplemented by the planned pre-hub in Kühnsdorf. In all parks, clear structures and a joint management model ensure synergies, visibility and growth with a vision.
Closely linked to this are our RTI flagship projects, with which we are systematically developing Carinthia as a high-tech region. These include, for example, the COMET Centre Carinthia, which we are currently working on establishing, and the expansion of the non-university research landscape.
The flagship projects not only create infrastructure for tomorrow, but also concrete points of contact for international investors and cooperative research projects. This creates an innovation-driven ecosystem that consistently brings together technology, area development and RTI strategy.
BABEG holds strategic investments in non-university research institutions such as Joanneum Research and is a key player in the expansion of Carinthia’s innovation infrastructure. How interesting would this be to companies that want to settle in Carinthia?
Markus Hornböck: For technology-oriented companies, access to applied research is often a decisive location factor, not only for product development, but also for innovation partnerships or funding projects.
Through our strategic investments in institutions, we are not only financially involved, but also closely connected with regards to content. This enables us to bring companies together with the right research partners, initiate joint projects and facilitate access to funding; for example, within the framework of European programmes or Austrian RTI initiatives.
For companies looking to settle, this means they do not end up on a greenfield site, but in a networked ecosystem that is ready to drive innovation forward together. This saves time, reduces risks and opens up potential that would have to be built up elsewhere.
Does BABEG also work together with Carinthia’s universities? If so, are there any key projects that you would like to highlight?
Markus Hornböck: Yes, cooperation with Carinthia’s universities is a key lever for us to strengthen the location in the long term. After all, innovation and economic development arise where education, research and companies work together in a network.
We cooperate closely with the University of Klagenfurt, the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences and the Carinthia University of Teacher Education. Through our shareholding in build! Gründungszentrum, Lakeside Labs and Digital Innovation Hub Süd (DIH Süd), we are also creating important structures that bring start-ups, research groups and companies together and support innovative projects from idea to implementation.
One particularly future-oriented project is the Coding School Wörthersee, which specifically promotes digital skills and paves the way for new training paths for tech talent. This sends out a strong signal for practice-oriented further training in the ICT environment, which not only opens up new prospects for young people, but also strengthens the market for specialists – both regionally and internationally.
What makes Carinthia particularly attractive to international companies?
International companies particularly appreciate our clear focus on future-related issues, the proximity to research carriers and decision-makers and the high quality of implementation on site. The need to find affordable and immediately usable space in a networked environment in modern technology parks such as Lakeside Park and TPV is also a key issue for growing companies.
At the same time, Carinthia scores points with a quality of life that is increasingly decisive for international specialists – with an attractive environment for family, leisure and personal development. And last, but not least, it is the combination of economic stability, strategic location, direct access to RTI networks and targeted support that makes Carinthia particularly interesting for technology-oriented companies from all over the world.
Carinthia is not a traditional industrial location – but an internationally connected area of the future, where innovation, research and growth are considered together.