Spin Off Austria
Spin Off Austria

The Spin-off Initiative invites you to discuss the status quo of the Austrian spin-off landscape. Each year, a different core theme is selected to serve as the focus of the discussions.

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About

The Spin-off Austria Initiative has been initiated by Hermann Hauser and Herbert Gartner – two renowned Austrian investors – and their respective companies Hermann Hauser Investment GmbH, I.E.C.T. – Hermann Hauser and eQventure GmbH. The long-term goal of the initiative is to raise the awareness that entrepreneurship must be a third mission of Austrian universities, universities of applied sciences and research institutions next to research and teaching. The direction of the Spin-off Austria Initiative is set by its committee which is composed of internationally successful entrepreneurs as well as university leaders and experts.

337.391
Students

The number of students in the academic year 2021/2022 in Austria (reference date February 2022). In 2017, Austria invested 45% more per student from primary to tertiary education than the OECD average.

€ 14,2 BILL.
RTI

The volume that the Austrian government and Austrian companies have invested in research and development in 2022. This corresponds to 3.26 % of the GDP. Austria remains at the top of the European rankings, behind Sweden and Belgium.

11
University
Spin–Offs

According to the annual reports, this is the number of newly founded university spin-offs at public universities (without universities of applied sciences and non-university research institutions) in Austria in 2021. The output seems rather low when compared to the investment in students and R&D.

Hermann Hauser

Mission

The Spin-off Austria Initiative supports the third mission in Austria with:

The Spin-off Austria Conference which builds the culmination of its activities in each calendar year by highlighting  the developments in Austria and connecting the Austrian ecosystem with international best-practice.

The Spin-off Austria Dashboard which will create transparency about the yearly figures in the Austrian spin-off ecosystem by recording the efforts of the higher education institutions in a standardized manner.

A combination of training, networking and lobbying activities to ensure the embedment of the accurate incentive systems and procedures within the spin-off community in accordance with relevant stakeholders and institutions.

Vision

The Spin-off Austria Initiative wants to create a flourishing spin-off ecosystem with a significant number of additional university spin-offs and academic start-ups  –  at least 1.000 newly founded companies  –  by 2030. This goal shall be reflected by future performance agreements between the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research and individual higher education institutions. The Spin-off Austria Initiative and its supporters will facilitate the establishment of the third mission as a sparring partner with role models, know-how and international benchmarking.

Dr. Alexander Van der Bellen
Dr. Alexander Van der Bellen
Statement of the Federal President
of the Republic of Austria

"I welcome the Spin-off Austria Initiative and its efforts to promote the “Third Mission” in addition to Teaching and Research at Austrian Universities and Technical Colleges. The Third Mission deals with the Translation of Research to the benefit of society. This should not end with the publication of great research papers but must include the application of the findings to real world problems like climate change, electrification of transport, and making our industry more efficient and producing less waste. A key part of the translation process are Spin-offs and I hope this initiative can contribute to a rapid acceleration of the formation of Spin-off Companies from Austrian research institutions."

Dr. Alexander
Van der Bellen
Source: Peter Provaznik
Statement of Christoph Huber

"As a medical doctor, it has always been central for me to transfer the knowledge from science to business. This is the only way to create new treatments and medications. Since 1990, I have been working at the University of Mainz, where I found an excellent environment that enabled me to found several spin-offs. The most well-known is BioNTech, which launched the first vaccine against Covid-19 in cooperation with Pfizer. I joined the Spin-off Austria Initiative committee because I am convinced that Austria needs sustainable structures to provide founders with the opportunity to create interesting companies. In this context, I am happy to offer my international expertise."

Christoph Huber
Spin-off Austria Committee
DI Herbert Gartner
Statement of DI Herbert Gartner

"Austria’s universities, research institutions and enterprises are investing 12.1 billion euros in the field of research and development each year. This shows that Austria is amongst the most innovative countries with thousands of scientists, researchers and engineers. Therefore it is surprising that our country does not have more university spin-offs and startups dealing with science and deep tech. All we need is political will and business drive to launch these socially and economically beneficial companies."

DI Herbert Gartner
Initiator & Spin-off Austria Committee
Dr. Özlem Türeci
Statement of Dr. Özlem Türeci Co-Founder & CMO of BioNTech SE

"We wanted to achieve breakthroughs in drug development that would make a tangible difference for patients. And we both have seen several times that this can't be done without becoming entrepreneurs."

Dr. Özlem Türeci
Co-Founder & CMO of BioNTech SE
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Committee & Team

Raphael Friedl (Team)
Mag. Raphael Friedl, MSc
Deputy Federal Spokesman for AplusB
Lisa Spöck (Team)
Lisa Spöck
Federal Spokeswoman for AplusB
Herbert Gartner (Committee)
DI Herbert Gartner
Co-Founder & CEO eQventure
Hermann Hauser (Committee)
Dr. Hermann Hauser
Co-Founder Amadeus Capital Partners, Vice-Chair EIC Pilot Advisory Board
Harald Kainz (Committee)
Prof. DI Dr. Harald Kainz, Ph.D.
Rector of Graz University of Technology
Ludovit Garzik
DI Dr. Ludovit Garzik
Managing Director of the Austrian Council for Research and Technology Development
Giulio Superti-Furga (Committee)
Prof. Giulio Superti-Furga
Scientific Director CeMM, Professor for Medical Systems Biology, Medical University of Vienna
Jasmin Güngör (Committee)
Mag. Jasmin Güngör
Investment Manager and Authorised Signatory of Hermann Hauser Investment GmbH
Christoph Huber (Committee)
Dr. Christoph Huber
CO-Founder of Biontech SE
eQventure
Hermann Hauser Investment GmBH
IECT Hermann Hauser
Onsight Ventures

In cooperation with

Austrian Council for Research and Technology Development
Austria Wirtschaftsservice
Federal Ministry Republic of Austria Education, Science and Research
Federal Ministry Republic of Austria Digital and Economic Affairs
Federal Ministry Republic of Austria Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology
Brutkasten
European Forum Alpbach
Ernst & Young
Erste Bank und Sparkasse
Female Founders
Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft
FWF - Die Wissenschaftsfonds
Global Incubator Network Austria
Hermann Hauser Investment GmBH
invest. austria
Industriellenvereinigung
Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft
New Venture Scouting
Onsight Ventures
Austrian Universities of Technology
Österreichische Universitätenkonferenz
Wiener Boerse
Wirtschaftskammer Österreich
Wissenstransferzentrum
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Raphael Friedl (Team)
Mag. Raphael Friedl, MSc
Deputy Federal Spokesman for AplusB

During his career, Raphael Friedl has seen technology transfer from a lot of different angles. He started as a lab assistant in automotive R&D where he also helped initiate a multi-million euro cooperative project with extramural r&d. Subsequently, he supported dozens of SMEs and corporates to structure and fund their innovation efforts while working for the Central Austrian Technology Transfer Agency. Later on, he helped design an all-new incubation scheme for high-tech startups at tech2b, one of Austrias most successful incubators. In his current position as managing director of the incubator, Raphael has made it his professional goal to support academia to exploit more of their publicly financed discoveries to the benefit of society. He firmly belives that establishing spin-off companies is a great way to bring the benefits of scientific advances to the people. Raphael holds master degrees in social economics and innovation management.
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Since 2024, Raphael has also been the deputy federal spokesperson for AplusB.

Committee and Team
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Lisa Spöck (Team)
Lisa Spöck
Federal Spokeswoman for AplusB
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Herbert Gartner (Committee)
DI Herbert Gartner
Co-Founder & CEO eQventure

Herbert Gartner is a serial entrepreneur & active business angel investing smart and hard capital in young Austrian high-tech product companies. He is focusing on industry and university spin-offs with strong growth potentials.

In 2014 Herbert co-founded the Austrian investment club eQventure, which provides young innovative high tech companies besides growth capital a strong network as well as straightforward support from successful ex-founders. Meanwhile, eQventure became the strongest Austrian angel investor network and Austria’s major venture capital provider for Austrian startups.

In 2003 Herbert Gartner founded the MEMS and semiconductor company SensorDynamics and held positions as CFO and CEO. He successfully sold the company to Maxim Integrated Products Inc, California in 2011 for $164 million.

Prior to that he held management positions at ams and Siemens. Herbert is a graduate engineer in Electrical Engineering and Business Administration from Graz University of Technology and ETH Zurich.

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Hermann Hauser (Committee)
Dr. Hermann Hauser
Co-Founder Amadeus Capital Partners, Vice-Chair EIC Pilot Advisory Board

The Austrian-born Hermann Hauser holds an MA in Physics from Vienna University and a PhD in Physics from the Cavendish Laboratory at King's College, Cambridge. In his long and successful history as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, he co-founded and invested in some of Britain’s most innovative companies. These include Acorn Computers and its spin-off ARM, Cambridge Silicon Radio, Solexa, Entropic Research Labs and Icera. He played a major role in the emergence of the Silicon Fen. In 2015, Hermann was bestowed with an honorary KBE in recognition of his valuable services to engineering and industry. Hermann Hauser is currently Vice-Chair of the EIC Pilot Advisory Board which aims to grow Europe’s tech sectorby investing up to € 10 billion until 2027 together with the European VC industry. To support the Austrian ecosystem, Hermann has founded I.E.C.T. Hermann Hauser Management GmbH (I.E.C.T. Summer School on Entrepreneurship, Innovator’s Road) and Hermann Hauser Investment GmbH (25+ investments in mainly Austrian start-ups). He is also member of the Austrian Research Council.

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Harald Kainz (Committee)
Prof. DI Dr. Harald Kainz, Ph.D.
Rector of Graz University of Technology

Harald Kainz was born in 1958. After completing his studies in civil engineering and engineering management in construction at Graz University of Technology, in 1982 he was employed at the Institute of Urban Water Management and Landscape Water Engineering. After gaining his doctorate in 1990, he took up assignments in managing positions in engineering offices in Austria and abroad, including eight years as managing director and on the executive board.

After ten years of experience in business he returned to Graz University of Technology and was appointed to the Chair of Urban Water Management and Landscape Water Engineering. In 2004 Harald Kainz was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering.

In 2007 he became Vice Rector of Infrastructure and Information and Communications Technology and has been Rector of Graz University of Technology since 2011.

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Ludovit Garzik
DI Dr. Ludovit Garzik
Managing Director of the Austrian Council for Research and Technology Development

Ludovit Garzik has a Master of Science (Geodesy) from the Technical University of Vienna and a Doctor’s degree in Marketing from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. In addition he got a Master of Business Administration (General Management) at the Danube University Krems and he is a state-certified economic technician (DWT).  

Since 2005, Ludovit Garzik has been managing director of the Austrian Council for Research and Technology Development. He is responsible for managing and coordinating of the secretariat’s activities and external representation.

Between 2000 and 2004 he was Head of the Galileo Contact Point Austria / Satellite Navigation of the Austrian Space Agency, member of the European Space Agency and delegate to different boards, including Galileo Supervisory Board.

Ludovit Garzik is Guest Professor at Shanghai University. In 2015 he founded the company InnovationOrbit.com which provides executive education programs for innovation culture in Africa, Asia, Europe and the USA.

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Giulio Superti-Furga (Committee)
Prof. Giulio Superti-Furga
Scientific Director CeMM, Professor for Medical Systems Biology, Medical University of Vienna

Giulio Superti-Furga, Ph.D., an Italian/EU citizen, is Scientific Director of CeMM, the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Professor of Medical Systems Biology at the Medical University of Vienna. He has >25 years of experience in the use of chemical biology and omics techniques to understand drug action. He performed his studies in molecular biology at the University of Zurich, Genentech/SanFrancisco and the IMP in Vienna. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the EMBL/Heidelberg becoming team leader in 1995. He co-founded the biotech companies Cellzome, Haplogen, Allcyte, Proxygen and Solgate. His work focuses on molecular networks and the mechanism of action of drugs. After characterizing SLC transporters required for drugs to enter cells and other required to couple nutrient availability to mTOR activity, he became an advocate of more research on SLC transporters. The institute he directs, CeMM, is located in the middle of the very large general hospital campus in Vienna, where, together with some 200 scientists and medical doctors, he is trying to bring the genomic and systems-views close to the clinical world to improve medical practice. For CeMM, he promoted a unique mode of super-cooperation, connecting biology with medicine, experiments with computation, discovery with translation, and science with society and the arts. He is a member of five scientific academies, has been awarded 4 ERC grants and has been  a member of the Scientific Council of the ERC (2017,2018, 2019).

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Jasmin Güngör (Committee)
https://arndoetting.com/impressum/
Mag. Jasmin Güngör
Investment Manager and Authorised Signatory of Hermann Hauser Investment GmbH

Jasmin is investment manager and authorised signatory of Hermann Hauser Investment GmbH. She holds a Master’s Degree in International Economics as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in European Cultural Anthropology from the University of Innsbruck and Bogazici University, Istanbul. Before joining Hermann’s team in Innsbruck, she has been working for more than five years in the field of fundraising, impact investing as well as start-up consulting. One important station in her life has been Don Bosco Finanzierungs GmbH where she raised more than 6 Mio. EUR from impact investors for Universidad Politecnica Salesiana, a private university in Ecuador,  by issuing a corporate bond together with Erste Bank Group AG.

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Christoph Huber (Committee)
Dr. Christoph Huber
CO-Founder of Biontech SE
  • Immunotherapy leader, advisor and entrepreneur,
  • Austrian, MD from Leopold-Franzens-University in Innsbruck, research fellowships at theWallenberg Laboratories, Uppsala, Sweden and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,Seattle,USA
  • Professor emeritus hematology-oncology and translational immunology at the Johannes-Gutenberg-University Medical Center
  • Chairman Collaborative Research Center SFB 432 “Tumor defense and its therapeuticapplication” of the German Research Council,
  • Founder Tumor Vaccination Centre of German Cancer Aid,
  • Founder, long-term president and board member of the international Cancer ImmunotherapyNetwork CIMT,
  • Founding president of the European Network Cancer Immunotherapy ENCI,
  • Co-founder and advisor of the translational oncology institute TRON, a leading non-profitorganization to bridge the gap between university and companies,
  • Co-founder Ganymed Pharmaceuticals, 2016 exit deal 1.2 B USD to Astellas,
  • Co-founder and non-executive board member Biontech SE, a global leader of COVID-19vaccines and cutting-edge immunotherapies, since 2019 NASDAQ-listed, market cap >90B USD
  • German as well as the Austrian Cross of merit for science, honorary member of the AustrianAcademy of Science
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