Gewessler and Schramböck launch 7 COMET research projects

The Ministries of Climate Protection and the Economy are investing EUR 10 million in top Austrian research – the projects have a total volume of over EUR 37 million.

With EUR 10.4 million from the COMET programme approved by Economy Minister Margarete Schramböck and Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler, seven new top research projects have now been launched, representing a huge opportunity for Austria's economy. Together with contributions from regional governments and associated partners, the projects have a total volume of over EUR 37.5 million.

Thematically, the newly approved projects are focused on intelligent production technologies, mobility, and energy/environment. Of the seven COMET projects, Styria is involved in 6, Upper Austria in 3, Vienna in 2, and Lower Austria and Vorarlberg in 1 each. A total of 15 proposals were submitted. In making their selection the two ministries followed the recommendations of the jury of international experts.

Economy Minister Margarete Schramböck emphasised the impact of the COMET programme: "We are currently seeing the importance of research, development and marketable innovations. The output-focused COMET programme combines existing expertise to address key issues of our time, thereby strengthening Austria as a business and innovation location. COMET is a successful model which allows Austrian companies to become more competitive and remain top international players. We facilitate higher-risk top-level research with the goal of quickly incorporating these research findings in specific applications and products."

"By investing in sustainable innovations, we are ensuring that Austria is a climate-friendly and therefore more competitive business location. In the COMET research projects science and business work together to realise high-potential ideas, creating products, applications and services which promise huge benefit to the economy and society," said Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler, stressing the significance of the programme. "The national COMET centres and projects have already served as important drivers of innovation in renewable energy, environmental technologies and resource-efficient production."

The seven new COMET projects increase the number of Austrian centres of excellence, which now include five COMET K2 Centres, 20 COMET K1 Centres, 6 COMET Modules and 24 COMET Projects. The  COMET Programme is financed by the Federal Ministry of Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK) and the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW) and is managed by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).

For FFG Managing Directors Henrietta Egerth and Klaus Pseiner, COMET is the most important research funding programme in Austria. "Its success is based on cooperation between business and science, as well as joint financing by the Federal Government, the regional governments, and project partners. This has allowed challenging projects to go ahead, leading to the development of pioneering technologies, products and applications."