Salzburg Research: 25 years of innovation for mobility and sustainability!

Salzburg Research: 25 years of innovation for mobility and sustainability!

On September 26, 2025, Salzburg Research celebrated a very special anniversary: ​​25 years of applied research and innovation. During this time, the institute not only established itself as an important innovation partner for business, science and society, but also known as a central point of contact for digital, ecological and social transformation - also as a triple transition. Managing Director Siegfried Reich was proud of the previous successes and looked at the future challenges and opportunities with curiosity.

Daniela Gutschi, State Councilor of Salzburg, paid special respect to the use of the institute in areas such as the energy transition, sustainable mobility and health care. She emphasized how important these topics are for society and how Salzburg Research acts as a bridge builder between science and practice. Vanessa Borkmann from Salzburg Research describes the institute as a "bridge builder", which ensures that innovative concepts actually arrive in practice.

Focus on future issues

Over the years, Salzburg Research has built up a comprehensive technology stack in sensors, communication technologies, data science and artificial intelligence. Here, interdisciplinary work is carried out on future topics such as mobility, energy, health and sport. This creates practical and data-based solutions such as intelligent traffic control systems and digital applications for the health and sports sector. Around 80 projects are carried out annually in cooperation with partners from business and science.

A current research project shows how diverse the approaches of Salzburg Research are. In a project that examines the overtaking processes between the vehicle and cyclists in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, over 7,000 overtaking processes were analyzed. The results could make a decisive contribution to the topic of * traffic safety * by delivering specific recommendations for safe bicycle traffic. This includes, for example, the recommendation to design road widths between 6.5 and 9.5 meters in order to introduce wider wheel strips and narrow the road for speed limits of 30 km/h.

Important impulses for mobility

Salzburg Research is part of a larger trend towards innovative mobility concepts. According to the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport (BMDV), research funding plays a central role in the digitization of the mobility sector. The funding guideline "Autonomous and networked driving in public operations" aims to support application -oriented research projects. These are crucial for the transfer of autonomous and networked vehicles into regular operation and to create a digital mobility system.

Automation should make traffic more secure, more environmentally friendly and efficient. The integration of autonomous transport, especially in public transport, is considered future -oriented. A clear focus is on improving traffic safety and social acceptance for autonomous mobility, which requires both legal and technological framework.

Successes and outlook

Salzburg Research has already achieved impressive results in the past 25 years. With 449 employees, including 141 women, and numerous completed projects, the institute impressively shows how research makes fruitful ways for innovations. The successes include improving security in the traffic sector and targeted measures for the energy transition.

The balance sheet speaks for itself: over 130 million euros in -company performance, 55 awards and 1,385 publications are just a few of the highlights. Salzburg Research will also be at the head of innovation in the future when it comes to mastering the challenges of digital transformation and sustainability. An exciting time is imminent, as their commitment proves. Salzburg Research and BMDV emphasize the value of research in these dynamic environments and show that there is still a lot of room for improvement in ecological and digital developments in the mobility sector.