Spin-off Austria Conference: Turbo for innovative business projects!

Spin-off Austria Conference: Turbo for innovative business projects!

The eagerly awaited Spin-off Austria conference took place on October 8, 2025 at Techno-Z in Salzburg. This event was organized for the first time in close collaboration with the Entrepreneurship Center Network (ECN) and attracted over 150 participants from universities, research institutions, startups, incubators, funding agencies and investors. The aim of the conference was to set the course for faster and more effective commercialization of research results. This is done by promoting cooperation between science, business and finance. Incubator reports that synergies and proven structures played a central role.

The conference presented a varied program that included, among other things, keynotes from prominent experts such as Stefanie Possekel from Ascenion and Werner Wutscher from New Venture Scouting. Topics such as the clear customer journey, high speed of implementation and incentive systems at universities were the focus of the discussions. Leadersnet added that the options for founders to return to universities and cooperation with incubators and funding bodies were also discussed.

Workshops and practical references

Particularly noteworthy were the practical workshops, where there was a lively exchange between researchers, transfer offices, investors and industry. These workshops should help accelerate the commercialization of innovations and reduce friction. The FFG fellows presented their successful projects in show pitches, which made the impact of funding, access to financing and mentoring clear.

A central point of the conference was the international input from Jana Golfmann from UnternehmerTUM with the Rise Europe Playbook for Sciencepreneurs. This playbook offers best practices from universities and entrepreneurship centers in Germany, Spain and Sweden, which are intended to serve as valuable inspiration for domestic spin-off initiatives.

The Spin-off Austria Initiative

The Spin-off Austria Initiative, launched by Hermann Hauser and Herbert Gartner, provided the framework for this long-term platform for entrepreneurship at universities. The initiative is intended to increase the focus on academic spin-offs, as well AWS emphasized. In Austria, access to private venture capital for these types of spin-offs was often perceived as difficult in the past, which represents a clear shortcoming compared to other innovative countries such as Germany.

To overcome this hurdle, AWS takes a dual approach that includes both a push and a pull approach. This is intended to facilitate access to private venture capital for potentially VC-ready spin-offs and ultimately increase the number of successful spin-offs in Austria.

The Spin-off Austria Conference 2025 was not only a valuable platform for the exchange of ideas and experiences, but also a crucial initiative to further strengthen the innovative strength and competitiveness of Austria as a location. A clear invitation to all players in the innovation landscape to join forces and further develop the spin-off ecosystem together.