Startup-Hub Klagenfurt

The provincial capital City of Klagenfurt am Wörthersee is a very attractive location for doing business in Austria due to its outstanding geographical location within the Alps-Adriatic region. It is also one of the most important business locations in the Alpine province of Carinthia. Leading international companies such as Philips Austria, Magna Steyr, Infineon IT Services, Skidata, or Kapsch to name only a few have all discovered the advantages of operating from here. They benefit from first class training opportunities and highly qualified personal resources that they find here. This attractive location offers multiple advantages for working successfully on international markets. Outstanding Startups like bitmovin, Symvaro or Sensolligent started here and while doing international business still rely on the qualities of the location.
 
Synergies  between top educational institutions (university, university of applied sciences, top standard colleges and high schools), industry oriented research centers (Lakeside Labs, Joanneum Robotics and more) as well with innovative companies (many of them can be found in Lakeside Park) make the city of Klagenfurt special as a business location. In addition to great business opportunities the city offers a spectacular quality of life on the lakeside of Wörthersee.
 
Lakeside Science & Technology Park is an interdisciplinary innovation center bringing together companies, research and education mainly in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT). With its more than 60 companies, several research centers, the Educational Lab, the proximity to the University of Klagenfurt and its links with the incubator build! as well as the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Lakeside Park is the place to be for tech-oriented Start-ups in southern Austria, offering unique opportunities for collaboration between companies, education and research. Lakeside Park is also the location of the 5G Playground, an testing lab for new developments in mobile communications.
 
The University of Klagenfurt (AAU) has successfully positioned itself as a globally networked research institution and as a hub for acquisition, exchange, and transfer of knowledge across the entire Alps-Adriatic Region. Research initiatives like Energy Management & Energy Technology, Sustainability, Self-organizing Systems and Visual Culture with holistic approaches yield excellent research results and have gained international reputation. More than 11,600 students attend the University of Klagenfurt, including around 2,000 students from abroad. Approximately 1,500 members of staff strive to produce outstanding achievements in 34 departments spread across the university’s four faculties.
 
The incubator build! Gründerzentrum is a competence center supporting the development of technology oriented and knowledge-based Start-up and Scale-up projects, build! also supports regional business development. Embedded in Lakeside Park build! offers consulting services in the areas of business foundation, business model development, business development and funding, provides subsidies and offers infrastructure like digital services, office space and Coworking Spaces in Klagenfurt and Villach. In addition, build! provides access to a broad network of mentors, industry partners and investors and hosts network and community events.
 
Public service providers like the Agency for Investment Promotion in Carinthia (BABEG) or the Carinthian Economic Promotion Fund (KWF), the Chamber of Commerce (WKK) and several networks and clusters support businesses in and around Klagenfurt.
Several Co-Working Spaces offer flexible and affordable office space.Specialized infrastructure like the Makerspace Carinthia or the Smart Lab and Inspire!Lab (both situated in the Educational Lab at Lakeside Park) provide space for Design Thinking and prototype development.
 
The startup platform StartNet Carinthia is a source of information, know-how and orientation for entrepreneurs to be and startups. Together, the partners of StartNet Carinthia develop the regional start-up ecosystem and support entrepreneurs starting a business . The objective is to build a Carinthian entrepreneurial ecosystem within the Alps-Adriatic region that is characterized by a vibrant startup community, short distances and a high level of trust between all stakeholders.