The
economic area of Lavanttal has an attractive location between the urban region of Graz, the central region of Carinthia and the Upper Slovenian region. The motorway A2 provides excellent transport connections which will become even better after completion of the tunnel for the Koralm railway projected for 2026.
High-quality education is available in the region with general and secondary vocational schools (HTL Wolfsberg). For higher education the region takes advantage of the proximity of the universities in Graz, Klagenfurt and Leoben.
The district offers a good mix of industries with different sizes of companies. Small craft enterprises cooperate on a multi-company basis, pooling their strengths and organising a joint market presence. Innovative production companies record high export shares. Initiatives such as the "Association for the Promotion of the Lavanttal Economy" work on building a strong economic network in the entire region. In recent years, the Lavanttal has become an important location for production industry in Carinthia.
Since 2019 the
Carinthia University of Applied Sciences is running a part-time bachelor's degree program "Systems Engineering extended”. This program offers a comprehensive basic technical education with subsequent specialisation in electronics or mechatronics. It is set up as a distance learning program so that students from Lavanttal can attend courses in St. Stefan on the premises of the
PMS Technikum and do not have to commute. Thus a win-win situation is created because PMS needs highly qualified personnel and can offer its employees attractive development opportunities.
The
Competence Group 4 Clean Production (CG4CP) is a successful cooperation between six highly specialized companies in the field of clean room production (G&H Ziviltechniker GmbH, Ortner Reinraumtechnik GmbH, Oswald GmbH, PMS Elektro- und Automationstechnik GmbH, SMB Pure Systems GmbH and M.Wulz Anlagenbau GmbH). By bundling their competences in projects and R&D initiatives they operate in a very efficient and competitve way on the market. Together, the six cooperation partners employ around 1,000 people and achieve a total annual turnover of around 150 million euros.
Kundl Service Park is the competence center for external service providers of Sandoz. The service park was built by the EWP Infra GmbH (Eco Work Place), which was founded by all members of CG4CP. It includes offices, meeting rooms, recreation and communication areas, sanitary facilities, workshops, and storage areas.
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 Villach.
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.
