Event

Harnessing the Danube region’s resilience for the growth of the innovation ecosystem

01.02.2023
dtvi launch

GLOBSEC’s Danube Tech Valley team hosted an official launch of the Initiative in Vienna for Austrian audiences in the presence of H.E. Federal Minister of Labour and Economy of the Republic of Austria Martin Kocher.

2022 has been a turbulent year. The world has barely recovered from COVID-19 and its far-reaching impacts, including the short but severe recession and an enduring supply chain crisis, when Russia´s brutal aggression against Ukraine caused a devastating humanitarian crisis along with further supply disruptions and inflation. Consequently, financial markets around the world incurred sharp losses and are looking to a y highly uncertain future.

Against the backdrop of this global turmoil, the Danube region has shown resilience through volatile market conditions. Combined venture capital investment in the Danube region has almost tripled from 2019 to 2021, reaching €8.4 billion. The region is even on track to break its yearly venture capital investment record. When focusing on the effects of such investments, since 2018, in Austria only, the cumulated value of the start-ups in the ecosystem has multiplied 2.3 folds, from €6.6 billion in 2018, to €15 billion in 2021.

his record is already surpassed by the 2022 value at Q3, currently estimated at 24.1€ billion. Harnessing this resilience is proving vital to the growth of the region’s technology ecosystem, and is demonstrated by the exponential valuation growth, by 13 folds in a year, of clean energy start-ups in Austria. The event was welcomed by Peter Koren, Deputy Director General of the Federation of Austrian Industries and introduced by Wilhelm Molterer, Chairman of the Board of GLOBSEC. Dr Katarína Cséfalvayová, GLOBSEC, Executive Lead of the Danube Tech Valley Initiative, elaborated on the mission of the Danube Tech Valley Innovative and the significance of the Danube Innovation Tracker (DIT) platform within its framework.

Her intervention was followed by Olivia Blanchard, GLOBSEC, Lead of the Danube Innovation Tracker project, who presented the features of the Danube Innovation Tracker in more depth. The panel discussion was moderated by Jakob Steinschaden, Co-Founder of Trending Topics and the closing remarks were made by Werner Wutscher, Founder of New Venture Scouting and Steering Committee member, GLOBSEC Danube Tech Valley Initiative.

Learn more in the PDF below.