Letter from the Editor

With this fall edition of “inform@ion”, we at the OST look back at an eventful summer. Two of the activities that have kept us busy bear direct relevance on Austrian scientists and scholars in North America: the Technology Forum in Alpbach and a recent visit of a group of Austrian science journalists to the U.S.

This year’s technology forum in Alpbach, a mountain village near Innsbruck, offered a significant first: one of its workshops was dedicated exclusively to the scarcity of researchers looming ahead in Austria’s not-so-distant future. In that workshop entitled “Brain drain, brain gain – Future Networks Austria-US“ six Austrian scientists who either are or have until recently been in the U.S. talked about what makes the U.S. more attractive for them, and offered valuable insight on what could be done to make Austria more appealing to scholars and scientists. Prominent speakers from the ministries, industry and the universities retorted with their views on what the deficits in the Austrian R&D system were and what needed to be done to address them. I agree with Peter Oefner, whose extensive report about Alpbach in this newsletter I highly recommend reading, that calling the workshop “Bridging the Gap” would have been most appropriate: the willingness of all participants to listen and to engage in sincere discussion about possible remedies was palpable, and there was true dialogue, as evidenced in the sometimes emotional exchange of differing opinions. Afterwards, many participants commented that it had been a very “refreshing” experience. This I value as the best compliment and proof of the workshop’s success, because the bottom-line is: as intelligent and well-informed as our policy discussions in Austria may be, they can always do with a bit of refreshing input from an outsider’s perspective.

The second activity of significance for the community of Austrian scientists in North America and for ASCINA was the visit of Austrian science journalists to Washington and Boston. The Austrian National Council for Science & Technology, the principal advisor to the Austrian government in S&T matters, has just finished running a campaign aimed at increasing the public’s awareness of the manifold contributions science makes to society. As a part of this campaign, the OST organized a study tour for Austrian science journalists, so they could familiarize themselves with both the way S&T policy is conducted in the U.S. and the scientific careers of Austrians in this country. The group, consisting of journalists from the most prominent Austrian daily newspapers (Der Standard, Die Presse, Kronenzeitung et. al.) and public radio (Ö1), took part in a very intense program that included meetings with Austrian scholars and scientists. Eva Schernhammer and Wolfgang Winkelmayer, in charge of the local ASCINA chapter, were instrumental in organizing what turned out to be a most impressive excursion to Boston. There could not have been a better way to gain a profound understanding of how the research enterprise within and outside of American universities works than to meet with those who, after having experienced the Austrian system, have decided to pursue their careers in the U.S.. Already, the visit has resulted in some interesting media reports, which, I hope, will in turn help raise awareness of the tremendous potential embodied by this network. Also, I expect it to create a fertile soil for ASCINA’s activities.

Alpbach and the meetings with the science journalists are but the beginning of a very particular transatlantic dialogue that engages more and more Austrians on both sides of the Atlantic. The contributions of Ministers Gehrer and Gorbach in this edition of “inform@ion” bear witness to the ever widening circle of those who believe in the long-term benefits of such a dialogue.

P. Steger

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Language Policy Of "inform@ion"
Our decision to provide large parts of "inform@ion" in the English language is in response to numerous requests we have received over the time. Many Austrian – or formerly Austrian – researchers working and living in North America have sometimes found it difficult to follow an all-German newsletter, despite their genuine interest in Austria's R&D policy developments. Hence, providing this newsletter in English aims at encouraging Austria's scientists and scholars in North America to spread the news in their respective professional surroundings. We believe this will facilitate an intercultural and transatlantic dialogue on science and technology. Therefore, we have decided to translate all parts of this publication into English that report on general developments and the status of Austrian R&D, science and technology policies. This decision encompasses the feature articles, as well as general news and information on research, science & technology policies in Austria contained in the Homebase. Additionally, we will leave calls, proposals and announcements in their original language, either English or German. We would be happy to receive any feedback from you!