bridges vol. 11, September 2006 / Feature Articles
by Christian Hederer

With a current yearly investment volume of about €150 million, the City of Vienna is a major player in Austrian science policies. Its activities cover an extensive range, including the support of established research institutions such as the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Ludwig Boltzmann Society, development funding in the high technology sector, as well as assistance to a variety of projects in the social sciences and humanities.

A good indicator of the growing importance of science-related matters for the administration of Vienna is the fact that the scope of reporting on scientific activities has expanded in recent years: while science coverage was integrated with cultural activities until 2003, the 2005 report, explicitly intended to serve as a "science business card" for Vienna, fills an impressive 274 pages. The report was presented to the public in July 2006. At first glance, by its very size and comprehensiveness, the report can appear slightly intimidating to the outside reader, who is confronted with an almost infinite array of projects and activities. bridges asked Dr. Hubert Christian Ehalt, the coordinator of the report and chief administrator for science policies of the city of Vienna, about the main strategic orientation of science policies in Vienna.