Heimo Aichmaier is working at the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) and is in charge of developing national RTI (research, technology, and innovation) strategies and measures for electric mobility (the electrification of drive trains with alternative propulsion systems) as well as the initiation of bi- and multilateral cooperation. He has long experience in setting-up transnational collaboration activities between national transport technology policies and funding instruments of Austria and various European Member States.

He previously worked at the Institute for Urban and Regional Research of the Austrian Academy of Science (ÖAW), has co-founded the "Austrian Agency for Alternative Propulsion" as a public-private partnership, and was head of department until being assigned to the Office of Science and Technology at the Embassy of Austria in Washington, DC.

Aichmaier holds a master's degree in urban and regional planning from the Vienna University of Technology - where he specialized in the field of regional development planning and European regional policies. He complemented his studies with courses at the Environmental Impact Assessment Centre (EIA) of the University of Manchester (UK). Furthermore, he has finished the postgraduate management program for executives at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

• Electric Mobility Policy Framing in the US and Europe - A snap shot (December 21, 2009)