Briefing 2023

The initial situation

The city of Amstetten has the function of a supra-regional centre. Approximately 26,500 people currently live within the urban area. In addition, about 1,700 businesses are registered. Amstetten has an area of approx. 52.22 km2 and consists of several districts. These general conditions also result in different requirements for urban development.

In terms of accessibility, the city of Amstetten is very well connected both in terms of motorised individual transport and public transport. Centrally located between the cities of Vienna and Linz, Amstetten has two connections to the A1 - Westautobahn and is thus directly linked to the supra-regional high-ranking road network. In addition, Amstetten also has a direct connection to the Westbahn line and is also very well accessible for commuters in the high-ranking public transport network. In the area of public transport connections, the so-called "last mile" to the company locations can be considered to be in need of improvement. Although Amstetten has its own city bus network, it is not flexible enough to meet the requirements of commuters due to its timetable.

 

In addition to good infrastructure connections, the availability of qualified workers and a high quality of life at the location are also essential. Thus, economic location factors play just as important a role as ecological or social location factors. Important topics for Amstetten in this context are the most resource-conserving use of land, the promotion of sustainable mobility for commuters and the reduction of immissions on residents through forward-looking spatial planning. In the area of spatial planning, it should be noted that the demand for business locations remains high. There is a demand for new building land as well as for expansion areas at existing company locations. In the future, however, issues of subsequent use of existing business sites will become increasingly important and require forward-looking real estate management.

In addition to the issue of resource conservation, climate and environmental protection are once again coming into focus, also in the context of spatial planning. Here, too, a particularly efficient and forward-looking approach to existing areas and uses is called for. Two main questions can be derived from this:

  • How can existing business locations become more sustainable?

  • How can new business locations be designed to be as sustainable as possible?

Our challenge

The city of Amstetten has set up a new business service office to support local businesses with their challenges and invites the IMM community to join them in developing a forward-looking concept for designing a corresponding service portfolio for them.

THE SERVICE PORTFOLIO

The service portfolio should:

  • be able to be processed by the City of Amstetten in its direct sphere of action, and

  • be developed in cooperation with third parties.

The services will be derived from topics that are considered priorities by local businesses and should also address important aspects of urban development, such as:

  • Resource-conserving use of land

  • Promotion of sustainable forms of mobility for employees

  • Sustainable mobility for apprentices

  • Promotion of climate and environmental protection

THE PROJECT PHASES

The development of the service point can be roughly divided into a concept phase and an implementation phase. The following diagram gives a rough overview of the main development steps

Concept phase

Resources:

The main task here is to clarify whether the necessary resources are available at all on the part of the administration. The necessary work steps are to be defined and a concrete division of labour is to be made. Furthermore, it has to be clarified whether and which tasks should be assigned to third parties or to what extent a cooperation with other stakeholders (e.g. Net4Future, Stadtwerke GmbH, etc.) makes sense.

Relevant topics:

Before the development of services can start, it is first necessary to define the relevant topics for the companies and stakeholders. Qualitative interviews are to be conducted in selected companies and other stakeholders (e.g. WKNÖ, WRA GmbH, etc.). An interview guideline serves as a basis to ensure a stringent procedure and comparability of the interviews conducted. The interviews will be recorded and evaluated accordingly.

Possible questions:

  • What are the current challenges for the companies?

  • What demands do the companies have on the business location?

  • How can the city of Amstetten provide meaningful support?

  • How can the business location become even more sustainable?

Development of services:

Based on the results of the interviews conducted, appropriate services will be developed in a further step. The aim is to create a modular portfolio of services that can be offered as needed. A link to the relevant topics ensures that the services are not developed bypassing the needs of the companies, but are developed for the companies. It can be assumed that there will be services that can be processed directly in-house on the one hand and on the other hand via third parties (R&D service providers, funding agencies, interest groups, other companies) in cooperation with the municipality of Amstetten.

Implementation phase

Marketing concept for services:

In this work package, a marketing concept is to be developed in order to communicate the developed services as efficiently as possible. In addition to the homepage of the Municipality of Amstetten, social media contributions or special networking formats would also be considered. Cooperation with other stakeholders should also contribute to media dissemination. Close cooperation with the public relations department is aimed at.

Application and controlling:

Finally, the services developed are to be applied. The Business Service Agency is to take a clearly active role and proactively approach the enterprises and other "clients". In the sense of further development, the measures taken should also be evaluated. For this purpose, evaluable goals for the services will be formulated in advance and reviewed at regular intervals. The topic of sustainability should be taken into account in the evaluation (social, economic and ecological effects).

Kick-off video

Contact

The main contact persons for the project on the part of the City of Amstetten is Dr. Markus Pajones.

About us

The economic service centre of the City of Amstetten

One of the most important tasks of the economic service office of the municipality is close cooperation with companies in order to find joint solutions for their challenges.

In addition, the ongoing implementation and support of innovative projects in the field of research and development is important for the further development of Amstetten as a business location. Support in the search for suitable business locations is also part of the Economic Service Agency's remit.

Amstetten is a sustainable business location. The interplay of economic, ecological and social location factors is essential: the availability of a qualified workforce, a high quality of life, a resource-conserving use of land, the promotion of sustainable mobility for commuters and the reduction of emmissions on residents through forward-looking spatial planning.

More about the Economic Service Centre of the City of Amstetten