Case study: the contribution of ecoclusters to the austrian regional

development

Member of the European Union since 1995, Austria is a leader when it comes to developing ecological technologies and efficient use of renewable resources. At the time being there are 6 clusters in Austria, with Energy as their main field of activity: we refer to “Oekoenergie-Cluster” in the Upper Austria region and ”Cluster Renowable Energies Tyrol” in the Tyrol region. There are 3 clusters in Austria with Environment/Green

Technologies as their main domain of activity: “Environment Technologie Cluster, Network Energy Efficeny” (Upper Austria), “Eco World Styria” (Steiermark) and “Austrian Water” (Burgenland). As for main fiel of activity Packaging, there is “Verpackungsland Vorarlberg” (Vorarlberg) cluster (clustercollaboration.eu, 2012).

According to the March 2012 press conference of the Austrian Statistics Institute, the environmental economy had grown with 6,6%, a percentage higher than the 4,1% growth of Austria’s GDP in nominal value. Also, the employment rate in the environmental field grew with 7.9% compared to the country’s overall employment rate which

registered only 0.6%. Moreover, the contribution of activities in the renewable resources and

environmental protection field to Austria’s GDP grew from 2008 to 2010 from 11.3% to 11.8% (statistik.at, 2012).

It is interesting to make an analysis between regions and observe to what extent the macroeconomical changes have been influenced by the development of these regional clusters. According to the data of “Statistik Austria”, Austria’s GDP grew between 2007 and 2009 from 274,818

Mio € to 301,308 Mio €. Making an analysis of the regional GDP using Table 2, we observe that from 2007 to 2008, all regions registered a growth of GDP per capita,with a decline in 2009, when the

crisis started. Still we can notice that in the Burgenland, Steiermark, Oberoestereich, Tirol and Vorarberg regions, the GDP did not decrease under its value in 2007, whereas in the other regions where the enterprises are not organised into ecoclusters, their GDP dropped below its value in 2007. Therfore by this corellation we show that the presence of ecoclusters deminished the effects of the economical crisis. Also, this may show that the presence of eco-clusters leads to an economical

growth of the region.

The Eco World Syria cluster, founded in 1998, became a point of reference in the environment/green technologies field over the years. With more than 180 member companies in 2012, out of which 70% are companies specialized in the field, 25% are research institutions and 5% are administration institutions, this cluster managed to diversify its activity fields. The ecological solutions offered led to a turnover of 7 bn € in 2011, according to the manager’s Christian Köberl (2012) declarations. The cluster was situated in the surrounding area of the city of Graz, in the Steiermark region. This region has a population of 1.2 mil out of which 32 000 work in the cluster’s member companies which means that a percentage of 2.7% of the region’s population is hired in this cluster.

Research is also privileged in this cluster, leading to a research rate of 4.3% over the target imposed by the EU-Lisbon treaty of 3% for the year 2010. This is due to the fact that there are 5 universities with research centers in the field of energy and environmental technologies in the Steiermark region. The Europe 2020 targets were also exceeded: the level of regenerative energy at the final consumer of 25% and the level of recycling of reusable materials of 70% (eco.at, 2012).

The Styria region developed as a result of the expansion of “The Green Tech Valley” (EWS), in terms of number of member companies, number of employees, development of technology etc.. When it comes to the quality of life, this region is one of the top regions in Europe: 18 top companies in the energy and environmental technology; 3 billion in annual revenue Green Tech; 18% revenue growth in real terms, faster than the global market; 12% employment growth in the renewable energy and environmental research with a rate of 4.3%; 4 ECO-Innovation Centers of Excellence; 4

universities with internationally renowned universities; Increased 6.fach expert analysis based on worldwide patents (eco.at, 2012).

In the Upper Austria region two clusters developed around the city of Linz beginning with the year 2000. The region’s plan was to ensure 100% out of the electricity demand and space heat from renewable energy source pan in the year 2030. There are 1.4 Mil. People who live in Upper Austria, and through its industrialization, it can ensure 25% of the national export. Still in the highly

industrialized regions the need of alternative and ecological solutions is substantially higher. Oekoenergie Cluster, the first cluster that was founded in the region, offers services in the following sectors: Solar energy (solar thermal, photovoltaics); Biomass and biogas; Wind energy; Geothermal energy and heat pumps; Small hydro power; Low energy and passive buildings; Energy certification of buildings; Energy performance contracting; Energy efficient lighting; Energy advice; Energy efficient building services and process technologies. At the time being the cluster ensures 34% of the energy demand (15% biomass, 15% hydropower, 4% solar and other sources of renewable energy) (oec-en.at, 2012).

If when the cluster was founded 1620 people were working there, until 2011 their number grew to 7300, with a growth rate of 350%. Now the cluster benefits of 160 member companies that were joined in November 2011 by other 40 companies from the region of South Bohemia. The turnover of this cluster grew from 230 Mio EUR in 2000 to 1800 Mio EUR in 2011 (oec-en.at, 2012).

Comparing the answers given by the manager Christian Köberl (Eco World Styria) and manager Karin Krondorfer (Ökoenergie Cluster), we notice that in the cluster Eco World Styria the main areas of activity are more diversified, whereas the Ökoenergie Cluster is specialized on Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency. This difference is reflected not only at the turnover level of 2011, but also in the number of employees. Eco Worlds Styria (EWS) in 2011 had a turnover of 7

bn €, having a total number of 32,000 employees, whereas Ökoenergie Cluster (ÖkC) had a turnover of 1.8 bn € with only 7,400 employees. Out of this comparison, we notice that ÖkoCluster achieved one third of Eco World Styria’s turnover with approximately one quarter of its employees. When comparing these, it must be mentioned that both clusters have approximately the same number of member companies, but only EWS requires a membership fee.

Regarding the funding source, 60% of the funding for EWS comes from the Public Sector, which represents only 5% of member companies. In regards to ÖkC, the funding sources was not filled in when we recived our questionnaire, but from the field ’types of members’ since Public Sector is not a part of this cluster, we can deduce that Public Sector does not finance this cluster. The involvement of the Public Sector in the cluster is important because of its political framework for clusters that can be more easily extrapolated and implemented on a regional level. In this way, the clusters that have Public Institutions as members have a competitive advantage.

6. Conclusion

The need for regional development strategies has appeared along with the need to diminish the economic and social disparities between regions belonging to a state or a union. In order to achieve regional development, public authorities have worked on policies to support sustainable growth in the region. After acknowledging the positive impact that clusters have on economic and social indicators in their region of impact, they also created policies meant to support the development of clusters. The types of clusters that influence the economic and social aspects, as well as the environment, are the ecoclusters.

Analyzing the two green clusters, Eco World Styria (EWS) and Okoenergie Cluster (OkC), we noticed that the regions in which these developed were less affected by the economical crisis than the other regions in which the green clusters lack. Under the ‘umbrella’ of ecoclusters, a large number of SMEs were able to develop because they benefited of know-how, financing, market access, etc. Ecoclusters encourage and facilitate R&D leading to technological development and competitive advantage. Also, green clusters contributed to the achievment of the environmental targets imposed by EU, and even to the exceeding of those targets.

On a social level, ecoclusters create jobs reducing the unemployment rate. Through the social responsibility programs not only that the employees benefit of continuous training, but also the people become more aware of the influence they have on the environment. Because this field is in continuous development and transformation, the people that are involved in these processes witness and benefit from these ecological revelations. Consequently this may trigger a shift on a cultural level, too. Since this cultural level was not analyzed in this paper, this is something that remains to be further researched.

Reflecting back on the analysis and the methodology used, we did not foresee a low response rate from the management staff. We expected to gather all data because we obtained updated information about the contacts and also because we personalized the invitation and the fact sheet.This shortcoming forced us to analyze a restrained number of clusters.

Acknowledgement

This work was co-financed from the European Social Fund through Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013; project number POSDRU/107/1.5/S/77213 „Ph.D. for a career in interdisciplinary economic research at the European standards”

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