The ACA audited the services regarding the search for business locations in Lower Austria and Styria

17.07.2020 - The Styrian Business Promotion Agency should expand its real estate portfolio

Today, the Austrian Court of Audit (ACA) presented the report "Search for Business Locations - Lower Austria and Styria" (in German). The business agencies should put a stronger emphasis on the analysis of the failure of relocation and expansion projects.

From November 2018 to February 2019, the ACA audited the services regarding the search for business locations in Lower Austria and Styria. In concrete terms, it audited the business promotion agency of Lower Austria (ecoplus. Niederösterreichs Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH) and the business promotion agency of Styria (Steirische Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft m.b.H.).

The audit aimed at assessing the strategy, the organization, the services and the impact of the two business agencies as well as the business parks and the development of the building land reserves for commercial use in both provinces.

The audited period spanned the years from 2013 through 2018. Changes in the development of the economic situation of the two business promotion agencies due to the COVID-19 pandemic are therefore not taken into consideration in this report.

Central recommendations

  1. The business promotion agency of Lower Austria (ecoplus. Niederösterreichs Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH) and the business promotion agency of Styria (Steirische Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft m.b.H.) should put a stronger emphasis on the analysis of the failure of relocation and expansion projects in order to continuously improve the quality of their offers and services for interested persons and customers.
  2. Even though there was no obligation to report real estates and to enter them into the real estate databases, such databases should be promoted more intensively. This concerns in particular the available public-sector real estates, which should be recorded as completely as possible. This would support the economic use of the limited amount of land available and reduce the economic pressure with regard to the use of open spaces.
  3. The business promotion agency of Styria (Steirische Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft m.b.H.) should, based on its financial possibilities, expand its own real estate portfolio.
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Report: Search for Business Locations - Lower Austria and Styria (in German)

Report: Search for Business Locations - Lower Austria and Styria (in German) Download