Facts and figures

The CDG has existed since 1988. At the time, it was established under the name Christian Doppler Gesellschaft as a group instrument of Österreichische Industrieholding AG (ÖIAG). Its goal was the establishment of research units intended to pursue basic research at a high level. The selected themes were to be of medium to long-term benefit for the companies of the group. Financing was provided by the group management.

The restructuring of ÖIAG from an industrial group to an investment and privatisation agency in 1993 also brought about a reform of the CDG. It was to be open to all Austrian companies and to process specific issues of business at a high level. In 1995, a new financing basis was created and the association structurally reorganised. The association was simultaneously placed under the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs. Since then, the CDG has been a model that supports cooperation between science and business in the area of application-oriented basic research and is financed jointly by companies and the public purse.

Since the founding of the CDG, the number of CD Laboratories and involved commercial partners has grown constantly. In 2012, the CDG acquired an additional area of activity with the management of the JR Centre programme at universities of applied sciences.

From 2018 to 2019, the amount of CD Laboratories and JR Centres increased as well as the financial support. In 2019 173 companies were involved in 91 CD Laboratories and 15 JR Centres. In comparison, in 2018 158 companies were involved in 85 CD Laboratories and 12 JR Centres. In total, 33,1 Mio. Euro were used in 2019, compared to 31,5 Mio. Euro in 2018.

About 22% of companies are SME, about 30% are located abroad.

89 CD Laboratories are based at 17 Austrian universities and non-university research institutions. Moreover there are 2 international CD Laboratories.

CD Laboratories have a budget of between EUR 140.000 and EUR 750.000 per year. Financing takes place through the Federal Ministry for Digital, Business and Enterprise, the National Foundation for Research, Technology and Development as public funding sponsors and by the companies as cooperation partners.

The collaboration of science and business is achieved in the CD Laboratories. Compact research groups with an average of 5-15 employees cooperate with up to 10 commercial partners.

Seven different thematic clusters can be assigned to the CD Laboratories, which employ about 810 scientific staff in 2019.

The scientific output of the CD Laboratory manifests itself in scientific publications, presentations and patents: In 2019, this includes 512 publications (of which 400 publications in scientific periodicals with peer review), 1.196 presentations at conferences (of which 229 publications with peer review and 256 invited presentations) and 12 granted patents.

Im Jahr 2019 sind 15 JR-Zentren an 7 österreichischen Fachhochschulen aktiv.

Den JR-Zentren steht ein Budget zwischen EUR 90.000 und EUR 430.000 pro Jahr zur Verfügung. Die Finanzierung erfolgt durch das Bundesministerium für Digitalisierung und Wirtschaftsstandort als öffentlicher Fördergeber sowie durch die Unternehmen als Kooperationspartner. In den JR-Zentren realisiert sich die Zusammenarbeit von Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft. Kompakte Forschungsgruppen mit durchschnittlich 3-10 MitarbeiterInnen kooperieren dabei mit bis zu 5 Unternehmenspartnern. 

Ein Großteil der 2019 aktiven JR-Zentren (acht) gehört zum thematischen Cluster „Mathematik, Informatik, Elektronik“, zwei zum thematischen Cluster „Life Sciences & Umwelt“ und je eines zu den Thematischen Clustern „Chemie“, „Maschinen- und Instrumentenbau“, „Materialien & Werkstoffe“, „Medizin“ und „Wirtschafts-, Sozial- und Rechtswissenschaften“.

Zum Output der Josef Ressel Zentren im Jahr 2019 gehören 21 Publikationen mit Peer Review, sowie 112 Konferenzteilnahmen, davon 27 mit eingeladenem Vortrag und 20 Konferenzpublikationen mit Peer-Review.