The Impact of Digitalisation and Challenges for Location Policy from the Perspective of the Austrian Industry

While Austrian industrial enterprises do not consider themselves to be at a disadvantage to their main competitors in terms of the digitalisation of their enterprises, this is an increasingly important competitive factor which presents them with a number of challenges. On the one hand, digitalisation makes it possible to increase the efficiency of production, the organisation of value chains and distribution channels, as well as to adapt products better to customer requirements and thus take advantage of new market opportunities. On the other hand, it requires a steady broadening of the knowledge base of enterprises, the development of new standardised data interfaces, the management of new regulatory and data protection issues, and strategies to mitigate the negative effects of the increasing fragmentation of value chains. In order to optimally support companies in these processes, it is necessary to solve already known structural policy issues and to develop new strategies for location policy.