The State of Vorarlberg on the Internet

The increasing pressure from international competition has lead to a change in the general situation in which Vorarlberg the companies find themselves. The task of a future-oriented regional economic policy is to secure, through suitable measures, the attractiveness of Vorarlberg as a business location. While the size of subsidies is no longer the main factor, location factors such as proximity to end markets, availability of qualified personnel and services and the high standard of living have become more important.

The enormously rapid pace of structural change in Vorarlberg industry has also resulted in some painful adaptation processes. The traditionally strong textile and clothing industry has suffered strong setbacks that could only partially be compensated by other branches such as the metal-processing and electronic industries. This has resulted in a clear increase in unemployment since the beginning of the nineties that lies only fractionally beneath the Austrian average. Although the share of industry in the economic output is still over-proportionally high, further cuts in jobs in this sector could increase the problems, especially since the capacity of the service sector to provide new employment will soon have reached its limits. The prognosis for the coming years promises a strong increase in population, representing a challenge for economic policy to ensure the highest possible availability of jobs.

The regional economy is challenged with identifying future-oriented structures and investing in them. One of these is the cluster idea. For this purpose, a study has been made to define possible clusters relevant to the Vorarlberg economy, take a closer look at its competitive edge and its market attractiveness, and work out a concrete basis to support this concept.

Based an the analysis it was possible to identify five fields of competence that can be considered as potential clusters. These main segments are "technical intelligence for building", "foodstuffs and packing", "traffic and mobility", "microtechnology" and "Alpine competence". Cooperation and networking in these fields will enable Vorarlberg to strengthen its competitiveness in the long run.