Governance - Austria

The responsibility for Austria’s eGovernment strategy/policy lies with the State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance. The State Secretary is responsible for digitisation, IT and telecommunications as well. In the field of digitisation, it is also responsible for coordinating tasks. In its role, the State Secretary is supported by various bodies of all relevant actors, such as the platform Digital Austria, as well as by administrative units within the Federal Ministry of Finance. 

Florian Tursky  State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance   Source: http://www.bmf.gv.at

Maria Ulmer Federal Chief Digital Officer Director General for Digitisation and eGovernment   Source: http://www.bmf.gv.at

Wolfgang Ebner Chief of Staff of the State Secretary for Digitisation   Head of the Directorate ‛Digitisation Policy and Innovationʼ  President of the Secure Information Technology Centre - Austria (A-SIT)   Source: http://www.bmf.gv.at

Reinhard Posch Federal Chief Information Officer Chairman of the Platform Digital Austria   Source: http://www.bmf.gv.at

Ferdinand Scheidbach Head of the Directorate ‛eGovernment Federal Government/Public Administrationʼ    Source: http://www.bmf.gv.at

Peter Kustor Head of the Directorate ‛International and Legal Affairs and eGovernment Strategyʼ    Source: http://www.bmf.gv.at

The government programme defined digital development as an interdisciplinary issue. A Chief Digital Officer (CDO) was appointed in each Ministry to coordinate innovation and digitisation issues between Ministries, and work on a nationwide innovation and digitisation strategy.

Through a coordinated approach, goals such as the further automatisation of processes or the offer of improved digital services can be realised more efficiently. 

The CDO of the Federal Ministry of Finance (Maria Ulmer) is the head of General Directorate V (Digitisation and eGovernment). Maria Ulmer is also the CDO of the federal government.  

Even though the overall coordination of ICT and eGovernment policies and activities lies within the competence of the Federal Ministry of Finance, the different federal Ministries and agencies are responsible for implementing their own projects.  

The Directorate on Legal Affairs, eGovernment Strategy, EU and International Affairs supports the Platform Digital Austria at legal and organisational level, and represents Austrian positions at European and international level. 

The Secure Information Technology Centre (A-SIT) hosts the eGovernment Innovation Centre (eGovernment Innovationszentrum, EGIZ) that was founded in autumn 2005. The EGIZ is a research unit that investigates innovative technologies and solutions for eGovernment, and represents a platform and network for research activities with respect to eGovernment solutions. In cooperation with the strategy and implementation units, the eGovernment Innovation Centre allows for closer collaboration between research and application.  

With the adoption of the Federal Ministries Act in 2022, the Austrian Federal Computing Centre (Bundesrechenzentrum, BRZ) was incorporated into the Federal Ministry of Finance, transforming it into a competence centre for digitisation. 

Founded in May 1999 by the current members (the Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs, the Federal Computing Centre, the Graz University of Technology, the Danube University Krems and the Johannes Kepler University Linz), the Secure Information Technology Centre (A-SIT) is an independent non-profit association tasked with the development of expertise in the area of technical information security in service of the authorities, the economy and the citizens. Specific issues addressed include the introduction of the Citizen Card (eID), the evaluation of cryptographic methods and eGovernment security aspects. A-SIT also hosts the eGovernment Innovation Centre (eGovernment Innovationszentrum, EGIZ) that was founded in autumn 2005.  

Fit4internet is a non-partisan and independent association with the objective of qualifying and quantifying digital literacy among the Austrian population. More concretely, the ultimate goal is to enable the competent use of digital technologies and ensure a broad participation of the entire society in the digitisation process. 

The main objectives of the association are:  

• The rapid and standardised development of competences and knowledge dissemination to cope with digital demands in the Austrian economy and society; 

• The coordination of as many IT-relevant organisations and companies as possible to gain the broadest possible basis for the implementation of these goals; 

• The promotion of qualification offers for three focus groups: youth, employees and those re-entering the workforce, and seniors; 

• The bundling of activities to increase basic skills for mobile internet use; and 

• The development of the Austrian certification system for digital skills according to the EU DigComp. 

GovLabAustria is an innovation laboratory for the public sector operated by the University of Continuing Education Krems and the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Public Service and Sports. GovLabAustria is intended to make it possible to address central challenges of the public sector in an open and interdisciplinary experimental space, and to develop cross-organisational solution approaches with the involvement of the relevant stakeholders in a scientific-practical context. 

Senior representatives of regional and local governments participate in the Platform Digital Austria, which is headed by the Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) and is responsible for devising integrated eGovernment strategies. The objectives and roadmaps adopted by the platform are thus also valid for regional and local governments. These guidelines are then translated or included into regional and local strategies, for which Länder and municipal governments are responsible. 

To provide a uniform system of eGovernment, intensive cooperation across all levels of administration is required. Such cooperation is guaranteed by the support of the Platform Digital Austria, which operates as an umbrella for all working groups open to representatives of the federal, regional and local authorities. The open participation enables the federal administration, the regions, the Austrian Association of Cities and Towns, and the Austrian Association of Municipalities to develop joint solutions for legal, technical and organisational issues. The required transparency is ensured by a common information and communication platform. 

The responsibility for implementation lies with the individual states (Länder) and municipal governments.

The Austrian Association of Cities and Towns represents 258 members, including all towns with more than 10 000 inhabitants. The smallest city member has 1 000 inhabitants.  

The Austrian Association of Cities and Towns is involved in the preparation of legislation and, among other things, comments on some 100 federal regulations every year expressing the point of view of local governments. Moreover, representatives of the Austrian Association of Cities and Towns are active in a number of advisory bodies in fields such as the environment or welfare.  

Some 40 technical committees explore innovative measures and programmes adopted by towns and communities, issue statements on new legislation and discuss the implementation of new policies. eGovernment is currently one of their main focuses.  

The Austrian Association of Municipalities (Österreichischer Gemeindebund) is the entity representing the interests of small and medium-sized municipalities in Austria. A total of 2 084 municipalities are members of the association.