Together with academic and other partners, we operate the Ludwig Boltzmann Institutes (LBI) at various locations in Austria. These institutions are created after strict selection processes, initiate new research topics, can react flexibly to current social and scientific developments and conduct interdisciplinary pioneering research. At the same time, they offer scientists the freedom to think outside the box.

What we do for Austria and the research community

Cutting-edge research in fields important to society: establishing and running our own research institutes (Ludwig Boltzmann Institutes) together with or on behalf of Austrian and international universities and partner organisations.

Promoting innovative clinical research: implementing funding programmes for patient-oriented clinical research groups (Ludwig Boltzmann Research Groups).

Bringing together the scientific community, society, the business community and policy makers: we bring together stakeholders from the fields of research, technology and innovation (RTI) and establish a dialogue between them and society, the business community as well as policy makers (Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft).

Career development for researchers: our Ludwig Boltzmann Career Center accompanies and supports the individual development of researchers and establishes connections among researchers.

Open research for innovation: our very own Open Innovation in Science Center (Ludwig Boltzmann OIS Center) provides the research community with access to innovation tools and supports the involvement of various stakeholders in the research process.

“People, not Projects”

We ask and answer pertinent questions  concerning health and society. To that end, we facilitate and carry out highly efficient, innovative, cutting-edge research. We bring together the most brilliant researchers in Austria or establish connections between them and Austria as a research location. The research work of all LBIs focuses on scientific debate aimed at solving social problems and issues. A key guiding principle is the focus on ‘people, not projects’: the emphasis is on outstanding scientists (institute directors) who are capable of generating new questions and conducting their research at a consistently high level of quality. However, the LBI’s proposed research project should also demonstrate scientific excellence through its combination of subject matter, personnel, ambition and scientific approach. The proposed research should address important challenges, have ambitious goals and go beyond the state of the art (e.g. novel concepts and approaches or developments between or across disciplines). By the end of an LBI’s term at the latest, the results of the excellent research should be applied or adopted by society.

Research at the LBI is conducted in partnership between traditional research organisations (universities, private universities, non-university research organisations, etc.) and traditional research application organisations (‘application partners’ such as companies, public administration, medical and social care institutions, insurance companies, interest groups and umbrella organisations, NGOs, charitable institutions, etc.).

The LBG also includes the LBG Open Innovation in Science Center, which taps into the potential of open innovation for science, and the LBG Career Center, which supports doctoral students, pre-docs and post-docs in their career development. The interaction of excellent research with the targeted use of open innovation in science methods distinguishes us as a research organisation.

In 2020, the LBG was included in the new Research Funding Act (FoFinaG) as a “central research institution”, giving it long-term funding and planning security. In July 2022, the first performance agreement was signed between LBG and the Republic of Austria, making a total of 18.15 million euros available for innovative, socially relevant research for the period 2022-23. In addition, a funding programme was launched: The Clinical Research Group is Austria’s first funding programme in the field of non-commercial disease- and patient-oriented (translational), consortium-based clinical research.

These independent commissions consist of internationally renowned experts from the respective scientific field as well as specialists in scientific evaluation and research management.

The results of these regular evaluations provide the basis for decision-making on the re-sharpening or correction of measures taken, but also on the establishment of new institutions or the continuation or dissolution of existing ones.

The LBG as a whole is also subject to evaluations. As a result of such an evaluation, the strategic goals of the LBG until 2025 were defined as follows:

• Developing novel solutions to complex societal problems.
• Unlocking the full potential of open innovation in science.
• Modern approaches to leadership, management and individual career paths