The business agency Ecoplus enables business settlements of all sizes and provides the infrastructure for companies in the form of business parks.
Pandemics, lockdowns, energy crisis – the challenges could not be greater at the moment for Ecoplus, the business agency of the Province of Lower Austria. But even in economically difficult times, more than 50 national and international companies were attracted to Lower Austria in the first half of 2022. Helmut Miernicki has been at the helm of the business agency for 19 years.
Next year you will celebrate your 20th anniversary as Managing Director of Ecoplus. The turbulent past three years surely weren’t boring for you?
of ecoplus. In the turbulent past three years,
You certainly aren't bored?
Helmut Miernicki: It has never been boring in the past 19 years. It’s the best job I can imagine, because the tasks are so diverse, wide-ranging and current. That’s why not a single day has been uninteresting in the almost 20 years. But the past three years have not only been challenging. During the pandemic, for example, there was also the revival of regionality. Would I have expected such a development? Not 19 years ago. At that time, I applied for the position of Managing Director of Ecoplus because I perceived it as an exciting company. This impression has been confirmed. It is an exciting job.
Have the tasks for Ecoplus changed in the past three years due to the pandemic and the energy crisis?
Miernicki: We had to break new ground. During the first lockdown in 2020, we immediately created the possibility on our homepage for domestic online retailers to be listed and thus increase awareness. Shops were closed and we wanted to prevent everyone from migrating to foreign online giants. We created new offers virtually overnight. Four years ago, we would never have imagined that we would be able to put together offers for regional trade together with the Economic Chamber that were very well received. There was not only the issue of the pandemic, but even before that the massive increase in environmental awareness. That’s why we launched new promotional programmes, such as on resource-conserving soil use. Of course, that was a longer process.
Could you ever have imagined such a surge in development in digitisation, sustainability and regionality?
Miernicki: It is unbelievable what the lockdowns have triggered in digitisation. But we were already betting on our House of Digitisation before the pandemic. We get very positive feedback from those trading companies that are listed on our homepage. This turbo in digitisation, sustainability and the development towards regionality would certainly not have happened without the pandemic.
What levers are you using to strengthen Lower Austria as a business location?
Miernicki: That is our service. We have excellent staff at Ecoplus who provide extremely competent and unbureaucratic support to every company operating in Lower Austria or which is interested in our business location. We organise round tables on the subject of subsidies or we conduct company visits on site. Companies interested in a location in Lower Austria should feel that they are warmly welcome. And those companies that are already active with us receive our fullest appreciation. The customer is king and our customers are the businesses and the municipalities.
On the other hand, we generally provide a top infrastructure, not only in our business parks. It is unbelievable what has been created in terms of new transport routes and educational infrastructure. But it is also about the quality of life in Lower Austria, and it has always been an important factor in the settlement of businesses. Company executives want to live where it is nice and where there is social support for the whole family, such as schools. In addition, it is our short decision-making paths. We can judge relatively quickly what is possible and what is not, for example, in terms of subsidies. These advantages are already an asset and a good offer that we can make as a business location.
Do you take care of all types and sizes of businesses?
Miernicki: Absolutely, with us there are no restrictions in terms of sectors or trades – every company is welcome. At our subsidiary Riz Up, a start-up agency, everyone who wants to start a business is given the best possible support.
Do you accompany the companies all the way from the foundation, the search for a location to the registration of a business?
Miernicki: If a company wants and needs that, then we do it. We accompany them to the building consultation days at the district administrative offices, during the filing process. We see ourselves as a full-service agency. For start-ups, we have bundled the business registrations together with the Economic Chamber under the brand ‘Gründerland Niederösterreich’. Riz Up is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Ecoplus and the Economic Chamber. We accompany entrepreneurs every step of the way upon request.
What are the costs for the companies?
Miernicki: All our services are free of charge.
This begs the question of how Ecoplus finances itself?
Miernicki: There are two financing channels, two accounting areas. We receive 29 million euros in regional funding per year from the Province of Lower Austria for administration. In addition, there are about six million in ERDF funds (NB: European Regional Development Fund). This money flows into funded projects, into clusters and into Technopole initiatives. The second accounting area is the income from our business parks, where we act like a private real estate provider without a cent of public money. What we invest there we also have to earn ourselves. Out of both pots, we partly pay for our staff, our advertising costs, our vehicle fleet, taxes, etc.
How did you manage to attract a total of 58 new businesses to Lower Austria in the first half of 2022 and initiate site expansions?
Miernicki: The special thing about this time is that there are uncertainties and challenges. On the other hand, Austria’s economy grew by six percent in the first half of 2022. Industry is booming, the construction industry was well utilised, there have never been so many people employed as at present. That is why we were able to achieve this half-term result. Boehringer Ingelheim is the largest company settlement in Lower Austria to date. Boehringer Ingelheim will invest 1.2 billion euros in a pharmaceutical production facility in Bruck an der Leitha, and Ankerbrot is also concentrating its baking activities in the district of Wiener Neustadt. This shows that we are triggering interest with our range of locations in Lower Austria. These companies could settle anywhere. In the case of Boehringer Ingelheim, we were in competition with four countries, but the decision was made in favour of Lower Austria.
Why Lower Austria in particular?
Miernicki: Because we made a top offer with the infrastructure of the Bruck an der Leitha Business Park. We were able to provide the appropriate space that Boehringer Ingelheim needs now and in the future for expansion. A top offer is available for sustainable energy supply. This was very important to the company because they want to build a Green Factory that is powered by renewable energy. In addition, the transport links are excellent. That’s why Boehringer didn’t go to Spain, didn’t go to Germany and didn’t go to the United States, but to Bruck an der Leitha.
Listening to you, you exude enthusiasm. What is it about your job that fascinates you so much?
Miernicki: As I said at the beginning, every project is different from the previous one and from the next one. Examples such as a pharmaceutical and bread production show that the province of Lower Austria is not only very beautiful, but has an enormous diversity. When I compare Vienna’s surrounding area with its population growth and traffic challenges with the Alpine foothills, where there is a one-class primary school in Annaberg-Mitterbach, there is incredible variety.
Does that also keep you young?
Miernicki: I hope so! But you’ll have to ask my wife. I don’t feel much different than 19 years ago when I started at Ecoplus. I look a little different. It’s a lot of fun.
Is there still the legendary rivalry between the Lower Austrians and the Viennese?
Miernicki: Today there is no comparison to the past. We work together excellently with our colleagues at the Vienna Business Agency. It has been recognised in recent years that the competition for business locations does not take place between Floridsdorf and Hagenbrunn, but the Viennese area is in competition with Prague, Munich or Budapest. We make sure in Vienna and Lower Austria that we can make a good offer to companies as an overall region. Of course, I am happy when Lower Austria is chosen. We feel that this is healthy competition, which always encourages us to offer a good service. The big competitors are in the neighbouring countries.
Please explain briefly the system of business parks that Ecoplus operates and manages.
Miernicki: We have 16 business parks throughout Lower Austria, either in 100 percent ownership or by means of shareholdings. They are spread across the entire province, from the Waldviertel to Wiener Neustadt, from Ennsdorf to Bruck an der Leitha. That amounts to about 1,000 hectares with more than 1,100 international and Austrian companies, with more than 23,500 employees working in the business parks. This is dedicated and open building land for industry or businesses. There are good transport connections. We sell these plots, grant building rights, erect rental halls and operate more than 80 rental properties with more than 400 companies leased in. The largest business park is the Industriezentrum NÖ-Süd, located directly on the A2 motorway after the SCS shopping centre in the direction of Wiener Neustadt. There we also take care of facility management, wastewater disposal, snow removal, energy supply and much more. These are areas for companies willing to settle or expand.
© ecoplus / Imre Antal
Does a modern business location have to offer more than just a greenfield site, namely various incentives for companies?
Miernicki: I would like to emphasise that we have many business parks and can thus attract companies. We are just as happy about every business settlement that does not take place in our business parks. When it comes to the proverbial ‘green field’, we are on the subject of land use, which has rightly been a topic of discussion in recent years. Undeveloped land is increasingly becoming a precious commodity, among other things because of the protection of groundwater and necessary infiltration areas. That is why we launched a new programme for ecological site renewal three years ago.
With this programme, we want to bring old industrial sites, which have grown and aged over the past decades and belong to the municipalities, up to date. This concerns, for example, the design of green spaces and traffic connections with cycle paths. We are adding two floors to our multi-storey car park in Wiener Neudorf instead of asphalting an open area, which would be much easier and cheaper. Our business parks are largely equipped with LED lighting. The topic of sustainability is high on our agenda.
In recent years, Lower Austria has undergone a massive expansion as a location for research and education. To what extent is Ecoplus involved in this?
Miernicki: In Lower Austria we have three universities of applied sciences with several locations and the Danube University in the field of tertiary education. At the four locations Wieselburg, Krems, Tulln and Wiener Neustadt there are so-called Technopoles, where we want to combine and bring together research, education and business. This makes it possible to have short lines of communication. The four Technopoles each have a thematic focus. In Krems it is health technology, in Tulln biobased technologies, in Wiener Neustadt medical and material technology and in Wieselburg bioenergy and food technology. It is an essential point that Lower Austria has increasingly developed from a heavy industry and agricultural region to a knowledge- based region. The Technopole programme also received an award in Brussels.
And then there are the new high-tech platforms …
Miernicki: They have to be seen in the immediate context of the technopoles and the clusters, because it has been shown that Lower Austria has an extraordinary potential for further development in three areas as many things are already in place. These are aerospace with the main location Wiener Neustadt in close cooperation with the Technopole there, health technology and the field of material cycles, the bioeconomy.
When people think of Lower Austria, they tend to think of the Wachau and wine, rather than technology and research. Is an image correction necessary?
Miernicki: Thank God people think of the Wachau and the wine! But a rolling stone gathers no moss, and standing still is a step backwards. That is a fact of life in our fast-moving times. That is why one of our three main topics is digitisation. The House of Digitisation in Tulln, which cost 33 million euros, is currently under construction.
Digitisation permeates all areas of life, business and research. This is the basis for further development. That is why we want to use the House of Digitisation as a lighthouse project to present Lower Austria as a digital showcase. A next main topic will be energy procurement from sustainable sources. With the Bioeconomy Platform, we are looking at alternative forms of energy beyond wind and photovoltaics. That’s about geothermal energy or biomethane. If we can continue to score in the two areas of digitisation and alternative energies, I don’t think we’ll have an out-dated image.