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Good practice Imported

Vienna Business Agency & Expat Center — international company attraction and talent services

Austria · Vienna · See the Austria profile · See the Vienna profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 29% 76/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

City-owned agency: 218 companies from 47 countries settled in Vienna in 2024, €530 M investment (+25% YoY), 915 jobs; 20-year tally: 3,100+ companies, €4.7 B, 24,000 jobs. Expat Center + Business Immigration Office: 5,200+ consultations for international workers in 2024.

218 companies
International companies settled (2024)
47 countries
Countries of origin (2024)
530 €M
Investment generated (2024)
25 %
YoY investment growth (2023-2024)
915 jobs
New jobs (2024)
5200+ consultations
Expat Center/BIO consultations (2024)
~1,000,000 visitors
ViennaBusiness platform visitors (first year (2024))
3100+ companies
Cumulative companies settled (2001-2024 (20 years))
4.7 €B
Cumulative investment (2001-2024 (20 years))
24000 jobs
Cumulative jobs (2001-2024 (20 years))
Vienna Business Agency & Expat Center — international company attraction and talent services

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Vienna Business Agency (Wirtschaftsagentur Wien) / City of Vienna
Period
{'end': '', 'start': '2001'}
Region (NUTS)
AT13
Keywords
Investment promotion, international talent attraction and integration

Context

The Vienna Business Agency (Wirtschaftsagentur Wien) is the City of Vienna's investment promotion and economic development agency, operating since 2001. It combines company attraction with the Expat Center and Business Immigration Office (BIO) servicing international skilled workers and their families.

Activities

Provides free consultations in up to 12 languages on company formation, tax, regulatory compliance, real estate search and recruitment support; the Expat Center is a single point of contact for key workers, entrepreneurs, researchers and scientists relocating to Vienna, handling visa and residence-permit queries, while the BIO streamlines business immigration.

Results

In 2024, 218 international companies from 47 countries set up operations in Vienna, generating ~€530M in investment (+25% on 2023) and 915 new jobs; Expat Center and BIO completed 5,200+ consultations; the ViennaBusiness digital platform attracted nearly 1 million visitors in its first year. Over 20 years cumulative: 3,100+ companies, €4.7B investment, ~24,000 jobs.

Conclusions

Integrating company attraction with a dedicated Expat Center and Business Immigration Office under one roof reduces friction for employers and international talent, delivering measurably increasing inward investment year after year.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Multilingual consultants (up to 12 languages) across company-formation, tax, and real-estate advisory, Expat Center case officers handling visa/residence-permit queries, Business Immigration Office (BIO) staff coordinating business immigration

Conditions for success

  • Single point of contact combining company attraction with talent/immigration services under one roof
  • Multilingual service capacity matching a highly international resident/workforce base
  • Sustained municipal funding and embedding in city governance since 2001

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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