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R&D in the business enterprise sector, institutes sub-sector

The R&D survey in the business enterprise sector, institutes sub-sector, is carried out every two years and aims to collect accurate statistical data on the R&D activities of the members of the ACR ("Austrian Cooperative Research") and the COMET competence centres. Starting with October 2026, data on 2025 will be collected.

The definitions and standards on which this survey is based are the "Guidelines for collecting and reporting data on research and experimental development"  of the OECD, the so-called "Frascati Manual" (2015).

Definition of R&D: Research and experimental development (R&D) comprise creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge - including knowledge on humankind, culture and society - and to devise new applications on available knowledge.

The legal base of the survey is the Austrian R&D statistics regulation which in turn is based on respective EU legal acts for business statistics. These legal acts oblige Austria to report statistical data on R&D to the EU.

Data reported in the course of the survey are kept strictly confidential according to the confidentiality requirements laid down in the Austrian Federal Statistics Act and are used only for purposes foreseen in the Federal statistical Act 2000.

Due to the Federal Statistics Act 2000, BGBl. I Nr. 163/1999 and the national R&D statistics regulation quoted before (see legal basis, data protection), for enterprises participation in the survey is compulsory. The enterprises obliged to send in data are contacted by Statistics Austria by mail.

The reference period is the calendar year 2025. If the financial year differs from the calendar year, the period under review is the last financial year completed before 31 December 2025. If the enterprise was economically active less than 12 months, the financial year is a truncated year. Please report for that particular period.

Please complete the questionnaire until the deadline of 4 December 2026.

Explanatory notes to single questions are available in the web questionnaire and are marked by the green symbol "i".

Alternatively, explanatory notes are available as pdf and can be downloaded (in German only). 

The classification "Fields of Science" (OEFOS) can be found in the classification database on Statistics Austria`s website.

For detailed information on how to enter and use the web questionnaire see the information sheet on web reporting (in German only).

Please contact Statistics Austria if there are remaining questions for clarification (see Contact).

The R&D survey is conducted via a web questionnaire.

Web questionnaire

Use the link to access the web questionnaire and enter the user name ("Anmeldename") and password ("Passwort") that you will find on the letter from Statistics Austria.

When you log in for the first time, you must change your password. Enter the new unique password of your choice. Your password must achieve at least a “medium” password strength rating on the security bar. The more complex your new password is—including letters, numbers, and special characters—the shorter it can be. This password is only known to you and cannot be deciphered by Statistics Austria. After confirming the new password, please select "eQuest-Web" on the following page and then open the questionnaire by clicking on "Erhebung über Forschung und experimentelle Entwicklung (F&E) im Unternehmenssektor 2025" (Survey on research and experimental development (R&D) in the business enterprise sector 2025).

Under "E-mail verification" you also have the option of entering an e-mail address so that you can quickly reset your password yourself if necessary. Enter an e-mail address of your choice and follow the instructions in the e-mail sent to you to complete the process.

Paper questionnaire

Alternatively, you can also send in a paper questionnaire.

Please be sure to enter your enterprise's name and identification number (ID – see letter from Statistics Austria) in the address field of the questionnaire.

Send the completed questionnaire either by mail to

STATISTICS AUSTRIA 
Directorate Social Statistics, Research and Digitalisation unit 
Guglgasse 13, 1110 Vienna

or by e-mail to fue@statistik.gv.at.

Business Service Portal (USP -"Unternehmensserviceportal")

After your enterprise has registered and received authorisation from your enterprise’s USP administration for the eQuest-Web process, your enterprise also has the option to submit the report via the Business Service Portal (USP). In this case, you do not need any survey-specific access data for the web questionnaire; access is via the authorisation rules applicable to the USP and is available under "Mein USP - Services - Alle Services - eQuest-Web".

Last updated on 2026-09-11.