GRAZ

Geographical Conditions:
(Pleas give a brief description and quantitative rates, if accessible)
Graz is the capital of the province of Styria. Because of its geographical location at the centre of the EU’s south-east, Graz is especially geopolitically important.
Through traditionally good connections to the countries, regions and cities of the Alpine-Adriatic-Panonian area, Graz functions as a turnable and interface with considerable potential for development with respect to the growth markets of Southern and Eastern Europe.
The coming eastwards expansion of the European Union opens up new chances for the Graz economic area. The city wants to use the opportunity to be a turnable to the emerging markets of the new EU countries (Slovenia and Hungary).

Distances to important cities (kilometers on the road):
Bratislava 255km
Budapest 320km
Ljubljana 199km
Muenchen 408km
Trieste 347km
Wien 189km
Zagreb 190km

Political Location / Administrative Function:
Today Graz is the economic, scientific and cultural centre of the southeastern Austria. It is a mixture of diverse aspects that makes the city so attractive: classics and avantgarde, High-Tech and tradition, old town and modern architecture, idyllic and open-minded. These elements combine to enliven Graz and its population, economy and culture and form the basis for the city’s prosperous development.
Typical for the business location Graz are the nearness to the central area of Europe, the high business dynamism and the great research and development resources. According to population, Graz is the second largest city in Austria, combining the infrastructure of a big city with the advantages of a manageable structure.

The high concentration of research and development centres, for example Joanneum research, as well as numerous institutes of higher and further education are responsible for the highly qualified human resources and the high level education among people in paid employment in Graz.
There are three universities with about 43 000 students and the centre of academic colleges, with various fields, for example Automation technologies and Marketing. These “Think Tanks” provide an inexhaustible reservoir of permanent renewal and development. Distinguished scientific experts and internationally recognised scholars guarantee the compactness of the scientific volume.

Graz was the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2003. Graz is a city of good education, great willingness to innovate, security and stability and of high quality of life.

Present population: cca 305 546 inh.
Households: 105 563
Employed persons: 104 560
Students: 43 570

Estate Market:
With around one third of economic power of the province of Styria, the capital Graz is the economic centre of Styria.
The main emphasis is on economic and production-type services.
Around 1,8 million people live within a radius of a one hour’s drive, and five European capitals can be reached by car within three hours: Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana and Zagreb. Graz also offers both the advantages of a city with ecxellent educational facilities and good economic data, and the opportunity to open up new markets.

Parallel to the famous large firms, such as the world-leading engine development enterprise AVL, a wide basis of innovative and dynamic small and medium-sized businesses is forming, creating a concentration of high-tech enterprises in the Graz area. The enterprises can build on the city’s already existing strengths. Energy and environmental technology, as well as initiatives such as Okoprofit Graz, enjoy an excellent international reputation. Today, Styria is already Austria’s most important producer of high-tech products, and can claim expertise in the automobile industry, telecommunications, environmental technology, information technology and medical technology as a decisive competitive advantage.

Graz is the turnable for and most important centre of the “Acstyria” (Automobile Cluster Styria). Research and development sites such as the Graz University of Technology, Joanneum research and the engine development enterprise AVL and supplier enterprises such as Magna and Remus, as well as well-known production enterprises, like Chrysler-Eurostar and Steyr –Fahrzeugtechnik (SFT) all combine in the cluster to form a powerful network. The Acstyria is one of the most succesful of Austria’s recent economic initiatives.

Apprentices in Styria 1999 by industry:
Business and trades 10 926
Industry 2 511
Commerce 2 637
Banking and insurances 84
Traffic and telecommunication 285
Tourism and leisure 2 322
Others 1 479

- about 370 000 people are living in the region of Graz (about 31% of the whole population of the province of Styria)
- 13 853 employer enterprises (enterprises with one or more emplyees) guarantee a dynamic labour market, almost a third of these enterprises created new jobs
- there are cca 193 685 jobs (almost every second job in Styria is in the region of Graz), 74,7% in the tertiary sector, 24,7% in the secondary sector, 0,6% in the primary sector
- the trades, which increase most are: technology(chemistry, vehicle constructing, construction management, electrical engineering, electronics, precision mechanics), economic services

The Median gross income of Graz is cca 1. 708, 54 Euro, in the district of Graz it is cca 1.708,22 Euro.
The purchasing power per person is cca 10.815,24 Euro.
Graz has almost 600.000 overnight stays per year.