Digitalks at the House of Digitalization in Tulln

From theory to practice – successfully leveraging the opportunities of digitalization in the skilled trades and service sectors.

Digitalization is no longer a future topic – digital technologies are now an integral part of everyday life. Digitalization affects all private and business sectors, including industry, skilled trades, services, healthcare, and public administration.

"Digitalization offers businesses numerous opportunities to become better, more efficient, and more competitive. The State of Lower Austria, the Lower Austrian Chamber of Commerce, and the House of Digitalization are working together to support businesses in their digitalization efforts, enabling them to make the most of these opportunities. Examples of joint support services include the digi4Wirtschaft funding program, the Technology and Innovation Partners (TIP), and the ongoing 'Cybersecurity Awareness' roadshow," said Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner.

"The opportunities certainly lie in making work processes even simpler, more efficient, and, in keeping with the motto 'The customer is king,' even more service-oriented. We at the Lower Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKNÖ) offer tailored solutions for each sector through the TIP (Technology and Innovation Platform) – in cooperation with the State of Lower Austria. Because one thing is clear: there's no way around digitalization in our companies," emphasizes WKNÖ President Wolfgang Ecker.

A new, particularly practice-oriented event series, "Digitalks," aims to show small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) how digitalization can optimize business processes and workflows. To this end, companies are being directly addressed, and concrete support services are being developed. The series kicked off yesterday with a "Digitalks" event for craft and service businesses.

In a panel discussion, various practical examples from Lower Austrian craft and service businesses were presented, and challenges were addressed. Thematic sessions with experts focused on funding opportunities for digitalization, cybersecurity in companies, process digitalization, and further training programs related to digitalization. The range of services related to digitalization extends from e-commerce services and the AI ​​Academy of WIFI Lower Austria to the portal "it-safe.at," which provides information on cybersecurity throughout Austria.

Furthermore, the attending craft and service businesses were able to select specific workshop offerings from a catalog of topics offered by the Technology and Innovation Partners (TIP) in a live vote. The majority of companies opted for the workshop topics "Efficiency through Digitalization – Digitizing Internal Workflows and Processes, Connecting Software and Machines" and "AI – What are the Benefits? – What Solutions Do AI Tools Offer in Everyday Business?"

The workshop offerings will be developed over the summer and offered from the end of September at the House of Digitalization and at the regional Chamber of Commerce offices in each district.

The workshop offerings will be developed over the summer and will be available from the end of September at the House of Digitalization and at the regional Chamber of Commerce offices in each district. "The targeted personal encounters in the 'House of Digitalization' with people, projects, innovations, and partners network, inspire, and motivate. Together, we bring projects of Lower Austrian SMEs into the spotlight and make the Lower Austrian digitalization network visible," emphasize ecoplus Digital Managing Directors Lukas Reutterer and Claus Zeppelzauer.