13.07.2026

Lower Austria's digital businesses are up for election

To mark Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Day, digi4Wirtschaft is showcasing how Lower Austrian businesses are digitizing. At the end of June, the UN highlighted the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises for the global economy. In Austria, almost all businesses fall into this category. The digi4Wirtschaft program, in collaboration with the House of Digitalization, is currently demonstrating how these companies are using digital tools in their daily operations. Twelve Lower Austrian projects are up for selection, and the public can vote for the winner until the end of July.

STRMZ Media e.u

This year, 12 projects are open to the jury and voting to determine the best digi4Wirtschaft project for 2025/2026. Handcrafted items at the Hager bakery.

A Day for Those Who Keep Us Daily Lives

On June 27, the UN celebrated Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day, honoring small and medium-sized enterprises worldwide. This day, established by the General Assembly in 2017, aims to highlight the contribution of these businesses to the global development goals. In Austria, this encompasses almost the entire economy. Around 604,100 businesses were classified as SMEs in 2024, representing 99.7 percent of all domestic companies. They employed approximately 2.46 million people, or 65 percent of all workers in the market-oriented economy, and together generated around €169 billion, 56 percent of the total economic output in this sector.

These figures explain why a bakery in St. Pölten or a craft business in the Weinviertel region is just as important to the Austrian economy as an international corporation. Yet, such businesses rarely receive the same level of recognition.

Where the biggest gap lies

The difference between small and large companies becomes clearly visible when it comes to digitalization. 73 percent of Austrian SMEs have reached a basic level of digital literacy, compared to 71 percent in the EU. The gap is even wider when it comes to more demanding applications: only 25 percent use data analytics, compared to 39 percent in the EU average. Austria, at 40 percent, also lags behind the EU average of 46 percent in cloud technologies. Artificial intelligence is now used by 29 percent of SMEs, almost twice as many as a year ago.

The lag is rarely due to a lack of interest. A company with five employees has neither the time nor the personnel to independently test and implement new software. This is precisely where regional support programs come in.

Twelve companies, one year, one program

The digi4Wirtschaft stimulus program, funded by the State of Lower Austria and the Lower Austrian Chamber of Commerce, supports local companies in implementing concrete digitalization projects. From May 2025 to May 2026, the Lower Austrian Chamber of Commerce and the State of Lower Austria, together with the House of Digitalization, presented twelve successful projects.

The range of projects demonstrates how diverse digitalization can be in everyday life. At the Hager bakery in St. Pölten, artificial intelligence supports production planning, ensuring that fresh baked goods are available until closing time and that less is wasted. The logistics company BTG plans its truck transports with a new AI-powered dispatching tool. At HAAS Garten-, Dach- und Landschaftsbau GmbH (HAAS Garden, Roof and Landscape Construction GmbH), an app has replaced handwritten timesheets. Traction Systems Austria in Wiener Neudorf now records its production data automatically instead of manually.

Haus der Digitalisierung, aus dem Video „Projekt digi4Wirtschaft – HAAS Garten-, Dach- und Landschaftsbau GmbH" (YouTube)

Digital documentation at HAAS Garden, Roof and Landscape Construction

The choice lies with all Lower Austrians

Which of the twelve projects impresses you the most? Until the end of July, everyone can vote online for their personal favorite at www.abstimmungdigi4wirtschaft.at. In September, State Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner and WKNÖ President Wolfgang Ecker awarded the winning project. The winning company receives an advertising package as well as either an image video or an event in the showroom of the Haus der Digitalisierung in Tulln.