Shareholders, Supervisory Board and management bodies ...

02
Annual Report 2008
Management report
Structural report
12
Annual Report 2008
2.1 Structural report
2.1.1 Strategic realignment of Austrian Research Centers (ARC)
The 2008 financial year witnessed a wide-ranging realignment of Group structures and activities
at ARC. Under the stewardship of Managing Directors Anton Plimon (appointed as Chief Executive
Officer on 1 April 2008) and Wolfgang Knoll (Chief Research Officer since 1 April 2008), a
comprehensive change process was introduced and a raft of other measures were taken.
The organisational and strategic changes were accompanied by a simplification of the ownership
structure. 2008 thus marked the starting point for an complete repositioning of Austrian Research
Centers.
The new Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) which has emerged from ARC will focus on
improving efficiency by means of restructuring and spin-offs, on new fields of research and on the
development of a new governance system. To this end, in 2008 Austrian Research Centers laid
the foundations for significant changes in the future portfolio, the organisational structure and the
institution’s role in the domestic and international innovation systems.
2.1.2 Ownership structure
The process of streamlining the ownership structure was initiated in 2008. The assignment
procedures notified by the Company by way of the contract of assignment signed on 18 December
2008 were registered on 25 March 2009, following an application to the register of companies filed
on 23 March 2009. As a result, the shareholders as of the reporting date were as follows:
Austrian government (Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology);
Federation of Austrian Industries (Association for the Promotion of Research and Innovation).
2.1.3 Organisational structure and research focus
The new organisational structure of the ARC Group is shown in the organisational chart below.
The new structure came into effect on 12 January 2009. It is derived from the four existing strategic
divisions: Health Technologies, Materials Technologies, Information Technologies and Mobility &
Energy. In future, our strategic research thrusts will be the responsibility of five departments: Foresight
& Policy Development, Health & Environment, Safety & Security, Mobility, and Energy.
Additional structural changes in 2008 resulted from the sale of some operations of the Research
Studios Division to Research Studios Austria Forschungsgesellschaft mbH (34 employees) with
effect from 1 June 2008 and to EOX-IT Services GmbH (four employees) as of 2 July 2008. The
continued operation of ECHEM GmbH — a former Kplus competency centre with 38 employees —
was assured by its partial sale to CEST GmbH. The latter is a K1 centre financed under the FFG
(Austrian Research Promotion Agency) COMET programme.
These disposals marked a major advance towards streamlining ARC’s strategic portfolio, and
aligning its activities with its new organisational structure and objectives. The change of name
from Austrian Research Centres to Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) will serve to highlight the
Company’s transformation.