We asked twelve Austrian founders to pick their local hero from the startup ecosystemGiven how recent the startup scene is in Austria, there’s a lot going on. The first STARTvienna event in 2009 with 40 attendees, became Pioneers Festival that now welcomes 2,500 participants every year.Equally important is the nonprofit AustrianStartups, supporting the scene since 2013, hosting a monthly...
Vienna Independent Shorts celebrates stylish strokes of avant-garde cinemaIn this age of shortened attention spans, when smartphones are streaming video-on-demand, cinema’s short form is making an unexpected comeback. Originally the movie format of carnival sideshows, short films today do what their feature-length cousins can’t: act as an experimental playground where creativity can run wild.Locally, many of the best are...
Austrian band contests and the next generation in pursuit of the big stageby Benjamin Kubaczek & Cynthia Peck “Competitions are for horses, not artists,” quipped Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. Perhaps. But the world thinks otherwise, and competitions are flourishing – not only in classical music.Band contests have seen an upsurge in recent years. There are 50 in Austria alone, according...
Austria’s international wine festival uncorkedImagine throngs of winemakers cramped shoulder to shoulder, vying for the attention of thirsty drinkers (sorry, “tasters”) who jostle for position with wine-stained hands outstretched, glasses hung around necks for safe keeping, ready and willing to sample anything over 10 per cent alcohol. This is the VieVinum, Austria’s biannual blockbuster trade fair for wine growers,...
For indoors and out, Austrian companies have come up with simple solutions for our everyday needs, at home and on the moveWith technology advancing at breakneck speed, consumer electronics are now more ingenious than ever. And Austrian inventors are taking full advantage of the opportunities. Here are two gadgets conceived locally, filling needs you never knew you had!Portable PowerTrekking...
Maggie Smith brings Alan Bennett’s touching memoir to lifeDescribing itself as a “mostly true” story (more on that later), The Lady in the Van dramatizes the unlikely relationship between celebrated playwright/screenwriter Alan Bennett (The Madness of King George, The History Boys), played by Alex Jennings, and eccentric bag lady Ms. Sheperd (played by Maggie Smith, reprising her stage role),...
The Viennese can be a tad formal at times: strings of titles, hand kissing, fancy dress. But when you’ve had the Hofburg down the street for some 750 years, it can gradually make an impression. With 16 wings, over 2,600 rooms, the former seat of imperial power and winter residence of the Habsburgs is a city unto itself. With the...
How yesterday’s industrial graveyards are turning into today’s hotbeds of innovationAkron and Albany, Dresden and Eindhoven, Oulo and Portland – if you have ever heard of these places, it was probably not in connection with cutting-edge research, industrial prowess and high-tech innovation. But you should have.Antoine van Agtmael and Fred Bakker, an American economist and a Dutch journalist, respectively,...
Austria often looks to America’s can-do approach to business, but can it foster its own forward-leaning climate while still preserving its heritage?Anyone who has done business in both Austria and the United States will tell you the same thing. It’s like night and day.This is not to say one is better, or more lucrative. It’s just very different. Some...
