Austria should become Europe’s number one infrastructure country
In the presence of Federal Minister Ing. Norbert Hofer and the political initiator, Andreas Ottenschläger, Member of the National Council and transport spokesperson of the ÖVP party, and his colleague Christian Hafenecker, Member of the National Council and transport spokesperson of the FPÖ party, the transport and infrastructure initiative ZOVI was presented to the public for the first time on 2nd October. In a cooperation of leading transport and infrastructure companies that is unique throughout Europe, comprehensive alliance and partner projects will be developed.
The initiative focuses on a new form of efficient and implementation-oriented collaboration across traditional corporate, industry and infrastructure boundaries. The 15 founding companies of the alliance platform are leading companies in the three main infrastructure clusters of transport, energy, as well as information and communication technology (ICT).
“With ZOVI, we want to play our part in actively improving our location, bringing Austria to the top in Europe in terms of traffic and infrastructure. By working together under this new form of alliance we will achieve more synergies, better coordination and, eventually, better results for all Austrians. All projects will have a strong location benefit”, is the jointly formulated motivation of the 15 founding CEOs.
ZOVI is currently formed by the following founders / founding companies: DI Wolfgang Anzengruber (Verbund), Dr. Ulrike Baumgartner-Gabitzer (APG), Mag.(FH) Paul Blaguss (Blaguss Gruppe), Dr. Erich Forster (WESTbahn), Marcus Grausam (A1), KR Ing. Wolfgang Hesoun (Siemens Österreich), Mag. Wolfram Senger-Weiss (Gebrüder Weiss), Mag. Wolfgang Jani (Austrian Airlines), Ing. Werner Knausz (Altstoff Recycling Austria), Robert Machtlinger (FACC), Günter Birnstingl (DHL), Mag. Andreas Matthä (ÖBB), Prof. Dr. Günther Ofner (Flughafen Wien), DI Hans-Peter Weiss (BIG) and Mag. Karin Zipperer (ASFINAG).
The aim of the platform is to plan 20-25 joint alliance projects in the coming months and to implement them together as part of an Austrian alliance. These include project topics such as targeted support for national climate protection goals (e.g.through a joint photovoltaic campaign), more added value than transit in Austria (e.g.by better and modern transport links between the hubs) and new pilot projects or trials for an even more efficient infrastructure development (e.g.”Smart City” as well as in multi-modal freight traffic).
Federal Minister Ing. Norbert Hofer at the press conference: “The goal of the Federal Government is to make Austria Europe’s number one country in terms of traffic and infrastructure, Hence we need an even more efficient cooperation of all infrastructures in terms of high quality and multimodal transport. Hence, I very much welcome this new form of cooperation.”
ZOVI is an open project platform. The project work takes place in the context of task forces involving experts from science, the Austrian interest groups, the administration as well as civil society. In addition, as part of an open online participation at www.zovi.at, there is the opportunity for all citizens to submit their project ideas.
In addition, the ZOVI has a scientific advisory board with the following founding members to support the projects through their expertise: Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Friedrich Zibuschka, Ass. Prof. Dkfm. Mag. Dr. Brigitta Riebesmeier, GF DI Anton Plimon, Dr. Werner Rosinak, Baurat H.C. DI Ing. Josef Prem and Vizerektor Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Horst Bischof.