Guidelines discussed with the key stakeholders in Austria

National conference on investments in sport in Austria was held on 5 march 2019 in the conference room of the Haus des Sport in Vienna, Austria. The conference was organised by SportsEconAustria Institute for Sport Economy, and the Federal Ministry of Civil Service and Sport.

Conference moderator Anna Kleissner welcomed participants and opened the conference and gave the floor to Philipp Trattner, Head of the Sports Department af the Austrian Federal Ministry of Civil Service and Sport. Mr. Trattner highlighted the need to collect better data on sport infrastructure in Austria, as well as to focus on smaller facilities and events. He added that the Federal Government provides only comparatively small contributions, but they show substantial effects.

The following presentation of the iSport project objectives was given by Alma Papić who highlighted the fact that sport is recognised for its potential to tackle societal challenges, but we need to improve our understanding of the role of sport as a driver for economic growth and employment.

Presentation of empirical results were given by Anna Kleissner and Guenther Grohall from SportsEconAustria. In Austria, sport contributes 4.12% to the GDP and makes up 5.63% of the employment. In this regard, Austria is the leading country in the EU. Guenther Grohall explained that an investment of 1 million euros in sport-related construction in every EU Member State would generate 23.83 million euros of gross value added (GVA) within the EU.

After the presentations, participants discussed what they heard and how can it be better. The conference ended with a conclusion that it is important to provide empirical results to guide investments in sport infrastructure. Another important conclusion was the need to translate that complex message into a tool that can be used easily.

The next conference on investments in sport will be held in Lisbon, Portugal.