What is the current state of digital transformation in Austrian public administration? What opportunities and best practices should we consider for the future? On behalf of the Austrian Parliament, the ITA is investigating how a socially sustainable transformation can be achieved and how the digital sovereignty of the public sector can be strengthened.
The digitisation of public administration has been progressing rapidly for at past two decades. Initially discussed under the heading of ‘e-government’, this referred in particular to communication between public authorities and citizens. The next step saw the increasing use of digital tools within the administration. As part of the reform partnership recently launched between the federal government, states, cities and municipalities, data-driven, automated and AI-based applications are to be increasingly introduced into the administration, ranging from communication with citizens and data storage to decision support and controlling. Associated opportunities range from improving services and securing knowledge and efficiency in the face of staff shortages to potential cost savings and socio-technical process innovation.
Austria ranks in the upper midfield (10th out of 27) in the latest EU eGovernance ranking for 2024, slightly above the EU average. Numerous digital solutions are currently being developed in public administration. However, collaboration between departments and administrative levels is often insufficient, with interfaces, standards, and shared objectives rarely being aligned or coordinated. This leads to redundancies and a lack of interoperability. The ‘Digital Austria Act 2.0’ initiative announced in June 2025 establishes a common strategic framework for the further development of digital administration. In order to drive this forward, institutional cooperation between different stakeholder groups is necessary, from development to implementation and integration. The study first assesses the status quo of digital transformation in Austrian administration and, based on this, analyses opportunities and best practices with a particular focus on strengthening the digital sovereignty of the public sector.
10/2025 - 06/2026
