Mrs. Sabine Ohler, head of International Business Development, and Mr. Nikolay Rodimov, regional manager of Vienna Business Agency, visited Sofia on June 25-27 at the invitation of Sofia Investment Agency. They took part in Meet Vienna Business Agency: Opportunities for Bulgarian Companies, an open meeting held on June 25 with Sofia entrepreneurs. In addition, they also attended and participated in the presentations on June 26-27 in the exhibition area of Sofia at Webit.Festival Europe 2018. The presentations at the meetings covered topics on Vienna’s business environment, good examples of the city’s management and opportunities that Sofia entrepreneurs can benefit from in case of interest in business start in Vienna and Austria.
The meeting Meet Vienna Business Agency: Opportunities for Bulgarian companies, organized by our team with the support of Eurocomm-PR, gathered more than 60 Sofia-based companies interested in business in Vienna. Mrs. Sabine Ohler presented the city’s policy in support of private business, priority industries and incentives which startups can benefit from in the Austrian capital.
In Vienna, only in 2017 a total of 190 companies started business, thus opening 1000 new jobs and bringing investments of over half million euro in the city. The Austrian capital is attractive to foreign investors not only due to its favorable geographic location in the heart of Europe but also because Vienna is an international center for organizations all over the world, home to 14 international schools and over 1500 research and development organizations. International companies feel good in this environment and have access to numerous talents among more than 200 000 students from all over the world.
Foreign investors within the Information and Telecommunication Technologies sector are interested in Vienna as the city is home to both large international companies and numerous startups with small teams of less than 10 people. Another priority sector with strong traditions is the biotechnology sector and the so-called life sciences. A number of co-working spaces and business incubators offer startup support packages for foreign entrepreneurs willing to set up business in Vienna. In addition to grants, startups in certain sectors also benefit from various tax reliefs.
It was very important to the businesses in Sofia, which show increasing interest in partnerships in Vienna, to find out what incentives the city offers for Sofia companies. A cooperation agreement between the two cities will allow more Austrian businesses to access more easily and with more confidence, Sofia partners and suppliers, Vladimir Danailov, CEO of Sofia Investment Agency, said in an interview for BloombergTV Bulgaria. He added that Sofia could benefit considerably from Vienna due to its experience of a world-renowned hub for investment and business.
Vienna Business Agency has been actively supporting the development of national and international companies in different sectors in the Austrian capital for more than 30 years through management of cash subsidies, real estate and consultancy. Our initiative for cooperation with Vienna is driven by a trend not only in Europe but also globally to establish partnership programs between cities in order to share good practices in urban management and negotiate policies to promote business cooperation between cities.
You can learn more about the benefits from the partnership between Sofia and Vienna in the interview for BloombergTV Bulgaria with Mrs. Sabine Ohler and Vladimir Danailov.