Around 300 stakeholders from business, research and public administration, including the AI Factory Austria AI:AT consortium and representatives of several European AI factories, gathered on 24 February 2026 for the opening of the AI:AT Coworking Hub at SOLARIS (Karl-Farkas-Gasse 22, 1030 Vienna) and the subsequent evening event at the Marx Palast. This marked an exceptionally strong presence of the European AI Factories network in Vienna in one location. The focus was on building sovereign AI capabilities in Austria, practical access to European high-performance computing resources (EuroHPC) and the transfer of sophisticated AI applications into implementation.
Innovation Minister Peter Hanke: "A milestone in Austria's AI development"
"The AI Factory is a milestone in strengthening Austria's digital sovereignty and a central element in the AI ecosystem of Austria as a location for innovation. We are thus creating an important offering for mastering AI technologies and implementing challenging AI projects, and securing access to AI hardware and expertise for our companies, including many SMEs and start-ups – both of which are central to Austria as a location for business and innovation. With the Coworking Hub, we are offering a training space with a range of courses from beginner and executive formats to technical training," explains Innovation and Infrastructure Minister Peter Hanke at the opening of the Coworking Hub at SOLARIS.
Focus on European networking and practical examples
The evening event combined political analysis, European perspectives and practical examples from the Austrian AI ecosystem. At the same time, the programme highlighted the role of AI:AT as an active networker in the European context, bringing together representatives of several AI factories in Vienna to share their experiences from their national implementation models.
The programme was opened by AI:AT co-leads Karl Kugler and Markus Stöhr, followed by an opening interview with Innovation Minister Peter Hanke. AI:AT sees itself as a market-neutral, independent access point for ambitious AI projects and combines infrastructure access, hands-on expertise, competence building and ecosystem networking to make AI applications effective in practice.
An international perspective was provided by the keynote speech "How a Country Can Advance the Adoption of AI" by Andreas Liebl (CEO, appliedAI Initiative). In the first panel, "Infrastructure, Transfer, and Sovereignty for Europe's AI Competitiveness," representatives from industry, research, politics and the European Commission discussed, among other things Kilian Gross (Director in DG Connect for Directorate C "Enabling and Emerging Technologies"), Christoph Knogler (CEO KEBA Group AG and Head of the AI Task Force of the Federation of Austrian Industries), Andreas Kugi (Scientific Director of the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and member of the AI Factory Austria Governance Board), Marta Sabou (Bilateral AI, Vienna University of Economics and Business) and Henriette Spyra (BMIMI, Head of Section III "Innovation and Technology").
The fireside chat "AI Factories in the Network" took up the idea of European networking. Matteo Angelinelli (IT4LIA/CINECA), Lucia Demovičová (Antenna Slovakia), Sašo Džeroski (Slovenian AI Factory, SLAIF) and Dennis Hoppe (HammerHAI) discussed concrete experiences from the European AI Factories network. This meant that European networking was not only discussed, but also put into practice during the event. The programme was supplemented by practical examples from the hub environment, including anyconcept (Leander Zaiser), NEOALP (Christian Tauber) and Sinntelligence (Matthias F. Brandstetter, Tomislav Autischer).
Initial results and measurable impact of AI Factory Austria AI:AT
Since the launch of its training and enablement programme in July 2025, AI:AT has achieved its first robust results. These include more than 20 training courses with over 900 participants, support for more than 40 projects and organisations, including start-ups and public administration institutions, more than 10 partnerships launched, and 30 events to strengthen the community. These figures underscore AI:AT's claim to be a market-neutral, independent access point that provides guidance, infrastructure access, competence building and networking for demanding AI projects in Austria.
AI:AT already supports organisations in accessing European high-performance computers in the EuroHPC ecosystem and in classifying and supporting computationally intensive AI projects in interaction with the ecosystem. During the event, concrete practical examples from the hub environment were presented, including anyconcept, NEOALP and Sinntelligence.
Voices from AI Factory Austria and the AI Factory Austria consortium
"AI Factory Austria supports customers as an independent, trustworthy partner in the effective use of AI. The AI:AT Coworking Hub at SOLARIS is a place where infrastructure, expertise and collaboration come together. Our mission is to translate scientific excellence into application, value creation and social benefit," said Karl Kugler, Co-Lead AI Factory Austria. Kugler added: "If we want Austria to shape AI and not just observe it, then we need strong ecosystems and places like this where they come together."
"EuroHPC systems are making high-performance computing more widely accessible today, including for SMEs, start-ups, industry and public administration. At AI Factory Austria, our goal is to make this access as easy as possible and to support organisations in its practical use. At the same time, we are laying the foundation for Austria to be able to support the entire AI life cycle on modern infrastructure in the future, with high requirements for data sovereignty and security," said Markus Stöhr, Co-Lead AI Factory Austria.
"With AI Factory Austria, we are creating a structured bridge between scientific excellence and effective application. It is crucial that we not only research AI, but also make it scalable under real-world conditions, with sovereign infrastructure, technical expertise and a strong network of research, industry and public administration. This is precisely where AI:AT's strategic strength lies for Austria and for the European context," said Andreas Kugi, Scientific Director of the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and member of the AI Factory Austria Governance Board.
"For TU Wien, AI:AT is an important lever for more closely integrating cutting-edge research, technological development and industrial implementation. AI Factory Austria creates a framework in which sophisticated AI applications are not developed in isolation, but can be put into practice together with the right partners and on a powerful infrastructure. This strengthens Austria as a location for innovation in the long term," said Wolfgang Kastner, Vice-Rector of TU Wien and member of the AI Factory Austria Governance Board.
"AI Factory Austria highlights how important the close connection between research, training and application is for the future of AI. From the perspective of the University of Vienna, it is particularly relevant that AI:AT combines scientific expertise with concrete implementation formats, thus creating a reliable framework for the responsible and effective use of AI. This creates added value for science, business and public institutions alike," said Nikolaus Hautsch, Vice-Rector of the University of Vienna and member of the AI Factory Austria Governance Board.
Coworking and community as a national hub
The AI:AT Coworking Hub at SOLARIS is designed as a place for work and community. As a physical hub, it offers space for project teams, partners and exchange formats, from meetups and workshops to collaborations between start-ups, industry, research and public administration. Currently, 67 co-workers from 28 companies and five industries work there, with a total of 94 coworking spaces available. At the same time, AI Factory Austria has a nationwide focus. The consortium includes key research and innovation players in Austria, and AI:AT collaborates with relevant initiatives and networks throughout the country to broadly anchor demand, competence building and implementation capacities for AI.
