Less than six months after the ground-breaking ceremony kicking off the fifth construction phase, Lakeside Park has announced further expansion and a sixth construction stage. The high capacity utilisation of the Science & Technology Park and the great interest in the premises have encouraged the development that will provide additional facilities for research and business enterprises and thus further expand this unrivalled business, research and education campus in the south of Austria.

Completion of the thirteenth building shell (construction work only began in summer) has now been celebrated with a topping-out ceremony. This fifth construction phase will be completed in the course of 2019 and will offer new space for research in the collaboration of humans and robots, projects dedicated to drone research and further development in these fields. The total investment for the additional 4,600 sqm is € 13 million. And yet, the growing Carinthian technology park has not reached its final size - a sixth construction phase will begin in spring 2019.

"We made the decision to have a fourteenth building because of the high capacity utilisation of almost 100% and the great interest technology-oriented companies are showing in the Park", explains Lakeside Park Manager Mag. Hans Schönegger with pride. 70 companies, a business incubator, three research institutes and a dedicated lab for sciences education now use the Park - and 1,300 people work there. "We are continuing our development, and the number of companies that appreciate the benefits of this excellent location is increasing", Schönegger said. The sixth construction stage means a total investment of € 17 million and comprises an additional 4,000 sqm office space plus a multi-storey car park for more than 500 cars.

"Lakeside Park is a success model of strategic regional development and a flagship for Austria. The cooperation between companies, research and educational institutions we have here at this site is the decisive competitive edge in the globalised race for professional experts. It is gratifying to see the high speed of this positive development at Lake Wörthersee", says Austrian Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology, Norbert Hofer.

"The interdisciplinary and application-oriented research plus close collaboration between science and business enterprises have made Lakeside Park an innovation hub in the south of Austria of international standing and appeal. The expansion of the Park creates the conditions for attracting more companies and young people and creating new high-tech jobs in Carinthia", says Dr. Gaby Schaunig, Vice Governor of Carinthia.

"Lakeside Park is the ideal cooperation platform for research, education and business and always develops new business fields and areas of application. The expansion of the Park is boosting the attention international players are paying to Klagenfurt as a place where the technologies of the future are developed. This will in turn attract international companies", says Dr. Maria-Luise Mathiaschitz, Mayor of the City of Klagenfurt.

The International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation, IASP, recently awarded a prize for its "Educational Labs" and the "NawiMix" study centre to Lakeside Science & Technology Park (an extramural place of studying natural sciences plus research lab). 150 young teachers were trained there in 2017 and 800 students attended the Educational Labs.

Lakeside Science & Technology Park in facts:

• Technology campus for cooperation of business enterprises, research and educational institutions
• Owner: BABEG (Kärntner Betriebsansiedlungs- & Beteiligungs GmbH), City of Klagenfurt
• € 75.5 m total investment to date
• some 70 companies, 3 research institutes, a business incubator and (currently) over 1,300 employees
• Prize-winning educational project: "Educational Lab", an open research lab for new forms of education with a focus on the MINT subjects, entrepreneurship and internationality
• 34,000 sqm, 12 buildings (to date)
• Ground-breaking ceremony August 2018: 13th building: some 4,600 sqm, € 13 m, construction: approx. 1.5 years; focus: research for Joanneum Research/Robotics and Alpen Adria University Klagenfurt
• Ground-breaking ceremony spring 2019: 14th building: 4,000 sqm office space + parking, investment: € 17 m
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Link Lakeside Science & Technology Park