Austrian Mobility Labs: Sustainable Urban Mobility? Go for it!
What is a mobility lab?
Austrian Mobility Labs build on ideas and methods associated with the concepts of "living labs" and "real-world laboratories". Both living labs and real-world laboratories came into being because in the past, numerous promising solutions - not only in the field of mobility - were developed, but in too many cases disappeared into drawers. Thus, many innovations never met people and their actual needs. Uwe Schneidewind, a sustainability researcher who coined the term "real-world laboratory", puts it this way:
A real-world laboratory refers to a social context in which researchers conduct interventions in the sense of ‘real experiments’ in order to learn about social dynamics and processes. The idea of the real-world laboratory transfers the concept of laboratory in the natural sciences to the analysis of social and political processes.
Accordingly, Austrian Mobility Labs support research & development to maximize their potential in a real-world setting. How is this done? With science and practice working together at eye level. Sometimes just brainstorming. Sometimes, people with different backgrounds improve innovations together and finally test if their solution can pass the practical test in everyday situations. At its core, they are a platform for people to work together to let a more sustainable, affordable and inclusive transport mobility system become a reality.
What kind of service do Austrian Mobility Labs provide?
Bringing together people from different backgrounds - from technology developers and urban planners to residents of a city – requires serious preparation. It takes time and resources to establish a common ground so people can work on a shared target. The key services of Austrian Mobility Labs are:
- They provide a cooperative setting that enables exchange between different actors.
- They provide a dedicated research infrastructure to develop the mobility of the future.
- They are test environments, in which piloting and optimization can take place under real-world conditions.
- They bring innovations in contact with future users and decision-makers.
How does Austria benefit from mobility labs?
The Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK) supports mobility labs in order to increase the effectiveness and acceptance of research and innovation projects.
The challenges in mobility require a change in our mobility behaviour to enable sustainability and climate protection. The scope of research increases, and it is a precondition for successful implementation that solutions are the result of diverse perspectives. Mobility labs are platforms where this can happen at eye level.
The diversity of Austrian Mobility Labs
There are currently four "Urban Mobility Labs", six "Regional Mobility Labs" and one mobility lab that is not tied to a specific location. They have on-site expertise and know about local or regional challenges.
The Urban Mobility Labs are located in three regions – Vienna, Salzburg and the central region of Upper Austria. The aspern.mobil LAB is located in Vienna's Seestadt and develops sustainable mobility solutions together with the residents of one of Europe's largest urban development areas.
thinkport VIENNA is part of Hafen Wien and close to the hot topics in the field of logistics.
MobiLab works in the central region of Upper Austria (Linz-Steyr-Wels). Its focus lies on traffic problems induced by commercial transport.
The special topography and location of Salzburg on the border to Germany leads to traffic problems, the mobility lab zukunftswege.at addresses.
The Regional Mobility Labs deal with the specific mobility challenges in rural areas. The Centre for Mobility Change (CMC) focuses on the sustainable change of mobility behavior in the digital age with a focus on tourism mobility. It is aimed at cities and municipalities, particularly in rural areas and in the Alpine regions of Tyrol.
land.mobil Lab (LML, website will be added) is anchored in the Waldviertel. Together with the state of Lower Austria, Waldviertel municipalities, mobility service providers, companies, event organizers and citizens from the region, innovative mobility solutions are tested in order to promote the mobility transition in rural areas and strengthen the research landscape for rural mobility.
AmWy.mobility Lab, the regional mobility lab in Amstetten - Waidhofen an der Ybbs, provides an experimental space for the rapid testing of innovative mobility solutions. In close cooperation with the regional stakeholders of the participating municipalities and beyond, AmWy.mobility provides the framework for the development of coordinated cross-regional mobility strategies. Key contributions to this are the preparation and provision of regional passenger and freight mobility data and the creation of formats for mobility education and awareness-raising.
Mobireg (website will be added) promotes sustainable mobility in Carinthia and Styria with a focus on micro-public transport and supra-regional connectivity. The lab identifies potential synergies and supports municipalities, companies, NGOs and other regional stakeholders in the development of project implementation, group processes and business models. A particular focus is on the inclusion of vulnerable target groups and the promotion of participatory processes.
Plan-b Lab (website will be added) based in the lower Vorarlberg Rhine Valley, focuses on the mobility needs of the local population and develops practical solutions through close dialogue with citizens and regional stakeholders.
KAR-IN - the Carnic Region Innovation Laboratory - offers its railway infrastructure in Gailtal, Carinthia, for the development and testing of rail-based mobility services.
Since 2022, Policy Lab has collaborated with policymakers and administrations across Austria to address mobility and innovation challenges, developing frameworks, solutions, and governance approaches to support mobility policy projects and climate goals.
Emergence of the Mobility Lab Initiative
With the Mobility Lab Initiative, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK) has launched a new initiative within the framework of the Mobilität der Zukunft (MdZ) program and initiated the establishment and operation of mobility labs. The exploratory phase, launched in 2014, marked the start and created a comprehensive knowledge pool. In a second phase, from 2017 to 2021, six mobility labs were funded.
The tenure of the mobility labs in the second phase ended in 2021. Building on the external impact assessment of the mobility labs conducted in 2020, the third phase of mobility labs was tendered in spring 2021. Four urban mobility labs have been continued and developed since then. Since 2018, the Centre for Mobility Change and since 2022 the Policy Lab have been funded by the BMK. The exploratory phase for regional mobility labs as well as KAR-IN started in 2023. Four additional regional mobility labs have been funded since 2024.
As part of the cross-mobility labs "Cooperation and Exchange Platform Mobility Laboratories Austria" (KAMÖ), a learning and exchange process is being implemented with the support of AustriaTech. This process utilizes synergies between the individual mobility labs and continuously expands expertise in experimental environments in the mobility context.
Mobility Labs (Phase 2, 2017 until 2021)
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Contact (National Contact Point)
During the implementation phase of the mobility labs, AustriaTech takes on the role of supporting national and international activities in this area and also acts as a National Contact Point (NCP).
Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology
Division III / 4 - Mobility and transport technologies
Magdalena Weichselbraun-Palavecino, MSc
Radetzkystraße 2
1030 Wien
E-Mail: magdalena.weichselbraun@bmk.gv.at