Austrian Research Centre, Seibersdorf ARCS

The Austrian Research Centre Seibersdorf (ARCS) is the largest research organization in Austria. Evolving from a nuclear research institution in the 1950s it is today a public/private agency covering a broad spectrum of fields that includes materials, engineering and life sciences. This transformation arose from reduced public funding in the early 1990s, a shift in demand for applied research and the need to survive. It adopted many modern management techniques including business reengineering, a process-focused structure, total quality management and activity-based cost accounting. It also created a management framework that incorporated a modified balanced scorecard.

Three reasons were behind ARCS's decision to embark on the development of an IC report:

-     It depended heavily on its knowledge base, but was not fully exploiting the knowledge it already had. The scorecard initiative systematically identified many of ARCS's intangible assets for the first time.

-     Since public funding was still very significant, it wanted to be more transparent and open about its achievements and added value.

-     The task of IC measurement fitted in well with its mission of developing new management models and approaches. It was therefore appropriate that it should be a pilot for its own research.

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