Social enterprise and their eco-system: A European mapping report of Austria

This report is part of the study “Social enterprises and their ecosystems in Europe” and it provides an overview of the social enterprise landscape in Austria based on available information as of May 2018.

As in many other European countries, the phenomenon of social enterprises has a long history in Austria with roots back to the pre-welfare period. The history of these initiatives is closely linked to the evolution of the Austrian welfare system and to social movements. The development in Austria can be divided in four phases from which four traditions of social enterprises-related organisations have emerged. Among pre-welfare state initiatives there exist bottom-up self-help such as community-led cooperatives, non-profit oriented charitable societies and welfare associations, which reacted on public needs and called for social rights. The phase of the state-centred corporatism was dominated by large non-profit organisations and large cooperatives, which acted as intermediaries between the state and citizens. In the 1970s several activists became promoters of new-bottom-up initiatives in Austria, which are summarized under the term “New Social Movement”…