Securing supply chains, knowing strategic dependencies and proactively shaping sustainable, as well as efficient production networks - with these goals, the Supply Chain Intelligence Institute Austria (ASCII) aims to put the Central European country in a leading role worldwide. The Complexity Science Hub is one of the founding organizations of the institute, which will be launched at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Labor and Economics on March 6.
The global, European and Austrian production and logistics networks are facing major and diverse challenges. The crises of the last few years revealed vulnerabilities in supply chains and production networks. For example, there were bottlenecks in the availability of raw materials, packaging materials, chips or cable harnesses for car manufacturing, which caused delays in production and delivery. This in turn led to striking, economic damage.
“Such disruptions, even to otherwise resilient supply chains, clearly show how important it will be to answer the multitude of questions around creating more sustainable and resilient supply networks,” explains ASCII Director Peter Klimek, who is a research scientist at the Complexity Science Hub.
Interdisciplinary research
“In order to find long-term answers to these questions, the newly established Supply Chain Intelligence Institute Austria is focusing on interdisciplinarity,” says Klimek. Together with him, scientists from various research areas and institutions will work on data-driven analytical tools to safeguard supply chains and ensure supply security, incorporating both economic policy and business perspectives.
“The aim is to provide decision-makers with solid information for achieving the Austrian and European goals of secure value creation and climate neutrality,” says Klimek. The project is being implemented in close collaboration between the founding organizations (Complexity Science Hub, FF ÖÖ, VNL and WIFO).
The supply chain issue is associated with overarching risks (e.g., geopolitical disagreements, trade wars), as well as with the impact of climate change, requiring new production structures and business models.
“Such disruptions, even to otherwise resilient supply chains, clearly show how important it will be to answer the multitude of questions around creating more sustainable and resilient supply networks,” explains ASCII Director Peter Klimek, who is a research scientist at the Complexity Science Hub.
Interdisciplinary research
“In order to find long-term answers to these questions, the newly established Supply Chain Intelligence Institute Austria is focusing on interdisciplinarity,” says Klimek. Together with him, scientists from various research areas and institutions will work on data-driven analytical tools to safeguard supply chains and ensure supply security, incorporating both economic policy and business perspectives.
“The aim is to provide decision-makers with solid information for achieving the Austrian and European goals of secure value creation and climate neutrality,” says Klimek. The project is being implemented in close collaboration between the founding organizations (Complexity Science Hub, FF ÖÖ, VNL and WIFO).
The supply chain issue is associated with overarching risks (e.g., geopolitical disagreements, trade wars), as well as with the impact of climate change, requiring new production structures and business models.
At a glance, ASCII’S goals are:
- Development of a comprehensive data system on supply chains and production networks
- Monitoring of strategic goods so that interventions can be made at an early stage to avoid supply bottlenecks
- Generating direct and practice-oriented knowledge about value networks – their change processes and their integration into the macroeconomic context
- International orientation and broad communication for time-critical and complex issues related to value chains
- Deriving data-based recommendations for decision-makers
The project is supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Labor and Economics with 7.5 million euros, as well as the state of Upper Austria with 2.5 million euros.
