Creativity as Strategy: Inside Vienna’s Investment in the Creative Industries with Elisabeth Noever-Ginthör

Vienna is known for its classical beauty, but behind the historic façades, a new creative economy is reshaping the city. In this episode of the Culture Shifts Podcast, I’m joined by Elisabeth Noever-Ginthör, Director of Creative Industries at the Vienna Business Agency, to talk about how creativity has become one of Vienna’s most powerful economic forces.

We explore how the agency bridges business, design, and culture through funding, consultation, and collaboration — supporting industries from architecture and fashion to tech and sustainability. Elisabeth shares how projects like Biofabrique Vienna and Creative Days Vienna demonstrate the city’s commitment to circular design, innovation, and cross-sector dialogue.

Together, we discuss what makes Vienna one of the world’s most liveable cities, how creativity fuels resilience and growth, and why the future of urban development depends on collaboration across disciplines.

The Vienna Business Agency offers funding, consultations and events for creatives and creative companies in Vienna – more information here.

Subscribe to the Culture Shifts Podcast on your favorite platform, and follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack, or visit cultureshifts.net to stay connected.

Transcript

I think the first step we always make is like to see what potential lays in a city. The creative industes are important drivers of the economy. They are kind of working as mediators, translators and they set important impulses. You need to align. You need to work together. You need to collaborate. 

Vienna is often seen through the lens of past. A city of classical music, grand architecture, and coffee house culture. But behind this image, another Vienna is emerging. One defined by creativity, innovation, and collaboration. From design studios to digital startups, from architecture to fashion, the city's creative economy is thriving, generating more revenue today than tourism or construction. This shift isn't accidental. It's driven by people who understand that creativity isn't decoration, it's infrastructure. It's what makes a city liveable. adaptable and ready for the future. Welcome to another episode of the Culture Shifts podcast. I'm goutlets and today I'm joined by Elizabeth Nurvag Ginta. Elizabeth is director of creative industries at the Vienna Business Agency where she and her team support the city's creative sectors through funding, consultation, and collaboration. From biopric Vienna to the creative days as part of the startup festival Vienna up her work explores how design, technology, and sustainability can drive real change. Together, we talk about how Vienna's creative landscape is evolving and how a city known for its history is now shaping the future as one of the world's most livable cities. Hi, Elizabeth. So, great to have you on the podcast.

Thank you so much for the invitation. Happy to be here.

Great. So, you're in Vienna. I'm in Milan. We just talked about it before the podcast. If I think about Vienna and I've lived in Vienna 15 years ago and I travel to Vienna sometimes and when I think of it, I think about music, coffee houses, classical beauty, Sigman Freud, everything from the past and it keeps going. If you had to describe the city's, let's say, creative energy today in one word if you have it, what would it be?

It's not easy because I'm we are working with a very diverse scene. So, it would be architecture, design, fashion, music, multimedia, art market, and media. But a word that brings those areas There is maybe a word like aligning you know like ideas spill over to different sectors of the industry and then come into realization and uh um making impact within the city. Also talking about energy as you uh as you mentioned before Vienna is known as an artistic and cultural city also the hub in Austria for art and culture but then there is also a very strong creative economy a creative economy energy that place within the city. That's where we work on you know the city of Vienna um invests in art and culture about 330 millions a year and we look more on the business side of creativity. So um to see how creativity or the creative act can be transformed into business and um we have about 80,000 people working here within the creative industry and the turnover they create it's uh about 19 billions a year which is more than the gastronomy and tour ISM and also the construction industry. So we also emphasize um importance in an economical way of the creative industries.

Okay. Fantastic. So to just sum it up, you would describe this one word would be business. Let's say it's aligning businesses maybe or aligning ideas. The creative industries are important drivers of the economy. They are kind of working as mediators, translators and they set important impulses which is very important for the whole of the econ. here in Vienna. And I think what comes more and more evident is that you need to align, you need to work together, you need to collaborate.

That's really interesting because I think if you look at different cities or if I just think of the example of friends of mine that live in Vienna and there are writers or even poets that can make a living in the city of Vienna. As a poet, I mean, it's probably the let's say it's a very nice um way of being creat creative. If you think of business opportunities and then making a living out of poetry, it's very difficult. But the city offers you because of fundings, because of supports, offers you to work creatively as a poet and you can get a normal flat, you can go to cafes, you can make a living, you can live and be happy. And I think this is something that I find very fascinating in Vienna that these creative industries get the support from the city with different models. And what I would like to know from you is what are these maindriven let's say fundings or programs that you have to support artists and also the creative industries.I think the first step we always make is like to see what potential lays in the city as you were talking now about like the cultural field and Vienna is known for its imperial heritage the opera theater music halls concert halls and so on they are also very important drivers and commissioners for the creative industry It's for architects, designers, graphic designers, visualists and so on. So this is something we strongly try to connect building programs that are tailored to really make an impetus in those areas. So talking about like the intersection of culture and technology for example we mass tailored a program for museums looking how creatives can enhance exhibition design, visitor experience or the area of research and learning or documentation. That's something we are very interested in. What is also important and it's kind of new this mindset is we try not to build up a mountain of pilots which never hit the ground. We try to connect before something is coming into life to then be able to really talk about the realization or see the realization of the pilot.

Fantastic. You spoke about connecting. That's a really important key word let's say because you connect the public and the private sectors. What is now nowadays super important because maybe sometimes the public sector lacks of not only money but maybe inspiration or u motivation and you connect public and private. How do you turn that into impact and also let's say really tangible business and creative ideas.

We we concentrated on eight areas in the creative industries which is architecture, design, fashion, music, multimedia with the games the artmatic and media and public ing and film and then we always try to set crossover topics you know that might not only concern the creative uh industries but where we see that the topics are strongly driven by them that those topics need impetus from the creative industries so now currently we're working on three topics one as mentioned before is the intersection of culture and technology so how can creative technology enhance the cultural field we strong emphasized the intersection of urban food and design, the topic in regard to climate change and how we will be able to feed us all. And then also one strong uh intersection is with the topic of social entrepreneurship. More and more creatives are concerned about social challenges and we try to connect those areas to really have impact.

And how do you do it? Like I guess that you probably have a huge team or maybe not too huge where you do research maybe some few of foresight and you address or like you think about these topics and then you go to find projects and collaborators and fundings or is it more something that is like driven by the creative industries and say hey here I'm an artist I'm a researcher or professor at the university I have this topic and I would like to bring it to life but I need funding and I need an infrastructure how does it work our strategy is here to like really work with the community or with our target group to develop those topics together. So I might think urban food and design is a great topic but if I don't find anyone here in Rihanna who is interested in a topic I and we will fail. So within our team we always try to really develop those topics together with the community. One format is to publish a white paper where we interview where we try to find best practices in that area and have authors to analyze kind of the trends in that regard. And the other thing is like like to build funings with a low threshold. So people who might not be secure in the field of business models and market analyzes but have great ideas and have great potential to innovate have no fear to address us and to come to us. And these are kind of our ideas competition we do every year. And here we see we can really generate a new community of younger creatives and designers who then probably will become the future entrepreneurs which can then enter the other fundings.

That's super interesting. So can you give me an example of a project that is really thriving now thanks to your infrastructure

talking about the topic of urban food and design. We developed a project called biopric vienna and we started it last year during the first climate bayanel uh Vienna. The biophabric vienna is a platform to innovate materials used using resources found within the city of Vienna that are not used or underused at all. The key principle is materials are heavy and should stay local, ideas are light and they can travel and in the first edition we looked um at the sector of construction material and currently I don't know if you know it there is a new underground built which is one of the biggest climate projects here in Vienna by Vinolinian which is the mobile transport agency of the city and they excavate like 15 tons per hour at five different construction sites and we ask ourselves what can we do with this material? Can it be reused? So partnering up with the technical university, the institute of architecture and design and the vinylian um we try to build new products out of it like bricks, tiles, panels using also resources from sugar production, leftovers from sugar production or um breweries and so on. And it was a project running for 100 days with 70 students approximately and at the end of this 100 days we could really present the first vibrick Vienna.

Fantastic. It's a great example I have to say because this is really about um how the creative industries are also addressing let's say bigger social global environmental shifts. Let's maybe look at the other side. You just mentioned the example of the bio break of technical university of students collaborating with the transport ation company and the city to find something new out of something that is below the ground. How does the city or like the creative agency pushes also or supports young artists, young musicians, young filmmakers?

So um as said before there is a cultural budget from the city of Vienna that concentrates on cultural production, artistic production. That's not our kind of business. So what we try to enhance is like really the business side of creativity and talking about at for example the art market. I and I together with Christophan we built up a galleries festival called cated by Vienna where we try to enhance networks between the galleries here in Vienna and international networks with creators like the the galleries open their galleries for international creators under a common topic or under topic they choose together. And this is something that is now running since 2009 and of course the network grew and that something you know it's probably an art gallery would not be very adept for our running funding programs but then when we see our offerings are not adequate for our sector we try to build up new projects to support them

I mean that's a fantastic example I'd say I mean I I know the festival I've been there and what I find really interesting is that there you really push something because contemporary art obviously is a form of art it's supporting creatives, but a gallery space is a commercial space. They they need to sell. They they want to sell. They um it's a commercial construction like a shop in a way. No, I mean every gallerist now hates me by saying that. But we have to face the truth. It's like that. So that's why you come in also know as a um as a construction and as um let's say infrastructure to support that because in the end you support then hospitality, tourism and a market.

Yes. Our funding program was established in 20 5. So we had our 20th anniversary um last year and it's like this is kind of surprising. It's a continuous investment of the city of Vienna in this scene and it's because the city knows it's an important economic factor and an important employer you know so um it complements the culture and strategy of the Vienna. It's not like kind of diminishing the budget of for culture and arts but it's like adding to it.

So if we look at your let's say original productions and your festivals or the events that your agency creates throughout the year. Can you give me some examples of like what you're doing to invite people from let's say also all over the world to promote what you do and also to gain new collaborations?

One of the main topics of course is said before culture and technology. So since 6 years now we are organizing a festival called creative days Vienna. It's a two days festival where we invite people from all over the world um different target to look what those changes mean to the creative production and the creative process itself. So we had Claire Evans last year she emphasizes the biological component in computing which was super interesting. What can we learn of ants and their behavior? What can we learn of mushrooms and their inner feeling of their neighborhoods and so on? That's kind of the inspirational days we set. every year and then we try to translate what we learned throughout the year into workshops, networking sessions, bringing people together and also of course adapt our programs to it.

Okay. I mean this sounds all very techy and I guess if we look at technology also evolving and now obviously artificial intelligence, computing etc. is very present and I guess also in Vienna. How much are you involved into that or how much are also new startups coming up? that work in that field maybe from the university or even from the technical university.

So this is a a topic we focus on for a very long time. It's kind of digital creativity in Vienna and it's a competition we do every year since uh 17 years and uh we will have the jury next week addressing digital creatives here in Vienna also under the topics like digital uh literacy, cultural heritage, what does AI mean for the creative process itself.

If I think Think of Vienna as I mentioned and I I say it again if I talk to people abroad about Vienna most of the people think it's one of the most beautiful city that exists because it's so timeless in a way you have like the old architecture you have all that let's say the cloud of music and art and maybe some saka to like every year it's one of the most livable or the livable city in the world there is public transport that works there is a kind of new green movement you know like you're trying to remove cars etc But um the spirit is still a very let's say classic spirit. How does that align with this idea of future and of tech and of hey we push the new and not only focus on what has been there for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Actually I think the time what is now like kind of with all those overwhelming news we get every day and like nobody really knows which way to take and so on. So So I think it's our time now. It's a time for creativity because everybody is searching for solutions. The big industries, the companies, the city and why I think there is a winner of opportunity now because like talking about the bio fabric, you know, it was the best experience we made when we addressed the partners we wanted to have on board. It took them not more than a day to confirm, you know, because there you could tell that they are searching, that they are interested to experiment and to see new ways. So that's one part. Then the other about talking about a lifable city or the quality here in Vienna is is really high. It's about space but space not only meant in the sense of to have a space for production for exhibiting for working together but also space in the sense of having time having time to research having time to experiment and keeping this affordable. This is I think key that's why we emphasize very strongly on the topic of space you know space for creativity. Within the last two years, we were focusing on spaces that are opened by creatives for other creatives. And this year, we had a focus on how can creatives transform the public space by developing new shading systems, new green systems, cooling systems, but also with new programs. As you know, Vienna is a city on a river. And how can we use the river again? How can we swim in that river again? And what design and design tools do we need to access it or to meet there just for an example.

Super interesting. I mean makes me think of Paris also. I mean Paris is kind of wow in that regard.

Yeah. I mean that's what what would be my question. Yeah. How much do you look also as Vienna business agency really dealing with cities not only problems but mainly with finding solutions to make it a better more affordable more creative thriving space. How much do you look at other cities and examples or are you in contact with other cities? departments that do the same or similar stuff.

Yeah, it's very strongly connected to other institutions like us in Europe. But I have to say this continuous investment from the side of Vienna is not found everywhere in Europe. So you know went up creative industries at the beginning of the 21st century but also like kind of came down again. We are we are very lucky in that regard and of course it's important to learn from other cities. Same size helps a lot. Talking about Milan, talking about Munich. We look at what other cities do and kind of exchange and as you might know there is a EIT program now running that started two years ago established six collocation centers within Europe treating different regions here in Europe which is Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bologna, Vienna, Helsinki and Kosiche.

I feel that every city needs to learn from Vienna. Is there something where Vienna has really to learn from one other? city and say we need to improve exactly this.

It's interesting. It's like really what should a city be, you know, and there is this Scandinavian way to be very open to like really um work with the different uh communities or um different areas of business. That's something I think where um WA can learn from that. There is this book um from Richard Senate. I think it's called the open city building and dwellings and he emphasizes here the importance of ethical principles in urbanization and how this must inform city planning and urban coexistence and that's something I think is crucial sometimes you know in times like this I think the hardest thing is to listen because everything is so loud so stressful so much information at the same time also bad news lots of bad news reaching us every day and like kind of the city as a as a curious listener maybe trying to transform experiment into infrastructure I don't know from whom we could learn it but we should learn it as a city I think.

Mhm. That's that's really nice. Um in the conversations that I had for example also with like city planners or architects um within the recent years also for this podcast there was also this example of Korati's sensible city like a city that really feels what the people that live in want and need. And I think if you then look back to the Scandinavian examples if it's like Helsinki or Stockholm or Copenhagen and then if you look at the other side you know all these cities that were built from the scratch now maybe in the in the Middle East even there you see they're all basically reacting to what is needed but it's way more difficult to transform a city that exists for a really really long time with different needs maybe 300 years ago changing needs yeah than now so this is the mindset that you would say um a city in general not only Vienna but maybe also other cities need um to have for the future

yeah I think so and something that also concerns us is is like how to keep creative talent within the city. We have five university that teach uh within the creative areas like architects design, fashion, gaming, film and so on and how to keep those talents in Vienna. And Han Rober I think he's an German author and architectural critic. He called the creatives dash the happiness of a city. It's it's a beautiful picture he paints here and nobody wants to live in a city without clubs, music clubs or you know um small stores of fashion and design and then also of course gastronomy comes in here where we have like restaurants that are not generic but very locally inspired maybe also inspired by the vianese cuisine I think Vienna is the only city that really named a cuisine there's a Japanese cuisine Italian cuisine yeah I think that's something we really work on how can we keep the talents here in Vienna the creative talents because because they strongly design the identity of a city.

Fantastic. That's a good ending. Thank you so much. Because because if we look back and then come back to the example that I that I gave of the friend that is a poet, she lives in Vienna happily and really nicely. That's the fact. And this all starts with support and infrastructure and vision I guess

but then there is also like kind of France is is in in that regard a great example because every political issue or social issue is accompanied by a philosophical command and this is necessary. So in that regard we could learn from France probably integrate poetry and philosophy into the political discourse.

If we would open up the political discourse now it would be a completely different topic and I hope that this also doesn't touch any of your projects and visions that uh the Vienna Business Agency has for the next years and a decade. So um Elizabeth thank you so much um for all these insights of the Vienna Business Agency and also Vienna's creativity and business. It was good to talk to you.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

Ciao Ciao

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