What started in the late seventies as a way of finding a useful purpose for the partly dilapidated Hagenberg Castle, turned into an internationally renowned technology centre for software solutions. The unique mix of business, research and education has transformed the small town north east of Linz into a symbol of innovation.

Hagenberg Softwarepark, 20 kilometers from the region’s capital, represents a unique success story for Austria, which in the meantime has aroused international interest. The recipe for this success appears simple, yet is very complex: 1/3 business, 1/3 research, 1/3 education in the software sector.

The brainchild behind the idea is Professor Dr. Bruno Buchberger, who moved his Research Institute for Symbolic Computation from Johannes Kepler University to the newly renovated Hagenberg Castle in 1989. It was the wish of the province’s head, Governor Josef Ratzenböck, that the move by RISC to Hagenberg should also provide an economic impulse to the whole region. Buchberger’s idea to create a software park was, and still is, the response to this request.

The basic concept of Hagenberg Software Park  – integrating the three factors to focus on a single theme – had already been established by Buchberger back in the early days. Since then Hagenberg Software Park has been further developed and extended under his guidance. Buchberger’s idea has proved itself over the last 15 year – starting from 550 m² of usable space in Hagenberg Castle, Hagenberg Software Park has managed to develop into an ample area which includes 15,200 m² of office space, a technical college covering 8,600 m², 600 student accommodation places and a comprehensive infrastructure. The individual development phases of the Software Park have served, and continue to serve, to provide additional facets in line with the basic idea and to keep the blend of research bodies, educational facilities and companies increasingly lively and interesting.

• 1989:
- RISC transfers to the renovated Hagenberg Castle
- Raiffeisen Landesbank Oberösterreich becomes
  the main investor for the purchase of the Software Park
  site and the erection of buildings
 
• 1990:
- First companies move into the renovated east and north
  wings of the Meierhof
- FAW (Institute for Applied Knowledge Processing)
  research institute locates  in Hagenberg