Austrian Social Enterprise Monitor (ASEM)

Austria’s social enterprises pursue social and environmental goals through entrepreneurial means and develop new solutions in areas such as health, poverty in old age, labour market integration, climate change and education.

Despite their importance, relatively little is known about these organisations. What legal forms do they adopt? How are they funded? In which sectors do they operate? What obstacles do they face? How does Austria’s social enterprise sector compare internationally?

The Austrian Social Enterprise Monitor (ASEM) was conducted for the third time in 2026 and is currently the largest study on social enterprises in Austria. Further information on previous studies:

• Austrian Social Enterprise Monitor 2026

• Austrian Social Enterprise Monitor 2024

• Austrian Social Enterprise Monitor 2022

• Impact of the study

Background

The aim of the Austrian Social Enterprise Monitor is to improve data availability in regards to social entrepreneurship in Austria. The results shall help decision-makers from politics, business and the civil society to understand this emergent ecosystem and to support it with appropriate measures.

The Austrian Social Enterprise Monitor is part of the European Social Entrepreneurship Monitor consortium (ESEM), consisting of over 50 leading support organizations and universities in Europe. The ESEM was initiated by the European Commission and the Euclid Network and implemented for the first time in 2020 in Germany, Denmark, England, Estonia, Croatia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and Spain (among others by ESADE, Social Enterprise UK, SEND). Building on this successful pilot run, the Monitor 2021/2022 has been implemented in over 18 European countries and has since then continuously been implemented in now over 30 countries. This database will enable numerous country monitors as well as a comparative European publication. The methodology of the survey is developed by a European, scientific panel led by Prof. Johanna Mair (Hertie School of Governance, Stanford), Prof. Matthias Reith (EURAM) and Professor Niels Borma (Utrecht University, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor), and provide internationally comparable, systematic results.

The Austrian Social Enterprise Monitor represents Austria's country monitor and has been conducted by the Social Entrepreneurship Center of WU Vienna since 2021. The overarching goal of this study is to generate solid primary data material with sector- and location-relevant analyses based on it. This study aims to make the following contributions, among others:

• Current, quantitative survey of essential characteristics of Austrian social enterprises (sector, location, innovations, jobs, company age, founding team, etc.).

• Analysis of enabling and hindering framework conditions and possible support and subsidy gaps in private and public support services and ecosystems

• Internationally standardised survey in accordance with the ESEM methodology enables broad sampling and analysis of differences and similarities between different types of social entrepreneurs (market-oriented, participatory, etc.)

• Broad coverage of social entrepreneurs through sampling by means of multipliers and independent creation of a secondary source-based longlist (cf. methodology Austrian StartUp Monitor)

• Documentation of the Austrian results within the detailed, publicly accessible study and presentations

• International comparisons in an additional, independent report at the European level by EUCLID Network and Academic Board