25 Years of the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation: Transatlantic Bridge for Science and Innovation
The Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation celebrated its 25th anniversary at TUtheSky at the Vienna University of Technology. Under the motto “25 Years of Transatlantic Exchange,” the foundation brought together high-ranking representatives from politics, science, diplomacy, and numerous alumni to honor a quarter-century of successful transatlantic knowledge transfer between Austria and the United States.
Elisabeth Springler, Rafaela Vostatek, Latifeh Nasseri, Barbara Weitgruber, Martin Bartenstein, Wolfgang Petritsch, Susan McCaw, Marlies Berger, Karin Emprechtinger, Matthias Vostatek, Kerstin Derntl, Claudia Kraif, Laura Behrends (f.lt.r.). / Picture: © Fotostudio Mank/Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation
Since its founding in 1999, the AMPF has awarded over 1,300 research grants to students and scholars from both countries and has established itself as a central institution for strengthening Austrian-American relations. The foundation's goal is to promote scientific cooperation, innovation, and mutual understanding—in the spirit of the historic European Recovery Program (ERP), known as the Marshall Plan, which initiated the reconstruction of Europe after World War II.
The historical significance of the foundation's namesake was honored in an innovative way: a digital version of George C. Marshall, brought to life by artificial intelligence, delivered a symbolic video message with congratulations from the past.
Prominent guests and festive moments
Guests of honor included AMPF President Wolfgang Petritsch, former U.S. Ambassador to Vienna Susan McCaw, entrepreneur and politician Martin Bartenstein, AMPF Vice President Barbara Weitgruber, and TU Wien Vice Rector Peter Ertl.
Messages of greeting were sent by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and Federal Ministers Eva-Maria Holzleitner and Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer. A special moment was the symbolic repetition of the signing of the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding, with which Susan McCaw and Martin Bartenstein sent a signal of continuing transatlantic friendship.
In her opening speech, Karin Emprechtinger, Chair of the AMPF, emphasized the importance of exchange: “Your commitment, your research, and your passion are living proof that the idea of the Marshall Plan is more relevant today than ever: exchange creates trust, knowledge creates connection.”
In the anniversary dialogue, Wolfgang Petritsch, Susan McCaw, Martin Bartenstein, and Barbara Weitgruber discussed the development of the foundation and the importance of international science programs in a time of global challenges. The evening was rounded off with inspiring success stories from former fellows, who talked about their international research stays and the lasting impact they had on their career paths.
The celebrations ended with the cutting of an anniversary cake and a networking reception, which provided an opportunity to deepen new and old partnerships.
The historic Marshall Plan and the AMPF
The original Marshall Plan, officially known as the European Recovery Program (ERP), was a U.S. aid program that ran from 1948 to 1953 and served to rebuild Western Europe after World War II. It was named after the then U.S. Secretary of State George C.
Marshall.During this period, Austria received around 962 million US dollars (approximately 9.5 billion USD today) and had the third-highest share of Marshall Plan funds in Europe in terms of population. The ERP funds in Austria were granted in the form of grants (gifts) and not as loans, which represented a special status.The Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation was established in 1999 with a financial allocation of 30 million schillings from the ERP Fund to promote knowledge transfer between the US and Austria and to support transatlantic cooperation.