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Competitive Identity Austria

FINAL REPORT

APRIL 2013

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction to Competitive Identity

Since I coined the term nation brand in 1998, my approach to enhancing national image has

been based on international engagement, policy, strategy and organisational change rather

than on marketing communications. I call this approach Competitive Identity.

The advance of globalisation means that Austria, like other countries, must compete for its

share of the worlds consumers, visitors, investors, students and international events, as well

as for the attention and respect of the media, of other governments, institutions and

populations.

But since most people know so little about other countries, what they believe becomes critical.

Responsible governments must therefore monitor and understand their countrys image, and

develop a strategy for managing it. It is a key part of their job to build a reputation that is fair,

attractive, useful to their aims, and reflects their populations aspirations, needs and

capabilities.

Analysis

The Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands IndexSM shows that Austrias image is positive but weak,

especially outside its neighbourhood. Furthermore, its image is outdated, and mainly

associated with the soft factors of cultural heritage and landscape.

However, there is little evidence to support the perception of many Austrians that the country

is world-famous for classical music and that this distracts attention from its more recent

achievements: this would in fact be a nice problem to have, and there is still plenty of work to

be done in this area.

For the moment, Austria is performing well, but with the European economy unravelling and

economic power shifting to countries where Austria is largely unknown, Austria must now start

to build a stronger reputation or run the risk of becoming a minor B2B destination only known

to well-informed professional elites. The other minor German-speaking country thats not

Switzerland is unlikely to make Austria a top destination for trade, investment, education or

tourism.

As one of the more stable, equal, peaceful, prosperous societies on the planet, instead of

asking itself how it can follow the small number of countries that rank above it, Austria should

consider how it can lead some of the large number that rank below it. In doing so, Austria

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would undoubtedly do more to enhance its international image than by boasting about its

achievements.

Vision

The Austrian Model (a unique combination of nurturing, prudent, sustainable and

communitarian values which do much to explain the stability and prosperity of Austria and the

wellbeing of its population) is usually regarded as intrinsically conservative. I argue that its real

potential and its global significance have yet to be understood or achieved, and the Austrian

model could ultimately inspire a much-needed alternative to the dominant model of

aggressive Anglo-Saxon capitalism. This is, ultimately, Austrias gift to the world and the reason

why people in other countries might one day feel grateful that it exists.

Strategy

The chosen strategy is summarised in the phrase Bridge-Builders to the World. Austrias

track record in bridging the gap between developed and developing markets is also its future

mission. Moving from South-Eastern Europe to Central Asia, North Africa and beyond, Austria

is the bridge-builder, bringing a unique portfolio of experience and ideas as well as its

unique social, cultural and political model to help second-tier nations around the world

achieve sustainable progress, stability and prosperity.

The bridge-building concept also has a cultural dimension, in domains where tolerance, mutual

understanding and effective communication are lacking.

Symbolic Actions

Out of a list of nearly 100 potential Symbolic Actions, the following four were selected from

the shortlist to be implemented in the short term:

1. The AustriaCard

2. AidSurance

3. Twinning Buildings

4. Rule of Law Trust Fund

It was also agreed that five further Symbolic Actions from the shortlist would be scheduled for

implementation as a second tranche. Full descriptions of these second tranche Symbolic

Actions are inlcuded in the body of the Report.

Summaries of the four Symbolic Actions selected for the First Tranche are as follows:

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1. AustriaCard

This is a large-scale loyalty scheme for Austria, targeted at all users and consumers of the

nation: students, tourists, investors, foreign residents and consumers of Austrian products and

services around the world. It is similar to the classic airline or hotel loyalty card, except that

Austria could be the first country to create such a scheme for the entire nation.

The ultimate benefit of the card is to make Austria the first country to migrate from expensive

conventional mass marketing to relationship marketing where it builds long-term, interactive

relationships of trust and mutual esteem with its most valued visitors, investors, consumers,

visiting students and workers.

2. AidSurance

Instead of bailing out developing countries after natural disasters, Austria will negotiate an

insurance policy for each of the countries it wishes to help, and pay the premium for them

each year. This will ensure that the appropriate level and type of assistance reaches its

destination without delay. It will also enable the Austrian government to maintain predictable

contributions to disaster relief year by year.

By devising and pioneering an entirely new and completely rational approach to disaster relief,

Austria shows that it can be moral and principled without losing sight of its natural gifts of

intelligence, maturity, experience and sound business sense.

3. Twinning Buildings

Twinning buildings links Austrian cultural heritage more closely to overseas development, and

is a good example of bridge building. A selection of major historical buildings in Austria are

twinned with equally important buildings in a developing country, and the two governments

collaborate closely on preserving and sustaining their heritage.

Once the twinning has been created, a wide range of iniatives become possible, such as an

audio-video floor installed in the entrance of each building, with a live feed between the two,

so that visitors to each building, even though they might be thousands of kilometres apart, can

see each other, wave, and even enjoy a transcontinental conversation from one building to

another.

4. Rule of Law Trust Fund

Austria creates a trust fund that allows it to support other international actors to foster the

rule of law, and to send international legal experts whenever or wherever help is required.

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These experts will give their expert, unbiased advice, free of charge. An Austria-based

committee of experts would decide on the missions and the expertise required. A trust fund

would be set up and financed by the Austrian government with a 5-year initial endowment.

Austria could set up its own international Legal Aid Insurance Scheme to assist developing

countries in case they need its legal services in the future: in return for a small annual

premium, guaranteed legal help is immediately available when needed.

Systems and Structures

National Marketing Agency

The National Marketing Agency (NMA) is designed to ensure that Austria continues to produce

a constant stream of world-class Symbolic Actions in the future; to coordinate the operations

and communications of the countrys outward-facing agencies and organisations; to be the

central owner and monitor of the Competitive Identity strategy; to stimulate the

development of new Austrian consumer export brands; to be responsible for monitoring and

managing relationships with the international media; and to monitor Austrias image.

Within the NMA, the Magnet is responsible for drawing talent and ideas into the system, both

by searching the marketplace and by active recruitment, in order to create new Substance and

Symbolic Actions. The Idea Shop is a creative team, staffed with professional creative talent

from various industries and headed by a Creative Director; its roles are assessing ideas brought

in by the Magnet, and generating ideas of its own. The Support Unit is responsible for

providing or obtaining the profesional services each project needs for success at home and

abroad. The Media Centre provides a single, proactive point of contact for foreign media

covering Austria, and includes a multilingual Crisis Management section. It is also responsible

for monitoring the international media for all significant mentions of Austria and responding

where appropriate.

Public Diplomacy

Since Austria has little hard power, it urgently needs to become an effective and confident

player in the tools of soft power such as public diplomacy (PD) and cultural relations. But

Austrias PD activities are inconsistent around the world, and depend more on the personal

qualities of individual diplomats than on formal structures. This lacuna provides a real

opportunity for Austria to move to the forefront of PD practice internationally, since very few

other countries have yet adopted such measures.

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A new PD secretariat, with advisory and management boards, should be created, with expert

guidance. I have suggested ten principles of effective Public Diplomacy on which the new

structure should be based:

1. Diplomacy is about Issues and Territories

2. Creativity is our most powerful tool

3. Public opinion is a power, not an audience

4. Relevance means more than success

5. Power comes in many forms

6. The Medium is not the Message

7. Actions Speak Louder than Words

8. Fire on all Cylinders

9. The most effective PD is mutual

10. Total Diplomacy

The opportunity for Austria is to develop new PD structures and systems which are more cost-

effective, more flexible, and more accountable than traditional models, since a tried and

tested standard model is simply not available.

Cultural Relations

In cultural relations, Austrias impact would be increased through more coordination between

culture and other sectors, driven by a clear, unified strategy: rather than how can we raise the

profile of Austrian culture it should ask how are we using cultural relations to prove certain

things about Austria?

Austrian cultural relations need a greater focus on creativity, both in content and in

organisation and delivery. This represents an interesting opportunity for Austria to do things

differently from its competitors. A systematic framework for measuring the impact of cultural

relations activities would also be valuable.

Austria should focus its resources on a smaller number of high-impact interventions, rather

than larger numbers of smaller activities. The country could achieve more impact through

participatory cultural relations, with less emphasis on giving people opportunities to admire

Austrian culture and more on Austria helping audiences to discover their own creativity in an

Austrian context.

Conclusions

Rather than attempt to influence its global reputation all at once, Austria should begin

implementation of the Competitive Identity project through coordinated, highly focused pilot

projects in small numbers of countries or even cities, selected on the basis of their strategic

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interest to the maximum number of sectors. These pilot projects, incorporating clear

performance indicators, should focus on building mutually beneficial, long-term bilateral

relationships, rather than projecting a specific image of Austria.

Finally, Austria needs to recognise the importance of creativity in all its activities, especially in

the public sector. Deliberate steps need to be taken, from schools to the workplace, to foster a

new national culture of respect for courageous and original thinking, and to combat the all-

too-common habit of looking for problems rather than solutions. This is not an impossible task,

as long as it is adequately reflected in government policy.

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PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

Summary of the Competitive Identity Process

Since I first coined the terms nation brand and place brand in the late 1990s, my approach to

measuring, understanding and managing national image and reputation has been based on

international engagement, policy, strategy and organisational change rather than on marketing

communications. I call this approach Competitive Identity, which is also the title of one of my

books on the subject.

Although I have applied this approach in more than fifty countries, the content of each project

is utterly different: no standardised methodology is possible when one is dealing with nations.

So although my experience of working with other countries will certainly inform my work in

Austria and there are many important learnings to be gathered from the successes and failures

of those other countries, there is no question of us simply adapting a template from another

country: each country needs to define its own aims and ambitions, and its own path towards

them, based on its own assets, resources, values, society, politics, culture, history, and above

all its people.

The starting-point of Competitive Identity is the observation that today the world is one

market. The rapid advance of globalisation means that Austria, just like any other country,

must compete for its share of the worlds consumers, business and leisure visitors, investors,

students, entrepreneurs; international sporting, commercial and cultural events; for the

attention and respect of the media, of other governments, of the multilateral institutions and

the people of other countries. In such an environment, perceptions are everything: since

people know so little about other countries, what they believe becomes critical.

So all responsible governments, on behalf of their people, their institutions and their

companies, need to discover what the worlds perception of their country really is, and

develop a strategy for managing it. It is a key part of their job to build a reputation that is fair,

true, powerful, attractive, genuinely useful to their economic, political and social aims, and

honestly reflects the spirit, the genius and the will of their people. This huge task has become

one of the primary skills of governments in the twenty-first century.

As I mentioned in my commentary to Austrias report in the 2011 Anholt-GfK Roper Nation

Brands Index (see Appendix I to this Report), Austria already punches far above its weight: it

isnt the thirteenth largest, richest, most populous or fastest-growing country on the planet,

but it is the thirteenth most admired. Yet despite this admiration, Austria is seldom actively

considered by the majority of people in other parts of the world: my research suggests that it

is not a country which people feel they need to think about very deeply or often, because its

status, beauty and prosperity are seen as safe, permanent, and probably not very relevant to

their daily concerns.

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As we discussed during the first Friday Group, however, it is important to distinguish between

the views of people in Austrias neighbourhood and those further away. In South-Eastern

Europe, Austria is viewed rather differently; here, it occupies a far more prominent and active

role in peoples perceptions and daily lives than elsewhere. Of course all countries are better

known in their immediate environment than beyond it, but there is much we can learn about

Austrias ultimate global potential from observing the role it has forged for itself since the fall

of the Soviet Union (and, of course, long before) in its neighbourhood. Today, geography is

history and perhaps Austrias unique experience in forming a bridge between more and less

developed blocs could be adapted and utilised in relation to its geographically more distant

but economically or politically close neighbours in other regions.

Beyond its close neighbourhood, Austria appears to sit very comfortably at the back of

peoples minds the responses are positive when prompted, but unlikely to occur

unprompted. One of the core questions we addressed was how to push Austria to the front of

peoples minds at least among the key demographics and in the context of the key issues

so that its rather fixed image is actually capable of alteration. A very stable image like Austrias

is a warning sign that the country is taken for granted, and such an image is highly resistant to

external influence: only countries that are front of mind are subject to reappraisal.

During the early part of the project, we discussed the darker side of Austrias reputation: the

occasional prominence of extremist political and social currents, and even the Fritzl case, but

these were not felt to be of enormous significance by participants. I absolutely concur: in my

experience, such episodes rarely have any measurable or lasting impact on a countrys

reputation and are soon forgotten, unless they start to form a pattern over a much longer

period: if every country where a shocking crime were committed suffered damage to its

reputation, there would be no countries left with an intact reputation.

Here as elsewhere, the real answer lies with what Austria does, not with what it says. These

are not primarily communications or public relations issues: public opinion does not blame

countries for bad things that happen, but it is very interested in seeing how well they cope

with them: and this is an opportunity to prove many things about the resilience, imagination

and values of the country.

One of the reasons why Austria is not especially prominent is because it is not well-known as a

producer of consumer brands: its country of origin effect is weak, although potentially very

positive. Branded consumer products are amongst the most powerful informal ambassadors of

national image today, but even a megabrand like Red Bull fails to contribute much to Austrias

profile because so few people know (or indeed care) where it comes from.

Quantity really counts with export brands, and Austria needs to encourage and accelerate the

creation and export of many more brands during the next decades. Light industrial policy of

this sort, after decades of being discredited, is now beginning to emerge again as a necessary

and logical response to the intense competition generated by the globalisation of markets.

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As mentioned in the NBI report, we need to think about the future more than the past or the

present. Like all the Western democracies in my survey, Austrias reputation is slowly

declining, and it is already more admired by older than younger respondents. This means

problems in store for Austria, as peoples taste in other countries shifts towards the

developing world, towards the historical victims of imperial power and away from its

perpetrators.

As economic and political influence migrates towards the BRICs and other emerging nations,

their populations lack of knowledge and familiarity with Austria, its history and culture and

people, will also prove a real disadvantage when establishing social, economic, trading,

diplomatic and cultural links with them. The task of engaging with younger audiences

worldwide, and teaching the emerging populations about Austria in a way that makes the

country, its people and products and culture relevant to their needs and interests, will be one

of the priorities of our project.

International public opinion is the last remaining superpower, and this project is primarily

about enabling Austria to exercise effective diplomacy with that superpower.

Structure of the Competitive Identity Process

The Competitive Identity process is designed to answer three key questions: Identity (who are

we?), Strategy (where are we going?), and Tactics (how will we get there?).

During the first Visit, we started the process of seeking a simple but truthful characterisation of

the country and its people. This was not designed to be an overly rigorous or academic

formula, but one with a powerful ring of truth about it. Although there was a good deal of

input into this phase, a short and simple output was needed. The question to answer was

what is the genius of the Austrians?

If we know who we are, then we know what we are capable of doing. If we know this, we

know what reputation we deserve, and can plan how to achieve it.

Answering the second question is, to use an excellent if old-fashioned term, an exercise in

Grand Strategy. Its the vision of what kind of country Austria could be in five, ten, fifty or a

hundred years time, what kind of reputation it would then need and deserve to have, and the

scope and purpose of its international engagements.

Answering the third question is the implementation part of the process: this is where we

designed the delivery mechanisms for achieving the reality and the reputation we envisioned

during the second phase. As I explain in more detail later in this report, the delivery

mechanisms can be bureaucratic, technical, financial, political, procedural, structural; they may

involve creating new bodies or departments, or may involve altering existing ones. The main

purpose of the structures we design is to ensure that the country is able to continue to

develop and implement such projects of increasing quality and impact for many years into

the future: the aim, in short, is to put Austria permanently in control of its own reputation.

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A Note on Implementation

A central principle of Competitive Identity is the Strategy - Substance - Symbolic Actions

model.

Symbolic actions are a particular species of substance with intrinsic communicative power:

they might be innovations, structures, legislation, reforms, investments, institutions or policies

which are especially remarkable, memorable, picturesque, newsworthy, topical, poetic,

touching or dramatic. Most importantly, they are emblematic of the strategy: they are at the

same time a component of the national story and the means of telling it. A constant stream of

such actions is, alongside the strategic and structural work already described, the true key to

effective implementation in such projects as this one.

Some good examples of Symbolic Actions from other countries are the Slovenian government

donating financial aid to their Balkan neighbours in order to prove that Slovenia wasnt part of

the Balkans; Spain legalising single-sex marriages in order to demonstrate that its values had

modernised to a point diametrically opposed to the Franco period; the decision of the Irish

government to exempt artists, writers and poets from income tax in order to prove the states

respect for creative talent; Estonia declaring internet access to be a human right; Bhutan

fining foreign tourists to visit the country in order to establish its high self-esteem and

precious cultural and environmental status; or the Hague hosting the European Court of

Human Rights (partly) in order to cement the Netherlands reputation as a global bastion of

the rule of law.

A Symbolic Action is characterised by the following criteria:

1. It should be intrinsically media-friendly (i.e. the media will want to cover the story

without payment or persuasion)

2. It must be a genuine piece of policy, investment, innovation (i.e. not communications

or a pure publicity stunt)

3. It unequivocally proves a clear point about the country/city/region (i.e. not just

vaguely expressive or impressive)

4. It is always on brand (i.e. is a step in the right direction vis--vis the identity

strategy of the place)

5. It moves on existing perceptions at the right pace (i.e. doesnt merely confirm what

people already know about the place, yet doesnt contradict or challenge existing

perceptions so dramatically that it will be rejected or ignored as anomalous or

incredible).

There is no reason why Symbolic Actions shouldnt also be profitable business ventures, and

several of the Symbolic Actions developed during the project were designed to be of

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commercial interest to the private-sector partners in the project, as this provides its own

rationale, stimulus and timetable for deployment.

Clearly, the Competitive Identity program will be most effective if Austria appears to be firing

on all cylinders: in other words, if Symbolic Actions are constantly occurring across the full

range of sectors, public and private. It is essential that however people in other countries

come into contact with Austria over the next few years, it will be because of remarkable

initiatives, people, events, programs, creations, projects, business ideas and policies in a wide

range of sectors and contexts, all telling the same basic story about the country.

For this reason it was felt to be essential that the Symbolic Actions developed during the

Competitive Identity programme were distributed equally throughout government ministries

and agencies as well as with the private sector some relating to culture, some to public

diplomacy, some to education, some to domestic and some to foreign policy, some to major

events and some to religion, welfare, sport, civil society, business, heavy industry and the

creative industries, the media, agriculture, transport, science and technology, the environment

and so forth.

Another important component of the project was the question of Austrias structures for

international engagement, since these are what will enable the model to continue to function

into the future.

Under the heading of structures, there is a lot of less strategic but equally important

organisational work to be done. Austria, like most countries, has a plethora of ministries,

agencies and bodies responsible for promoting its commercial, cultural and political

interactions with other countries, most of which do excellent work, but carry out their tasks

somewhat in isolation from each other. They are not working to a common national strategy,

and in consequence they often send out conflicting and even contradictory impressions of the

country. As a result, no consistent national picture emerges, and Austrias overall reputation

stands still or moves backwards. We discussed how the work of these stakeholders could be

coordinated, of consistently world-class quality, and harmonised to a national grand strategy

that sets clear goals for Austrias economy, its society and its political and cultural relations

with other countries, cities and regions around the world: that defines its purpose in the

community of nations.

It may be that some of the systems and structures already in place in Austria are less than

ideally suited to the age of new media, global markets, economic turmoil and intense global

competition; and this certainly presents us with exciting opportunities for cutting-edge

innovation. Austria, if the political will is there, has the opportunity to create entirely new

systems and structures for public diplomacy, cultural relations, export and investment

promotion which are designed and built for the twenty-first century and its unique challenges

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and opportunities: to be the first to step away from the legacy structures of the nineteenth

and twentieth centuries is Austrias opportunity.

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PART TWO: STRATEGY

Background to the Strategy

A consensus was quickly reached on the nature of Austrias image challenge. This can be

summarised on four axes:

1. Current weakness

2. Future risk

3. Future opportunity

4. Ongoing threat

1. Current Weakness

Participants agreed that although Austrias image is broadly positive, it remains weak,

especially outside its immediate neighbourhood. Furthermore, in common with many other

countries that arent especially prominent in the international community, Austrias image is

outdated, and what international associations it does enjoy are largely associated with the

soft factors of its classical music heritage and landscape.

Consequently, many people have difficulty associating Austria with technology or other

expressions of modernity, and tend to regard it as a picturesque heritage park. This

undoubtedly benefits some forms of tourism (especially for older visitors) and cultural

relations, but very much at the expense of foreign investment, exports, science, technology,

and non-cultural education and talent attraction. There is, of course, nothing unusual about

the conflict between trade and tourism images most countries find it challenging to make

sense of an essentially future-facing investment image and an essentially backward-facing

tourism image, but Austrias problem is that the entire image of the country tends towards the

touristic and the picturesque.

Even amongst expert observers of Austria, such as investment professionals, there appears to

be a perception that Austrias economic strengths are industrial rather than technological:

another symptom of a reputation that isnt refreshed or updated sufficiently often (it may also

be a symptom of reality). Austria is perceived as a country which, in the words of Karl Kraus,

has a great future behind it.

Certainly, a comparative analysis of the age cohorts in the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands

IndexSM suggests that Austrias appeal is much stronger amongst older respondents in most

countries; this obviously represents a challenge for the countrys future relevance and profile.

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To update the image of Austria, to make it more modern, and to move it closer to the

mainstream of international perceptions, without however compromising its associations with

cultural heritage, was clearly part of our task. This will ultimately need to be planned at the

sectoral level too: the tourism sector would benefit from more products and more prominence

in the youth-adventure-extreme category, much as New Zealand has done in recent decades,

just as the culture and exports sectors would benefit from an equivalent rejuvenation. A little

more Red Bull and a little less Mozart Balls would be the appropriate formula here.

There is no doubt that the only truly global association that Austria enjoys, at least amongst a

better-educated elite, is with its classical music heritage, and whether accidental or deliberate,

this has been a moderately successful exercise in narrowband nation branding for the

country. However, I have seen little evidence that it is as powerful an effect as many Austrians

believe. Austrias overall ranking in Culture in the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands IndexSM is

by far its weakest reputational dimension, and even amongst its near neighbours, those whom

one would expect to know Austria most intimately, associations with cultural heritage are not

especially strong, and in the worldwide rankings on cultural heritage, Austria ranks only

fifteenth, with about the same score as Peru, and considerably lower than countries such as

Turkey and Scotland.

It would be foolish to understate the continuing importance of Mozart for Austrias image: he

is certainly one of the most prominent brands on the planet, and is the only Western classical

composer that many people can spontaneously name. Several participants in the groups have

complained that Austrias image shows an unhealthy bias in favour of the Mozart/Strauss

legacy, but my view is that Austria is actually a very long way from reaping the full benefits of

its cultural heritage. This would in fact be a nice problem to have, but it is very far from the

truth of the situation.

However, in a more general sense, it is certainly true that Austria has an image which is more

decorative than useful, to use the terminology of the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands

IndexSM and this certainly works against Austrias economic interest in a great many areas. It

would be a mistake to place too much emphasis on cultural heritage in Austrias international

engagements, but the problem is more generally one of a weak profile rather than an

unbalanced one, and any route to greater prominence and relevance is to be welcomed.

2. Future Risk

Austria, as I have already noted, has often been described as a pleasant Western backwater,

but it is important to consider how much longer this agreeable situation can persist.

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For the moment, Austria is still performing remarkably well, but with the European economy

(on which Austria depends profoundly for its prosperity) apparently unravelling on all sides,

and economic power shifting to countries where Austria is largely unknown, it seems clear that

Austria should be working now to build a stronger and more positive reputation as a bulwark

against the shocks which will inevitably come in the near future.

As the members of the Diplomatic Group confirmed, Austria does not feature in the

educational syllabuses of children currently growing up in China, India, Brazil and most other

emerging powers. Even in the cases where European history is taught, Austria is barely

mentioned. This creates a risk that future generations of economically, culturally and politically

significant individuals all of whom will at some point become international consumers,

tourists, investors and students are profoundly ignorant about Austrias existence, its place in

the world, its historical antecedents and its cultural significance. This effectively relegates

Austria to the status of a minor B2B destination for well-informed professional elites, and the

country will simply no longer feature in the cultural landscape of the global commons. The

other minor German-speaking country thats not Switzerland is hardly likely to make Austria a

desirable destination for trade, investment, education or even tourism in the future.

Informing people about a countrys past glories is certainly desirable the Opening Ceremony

of the London Olympic Games shows one country clearly tackling precisely the same challenge

that Austria now faces but it is a difficult to create real enthusiasm for historical themes

amongst broad populations, and difficult to make such lessons stick.

What makes far more sense is earning a new reputation by connecting directly with the needs,

desires, aspirations and concerns of contemporary populations. If a country can make itself

relevant to people for what it is doing today, then drawing them into a deeper engagement

with the countrys past becomes very much easier.

3. Future Opportunity

I encouraged participants in the process to consider the strategic question from a different

viewpoint: rather than thinking about opportunities for Austria to become even more

competitive, and consequently even more prosperous, one could equally well devise a strategy

on the basis of Austrias international obligations.

Austria is one of the more stable, equal, peaceful, prosperous and successful societies on the

planet, undoubtedly amongst the top 5-10% by most indicators. One could well argue that, in

such a position, the countrys international responsibilities outweigh its opportunities for

greater success: certainly there are well over a hundred countries which would give a great

deal to be as successful as Austria. So instead of asking itself how it can follow the small

number of countries that rank above itself in the various indices of prosperity, Austria might

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find it more interesting to wonder how it can lead some of the large number that rank below

it.

In doing so, Austria would undoubtedly do more to enhance its international image than by

becoming yet more successful. People dont usually admire countries simply because they are

rich and successful, and Austria is an excellent illustration of this principle: they admire

countries that they perceive as actively beneficial in the world.

Meta-analysis of the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands IndexSM clearly shows that the

perception of morality is the strongest driver of overall national reputation, so there is plenty

of good sense in selecting strategies which focus on providing leadership in the international

domain, helping resolve shared global challenges, and generally behaving as a useful and

principled player in the community of nations.

4. Ongoing Threat

It was agreed by all groups that the correct approach to the occasional negative perceptions of

Austria was one of constant vigilance, and this must be one of the tasks given to the Media

Centre, which is described later in this Report. To undertake actions or communications

specifically designed to counter perceptions of extremism runs the risk of drawing unwelcome

attention to factors which currently arent front of mind for the majority of people in other

countries. It was also felt that there was much in the strategy finally chosen which had the

power to combat these negative perceptions in an indirect and thus more subtle way.

Vision: Re-evaluating the Austrian Model

My first proposal for Austrias strategic direction was discussed in detail with all four groups

and met with almost universal approval. Not surprisingly, several people expressed doubts

about how, and whether, it could be executed in practical terms, but this was not of

immediate concern since in my experience finding the correct strategic direction is more

difficult and more important than finding ways of implementing it.

The strategic narrative runs like this:

If one looks at Austrian society from an external perspective, it is relatively easy to characterise

as a societal model which is unique to Austria: most of the individual components of this

model can be found in other societies, but the combination is unmistakably Austrian. The main

components of the model are, I would argue, the following:

Work/Life Balance:

Strong family and neighbourhood ties; societal cohesion at many levels

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Diligence and industry, but not at the expense of family. Early to work, early home; holidays

and mealtimes are sacred

Avoidance of anything hectic or rushed (haste is not gemtlich); important decisions are taken

slowly and carefully

Humanity/Planet Balance:

Only the Austrians are culturally environmental: several other European populations have

learned to comply with a wide range of environmental regulations, but I would argue that the

Austrians are culturally predisposed towards sustainability: Austria is their pristine garden, and

their desire to keep it pristine needs little official encouragement

Food consists of locally sourced, natural, organic ingredients, freshly prepared (although I

remain to be convinced that Austrian cuisine has the potential to become a truly global

phenomenon, alongside Indian, French, Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Japanese or even Korean,

because unlike them it doesnt form a complete, unmistakably distinctive culinary oeuvre,

rather a medium-sized collection of excellent dishes which are characteristic of a broader

region rather than a specific nation).

Individual/Society Balance:

The Social Partnerships is a unique model which quite possibly needs some updating but is

basically very sound and highly distinctive

Savings and prudence (the almost universal Sparkonto is certainly good for families even if it is

bad for economic growth)

A rather rigid set of rules at the bureaucratic level combined with great flexibility and

adaptability of application at the citizen level

Consensus is seen as important, even if this characteristic is sometimes driven more by conflict

avoidance and results in unsatisfactory compromise rather than a true, worked-out consensus

An understanding of the proper role of culture in society: culture, especially music, is seen as

part of a rich life, which contributes just as much to personal and societal happiness and

wealth as does money and success.

From an external perspective, and at first glance, much of this model seems to confirm the

view that Austria is a conservative if not mildly fundamentalist society. These look to many like

very old-fashioned values, which like so many other aspects of Austrias current image might

suggest a pleasant tourist destination, a temporary escape from the chaos and crisis of the

real world, but not a model that anyone might wish to emulate; not a model that suggests

leadership or particular relevance to the problems of the modern world.

And yet, I maintain that a slightly different perspective on the same model casts it in a

dramatically different light.

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We live in an age in which the model that has guided the economic, social, cultural and

political activity of much of the world is undergoing intense scrutiny and a good deal of

criticism. Today, every pundit and columnist can recite the failings of the Washington

Consensus: our politicians treated economics as a monotheistic religion when society, in

reality, depends on many gods for its happiness. People, culture, happiness and the planets

resources were left out of the equation; the system was predicated on what Edward Abbey

called growth for the sake of growth . the logic of the cancer cell.

We are all experts at criticising the old order but as yet there is no working proof of a viable

alternative. Retreating into an archaic fantasy of slow-food, no-global or even anti-capitalist

localism is seductive to many, but fundamentally unrealistic.

The Austrian Model which I have described above provides a working model of a viable

alternative: point by point, it responds to the failings of the aggressive Anglo-Saxon model of

capitalism:

AUSTRIAN MODEL WASHINGTON CONSENSUS

Work/life balance Work, work, work

Family and neighbourhood values Selfishness, individualism

Culturally environmental Ignored finite resources of planet

Avoidance of hectic; make decisions

slowly

Instant decision-making, esp. in financial markets

Go to work early, go home early You can rest when youre dead

Savings; prudence Debt-fuelled growth

Boring (= trustworthy) Exciting (= unpredictable)

Food: fresh, local ingredients Fast food for fast living; expensive exotica

Social partnership Government vs. business vs. workforce

Culture as integral part of a rich life Culture as entertainment product

The Sound of Music Wall Street

Harmony Power

Consensus/compromise Winning

It would be a gross exaggeration to claim that the Austrian Model provides everything that the

American model lacks, just as it would be an exaggeration to claim that the Anglo-Saxon model

is entirely worthless. Both are far from perfect, and far from complete. The Austrian Model, as

it stands, contains some of those same elements of inertia and rigidity, lack of enterprise and

adaptability which are endemic to the sclerotic and increasingly discredited European Model.

There is no place for xenophobia, anti-globalism or corruption in such a model. Much needs to

be improved and even rebuilt.

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But the model works, and Austrias success and prestige give it the credibility to be a serious

contender for Capitalism 2.0, or perhaps Europe 2.0.

The Austrian Model is, I believe, closer to providing a working alternative model than most

others currently available, and this provides Austria with its main opportunity to demonstrate

some real leadership in the international sphere, should it choose to do so.

Final Strategy Choices

During the programme, I presented three alternative strategic proposals to the Friday and

Saturday Groups, the first of which had been developed during the Second Visit and is

described in the previous paragraphs. These three strategies can be summarised as follows:

Strategy #1: The Austrian Model.

Summary: The distinctive features of Austrias social, cultural and (to some extent) economic

model are, contrary to current perceptions, in fact far from old-fashioned and irrelevant: they

could well be positioned as a perfect, point-by-point and unmistakably European antidote to

the broken model of aggressive Anglo-Saxon capitalism, and consequently represent the future

rather than the past.

Strategy #2: Bridge-Builders to the World.

Summary: Austrias track record in bridging the gap between developed and developing

markets, forged between the fall of Communism in 1989 and the 2004 Enlargement, is also its

future mission. Firstly in the laggard states of South-Eastern Europe, and then on to Central

Asia, North Africa and beyond, Austria is the bridge-builder, bringing a unique portfolio of

experience for accelerating progress and prosperity to second-tier nations around the world.

Helping developing countries to become developed countries, in a sustainable way, is a fine

and substantial mission for Austria, for the foreseeable future.

Strategy #3: Making Modern our Middle Name.

Summary: The third strategy was more of a classic nation branding approach, and was based

on the assumption that (a) Austria needs to be perceived as more modern and more relevant

in order to trade more effectively, and (b) it deserves to be perceived as such. This strategy

would therefore be a comprehensive medium-term programme of initiatives designed to

establish Austrias credentials as a modern, relevant, cosmopolitan and technologically

advanced nation.

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Responses to the Strategic Proposals

Strategy #1: The groups unanimously agreed that this concept is, in fact, more of a vision than

a strategy. The decision was taken to retain it as the ultimate vision for Austrias purpose in the

world: a direction of travel rather than a specific objective.

Strategy #2: The idea of Austria as bridge builder achieved unanimous support in both the

Friday and Saturday groups, and was felt to be credible, justifiable and motivational, as well as

being sufficiently broad-based that it would not marginalise or exclude any significant sectors

of industry, business or society.

One member of the Friday Group pointed out that Austria was not the only country which

could claim such a positioning, but in my view this perennial question of the unique selling

proposition is only relevant in the commercial sector, where there is a real risk of one product

being confused with another functionally similar one. In reality, it is impossible for very many

people to genuinely confuse one country with another, since they are self-evidently different.

What matters for countries is the direction they choose to pursue, and how effectively and

visibly they pursue it.

Another contributor commented that he was relieved that the strategy was reassuringly

familiar and not something too ambitious or alien to Austrias culture and current situation

and activities. This is entirely deliberate. Indeed, the idea of Austria as bridge builder is one

that has been discussed in various sectors in the past, a fact which is extremely reassuring to

me. The art of national strategy is far more a question of recognising who we are than

deciding who we are. Again, in the commercial sector its possible and desirable to develop

a surprising, innovative and original strategy in order to give a company a unique and

distinctive positioning in the marketplace: companies can sometimes achieve this because they

are relatively small and relatively undemocratic. Countries cant because its impossible for

them to change their direction or nature except over many generations, and this is almost

never the consequence of a deliberate policy or executive decision.

Some discussion took place relating to the geographical domain where such bridge-building

activity could be focused, and the general consensus was that the logical place to focus in the

first place was in Austrias own immediate neighbourhood of South-Eastern Europe, where it

already has experience, credibility, awareness and a strong track record.

There is still enormous potential in this region, and plenty to be achieved, particularly amongst

those countries which are hoping to achieve EU membership in the longer term (such as

Serbia) and those which have already acceded but are still in need of significant development

(such as Romania). It was felt that this strategy provides an opportunity for the Austrian State

to catch up with Austrian private sector activity in the SEE region, since much of Austrias

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achievement to date has been largely private-sector driven: the new strategic focus provided

by the Competitive Identity exercise should enable Austria to operate in a more coordinated,

cross-sector and public-private basis in the region, and consequently achieve better, more

noticeable and more lasting results. There is of course a significant element of self-interest in

this approach, since if it puts sufficient effort into it, Austria could dominate the huge

investment opportunities in these markets.

The bridge-building concept of course has a cultural dimension too, and here there are great

opportunities, for example in the Muslim world; in Orthodox-Catholic reconciliation, and in

many other domains where tolerance, mutual understanding and effective communication are

lacking.

It is important that this strategy is not interpreted in a narrow way as helping emerging

countries to access the European Union, since the potential of such a task could gradually

become more and more limited; because it could easily become derailed by major changes

within the European Union (a possibility not to be excluded in the current, uncertain

environment); and because it would exclude Austrian organisations and individuals whose

interests lie in other parts of the world. The Bridge-Builder should be framed as an effectively

unlimited, global mission for Austria.

The point about sustainability is obviously critical, since if Austria merely helps more emerging

nations to become consumers and emitters on the same scale as the current developed world,

it is doing humanity and the planet no favours at all. For this reason it must contain a very

emphatic element of leadership in sustainability, and preferably be able to promote its own

distinctive economic approach to development, both in terms of sustainability and foreign

assistance.

I carried out some comparison and evaluation of the various trends and current best practice

in sustainable economic theory, and I believe that the Global Footprint concept may be the

ideal sustainability agenda for Austria to endorse, adopt and champion, both for its own

economic planning and as part of the development package which it will offer to developing

countries under the bridge building approach. This idea was further developed as one of the

Symbolic Actions which are outlined later in this Report.

Strategy #3: This strategy was rejected by the Saturday Group, on the grounds that it wasnt

considered sufficiently visionary or exciting; that it didnt provide a clear sense of direction

for the country; that it was unlikely to be supported or sustained by Austrian government and

society; and that it would be a waste of this rare opportunity for a total re-purposing of the

nation.

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However, it was felt that some of the implementation techniques described in the outline to

this strategy were too good to waste and should certainly be revisited during the final phase

of the Competitive Identity project as possible tools for executing the chosen strategy. These

techniques included the following:

1. Enhanced and harmonised communications in business and leisure tourism, culture,

export and trade promotion, public diplomacy, major events, etc., based on a series of

sector-specific themes.

2. Highly visible partnerships with other countries and cities which are already associated

with the desired attributes.

3. Targeted research and development activity in selected sectors.

4. Restyle all external communications to the strategy, across all public sector platforms.

5. Showcase existing leaders in appropriate sectors, back winners, encourage champions

at home and abroad.

6. Fund major prizes for cutting-edge R&D in appropriate sectors.

7. Host appropriate international events.

8. Pick a quintessential global challenge and devote sufficient resources to becoming

universally identified with it, in a distinctively Austrian way.

9. Educational support to schools in key growth markets, stressing the bridge-building

activity of the country and its industries and academia.

10. Invest in science diplomacy on a major scale.

11. Major events strategy, focusing on appropriate industries and sectors.

12. Create or identify a body able to identify next-generation opportunities before they

become mainstream or too heavily populated. Become known for funding and other

support in such sectors. Seize high ground opportunities in these sectors, creating

global hub infrastructure and institutions in Austria.

Strategy, Substance and Symbolic Actions

It will be recalled that the Competitive Identity methodology uses the concept of strategy,

substance and Symbolic Actions in order to provide dramatic evidence that the country

deserves a higher profile than it currently has.

Rather than transmit a series of messages or arguments to the media that Austria is a better

and more relevant place than people think an approach which I believe is likely to be ignored

or rejected the idea is to develop and deliver an unbroken stream of inherently remarkable

and newsworthy projects, policies, products and people, all of which prove Austrias relevance

and appeal to people in Europe and around the world.

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Symbolic Actions are generated in two ways: they are created from scratch, or converted from

existing projects. Generating Symbolic Actions from scratch is, at least in principle, a

straightforward creative process, which needs to be carried out by competent and experienced

professional creatives. Ideas are developed using the core strategy as a brief, and are then

assigned to an appropriate government agency, ministry, entrepreneur, company, charity or

other body for development and execution.

The conversion approach, on the other hand, involves identifying suitable projects already

planned within government or the private sector and converting them to Symbolic Actions (a

process which I call giving them a twist).

The BMWFJ Secretariat worked with all the stakeholders in the project to identify projects,

policies, products and people with actual or potential symbolic power, from as many sectors as

possible. This was carried out in a remarkably efficient and productive way, and the Secretariat

produced no less than 77 suitable projects in a very short space of time certainly a record in

my experience.

I then led two creative sessions in Vienna, using creative people from Austrian advertising and

communications agencies, a series of workshops with the Friday Group participants, and finally

a number of creative sessions in the UK, to convert a selection of these projects into Symbolic

Actions.

The projects I chose for conversion were the ones which best lent themselves to enhanced

creativity, and had the potential to provide the most dramatic evidence that Austria deserves a

higher profile around the world. This does not of course mean that the projects which I left out

were considered less good, less interesting or even less true to the bridge-builder strategy

almost all of them, if well executed, could play a role in enhancing Austrias international

engagements.

The kind of treatment which the chosen projects needed varied from case to case. In some

cases, the symbolic aspect of the project was already in place and simply needed some

imaginative and effective promotion or communication; in other cases, the project lacked any

dramatic or communicative components, but was nonetheless of world-class importance or

quality: in such cases, I simply devised a symbolic front end in order to help it capture the

imagination of the media and public opinion. In some cases, the most potent symbolic effects

were achieved by linking, cross-fertilising or even dismantling and reassembling different

projects from different sectors.

Clearly, the process of earning a new image for Austria doesnt finish now that my consulting

engagement has finished: it starts now that Austria is in a position to build the systems and

structures for implementing these Symbolic Actions, and for generating a regular supply of

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new ones in the future. The design for these systems and structures are discussed in the final

section of this Report.

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PART THREE: SYMBOLIC ACTIONS

The Symbolic Actions

There are four distinct types of Symbolic Actions illustrated in this document, each with its

own particular function. The largest category is of course Pure Bridgebuilder Symbolic

Actions, all of which are strongly rooted in the multilateralist, cosmopolitan spirit of the

bridgebuilder strategy. Seven further ideas are designed as communications vehicles designed

to allow Austria to achieve more bridge-building activities and messages around the world;

two are strategic support techniques designed to help the Austrian government implement

the strategy more effectively; and the three last Symbolic Actions are designed to support the

classical music sub-strategy.

My inclusion of Symbolic Actions designed to reinforce the idea of classical music relates to

one of my key recommendations during the strategic process. To quote my earlier comment:

Several participants in the groups have complained that Austrias image shows an unhealthy

bias in favour of the Mozart/Strauss legacy, but my view is that Austria is actually a very long

way from reaping the full benefits of its cultural heritage. This would in fact be a nice problem

to have, but it is very far from the truth of the situation.

It really seems as if Austria does not fully own the idea of classical music around the world,

and it needs to keep working in order to achieve and sustain this reputation. My

recommendation, therefore, is to maintain a small proportion (say, about one-tenth as

illustrated in this list) of Symbolic Actions that specifically promote Austria as the global

capital of classical music, instead of (or preferably as well as) advancing the bridgebuilder

strategy.

Pure Bridgebuilder Symbolic Actions

1. Amadeus Music Academy (ABA Invest in Austria; Hexagon Point: Investment &

Immigration)

This is a good example of how a commercial project can be developed into a Symbolic Action.

The original project is a private-sector initiative created by a foreign investor in Austria, but

with a few small twists it can play a useful role in communicating and enhancing Austrias

Competitive Identity, whilst improving the investors business by making it more media

friendly and consequently marketing itself, and achieving a much higher profile than the

original version might have been able to expect. In consequence, its also a good example of

how agencies like the Austria Business Agency can add real value to their clients investments

simply by applying appropriate creativity.

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The basic idea behind the Symbolic Action is to provide the Amadeus Music Academy with

more striking, media-friendly and dramatic user benefits, beyond the mere fact that the school

is located in Vienna. After all, young musicians in East Asia regularly acquire levels of technical

excellence which are in every sense the equal of what they can achieve in Europe, so

additional incentives and arguments have to be provided. What is it that a gifted young

musician from Asia can learn in Vienna that he or she cannot learn back home?

The obvious answer is that its impossible to interpret European music properly without a deep

understanding of European culture and history: out of its cultural context, classical music

becomes simply a technical accomplishment. Without the qualities of interpretation, depth,

intelligence, taste, refinement and a strong cultural frame of reference, even the most

talented musician is unlikely to progress very far in the professional world. So what the

Amadeus school needs to provide is European music tuition in the European context, and

where better than Vienna to do this?

Consequently, the syllabus must be well balanced between musicianship and cultural

background. This could involve all kinds of unusual and media-friendly innovations, including

the following suggestions:

- Learning to feel the emotions that give rise to great music. Weekly seminars on

romantic love, religious awe, existential doubt, poverty and solitude, political

oppression, could all be delivered in a strongly experiential, non-academic style.

- Learning what it was like to live in the eighteenth or nineteenth century; total

immersion experiences, where students must live for a day in period costumes and

without modern conveniences, would be one unforgettable experience.

- Bridging between tradition and modernity, and learning the hard way about public

performance. A partnership could be created with the Frequency Festival, where the

Amadeus students are given a 20-minute performance slot (its likely that both the

Frequency audience and the Amadeus students will benefit from the experience).

- It would also be original and useful to appoint a prominent American rapper, for

example, as Visiting Professor he would have much to share with Asian classical

music students and the experience would be enriching for both parties.

- The students could also spend a day each month busking in the airport, as part of the

Flash Mops described later in the Vienna Airport Refresh Symbolic Action (see

below).

2. Congress of Megacities based on Sustainable and Emerging Cities in Latin America

and the Caribbean (Federal Ministry of Finance / Inter-American Development Bank;

Hexagon Point: Investment and Immigration)

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This simple idea shows an opportunity for Austria and Vienna to show some international

leadership in a critical topic that at the moment lacks a central focus, and lacks a clear source

of global leadership: the future of the Megacity.

Everyone knows that more than half of humanity is now city-dwelling, and that megacities are

an important dimension of the future of humanity. But they are also extremely problematic for

many reasons, and Vienna could take the lead in guiding constructive global thinking in this

area.

Austrias unique take on this huge problem would be to start small, and go to the oldest,

tiniest villages to seek solutions to the biggest, newest challenges. Having a global Congress of

Megacities in Seoul or Tokyo or New York is rather obvious, and holding it in a medium-sized

city like Vienna might seem irrelevant or inappropriate: but holding it as a series of high-level

workshops in a string of tiny mountain villages in rural Austria is much more surprising and

more appealing too.

The appeal of tiny wisdom, and finding small solutions for big problems seems highly

appropriate for Austrias bridge-building mission.

3. Adomi Bridge (Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Hexagon Point: Governance)

Aid, according to the bestselling Zambian author Dambisa Moyo, is dead. Much has been

written during the past ten years by myself and others about the failure of traditional

development assistance: weakening governance, choking off local enterprise, stimulating

corruption and creating a culture of dependency without even beginning to narrow the gap

between rich and poor. As I have often pointed out in my own writing, aid also fatally damages

the economic prospects of recipient countries for generations, by branding them as desperate

basket-cases. China and the other developing giants in their search for raw materials are

beginning to crowd out traditional donors by making vast but often morally unsound

investments in poor countries.

Its time for a change, but nobody seems prepared to break with the old system, even though

it is clearly unfit for purpose. Austria should be the first country to abandon conventional

donations (except in the cases of emergency assistance which should of course be ring-

fenced). It should entirely replace its foreign assistance programs with a new model called

Chain Aid.

Inspired by the Adomi Bridge project which Austria is carrying out in Ghana, this Symbolic

Action takes a single conventional aid project and develops it into an entirely new model of

overseas development assistance. This opens the door to a new leadership position for

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Austria, and endless opportunities for bridge-building both literal and figurative around the

world.

The idea of Chain Aid is based on a new form of conditionality. Austria will help countries like

Ghana with its development projects, but only on condition that whatever skills, techniques

and experience Ghana acquires during the project must one day be passed on to others in the

form of further overseas development. So, through the Adomi Bridge project, our Ghanaian

partners acquire a wealth of knowledge and experience in managing, funding and

implementing major civil engineering projects: we then require them to build on this

experience, and in due course to become donors themselves, offering the benefit of that

experience to other countries where similar projects need to be carried out.

Of course we dont expect the Ghanaians to be able to deliver such assistance projects on their

own after just one project, and for the next few projects we expect them to bring along their

Austrian colleagues too, as well as external funding, but gradually they will acquire sufficient

confidence and expertise to be able to become donors in their own right. Perhaps the

Austrians would even choose to invest in the Ghanaian team and retain a long-term interest in

their success.

There is no reason why the chain of aid should remain in the developing world: one day, Id

like to see the Ghanaian government offering its skills and expertise in bridge-building to a

Canadian province or a Japanese prefecture and of course this export of skills can one day

become a valuable source of revenue for Ghana, and perhaps provide a return on the original

Austrian investment.

The implication of Chain Aid is that it promises and end to the fragmentary and

inconsequential nature of traditional development projects, by building chains that stretch

around the world.

The often-repeated mantra of overseas development is: give a man a fish and you will feed

him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for life. Chain Aid adds a new element to

this tired formula: Teach him to teach others and you might end poverty.

4. FMA University Programme in Financial Market Supervision / FMA Supervision

Conference (Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) and Oesterreichische

Nationalbank (OeNB); Hexagon Point: Investment & Immigration)

The excellent and timely work being carried out by the FMA and OeNB would benefit greatly

from a higher profile, since it cuts right to the heart of one of the greatest problems facing

society today: uncontrollable market forces. Obviously the difficulty with this kind of activity is

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that its complex and technical and doesnt generally reach a mass audience. So the challenge

is to bring these issues alive to ordinary people, in order to show that Austria is playing an

important role in setting the world to rights.

One noticeable and unexpected project would be to introduce the topic to Austrian

schoolchildren at a very early age. Arguably, the current failure of the Washington Consensus

is partly cultural in cause, and for this reason, the best way to tackle the root causes of the

malaise is by addressing basic values and principles in society through primary education. A

course in financial prudence suitable for five- and six-year olds would be a fascinating project

for the FMA/OeNB to commission, and would provide significant profile for their mainstream

activities.

An even more prominent approach would be for the FMA to name and shame the most

flagrant examples of rampant capitalism worldwide. They could launch an annual Gordon

Gecko Award (named in honour of the callous financier memorably played by Michael

Douglas in Wall Street) for the greediest capitalist of the year, and offer free courses in

Financial Market Supervision to the winners and runners-up.

5. Preserving and Sustaining the Unique Historic State-Owned Architectural Heritage

(Federal Ministry for Economy, Family & Youth; Hexagon Point: Culture)

The Ministry could adopt a new way of twinning buildings which links its work on Austrian

heritage more closely to the overseas development agenda, and consequently to bridge

building.

The idea is that each major building is twinned with a building in a developing country, and

they collaborate closely on preserving and sustaining their heritage. The twin buildings could

be selected because of some shared history; because they have a similar public function; a

similar architectural style; present particular conservation challenges as a result of their similar

construction style or materials or location; or simply because they were built in the same year.

For example, Schnbrunn Castle could be twinned with Raniji ki Baori, an important stepwell in

Rajasthan, since both were built in 1699; Stefansdom and the Majusri Hall at Foguang Temple

in Shanxi Province were both completed in 1137. One could even have fun selecting buildings

because they happen to start with the same letters: the Technisches Museum and the Taj

Mahal would form an agreeably random couple which otherwise might never have anything to

do with each other, but might be able to assist each other in innovative and unpredictable

ways.

The final selection from a list of candidate twinnings could be made by visitor votes (giving

each visitor a token which they then drop in a slot to select their chosen building is one simple

way of doing this).

simon anholt

| P.O. Box 1170, Ormesby, Gt Yarmouth NR29 3WW, UK |

www.simonanholt.com

Once the twinning has been created, an audio-video floor could be installed in the entrance of

each building, with a live feed between the two, so that visitors to each building, even though

they might be thousands of kilometres apart, can see each other, wave, and even enjoy a

transcontinental conversation from one building to another.

When the twinning is announced, and later when restoration works are being carried out, a

construction hoarding would be used to protect the faade in the usual way (a mesh building

wrap printed with a full-size photographic image of the building), but instead of the printed

image simply reproducing the real building underneath, half of the wrap should show the real

building, and half should show the faade of the twin building.

6. Vienna International Christian-Islamic Summer University (University of Vienna;

Hexagon Point: Governance/People/Culture)

This excellent initiative is right at the heart of one of the topics that matter most to people

around the world, and with a little creative enhancement could easily form a good example of

cultural bridge-building, Austrian-style.

Whilst the topic and the approach of this event are to be commended, it is unlikely to produce

very much reputational benefit for Vienna or for Austria since the project is primarily an

academic one, and has relatively little outreach to broader audiences worldwide. This is a

shame, since its a topic that has an impact on billions of people worldwide, many of whom

really would value the opportunity to share in its learnings and conclusions.

Part of the problem is that there appears to be relatively little incentive for the programme to

produce any definite conclusions. Unless the participants are working towards a definite, and

ideally public-facing outcome, the overwhelming probability is that the event will produce

discussion and nothing else.

In order to change this dynamic, the groups deliberations should end with a public

performance of their findings. To create the script for this event, a number of poets,

speechwriters, slam poets, rap artists, composers and dramatists would join the group towards

the end of the discussions and work with the participants to produce performance versions of

their best findings, provocations, ideas and projects. These outputs would then be performed

in a mixed programme of words and music (played by the Austrian Building Bridges Orchestra

from Graz University, another of the projects listed in the original list of 77).

simon anholt

| P.O. Box 1170, Ormesby, Gt Yarmouth NR29 3WW, UK |

www.simonanholt.com

Amongst other more obvious benefits of this approach, it would help to prove an important

concept at the heart of Austrias long-term Competitive Identity strategy: that music lies at the

heart of public life, and is functional rather than merely entertaining.

The group would then travel with this performance package to major events around the world.

A short version could be produced for performance at the General Assembly of the UN in New

York, for example. The performance would also of course be freely available online, on DVD,

and so forth. Kits would be made available so that other groups could repeat the formula and

produce their own contrasting results.

Both the discussions and the final public performance would be virtually linked with other

centres worldwide, creating a networked global resonance for the event.

The purpose of the combined event is not, of course, to impose solutions on these difficult

problems, but to introduce fresh and unexpected viewpoints, inputs, insights and provocations

into the debate, so that others can be more effectively stimulated into developing real

solutions over the longer period. A combination of music and words is the best medium for

delivering this kind of input, since it isnt required to have the intellectual rigour and finality of

an academic paper or a policy proposal, but does need to affect people at a deeper, spiritual or

emotional level which can so often provide the inspiration for new solutions to old problems.

7. European Forum Alpbach (European Forum Alpbach; Hexagon Point: Governance)

The key task facing Europe at this time of crisis is primarily an internal one: to define what its

job must be for the next fifty years, and to generate consensus, passion and ambition around

this. Unless this purpose is relevant, credible and inspiring to people in the areas that they care

about most, then solidarity and commitment, not to mention democratic participation, will

remain a distant dream.

When the memory of two world wars was still fresh in peoples minds, Europe did not have

this problem because its founding principles of ensuring lasting peace and prosperity were

highly relevant. Today, the EU is partly suffering the price of its own success: it has gone so far

towards creating peace (and, on the whole, prosperity too) that it may have done itself out of

a job, or at least done itself out of a defining purpose.

Yet in my opinion Europes universal defining purpose is plainly still there, and merely needs to

be named, updated and crystallised. Europe finds itself once again at the heart of the issues

which threaten global security and stability indeed, the future of the species just as surely

as the Second World War did in the first half of the twentieth century.

simon anholt

| P.O. Box 1170, Ormesby, Gt Yarmouth NR29 3WW, UK |

www.simonanholt.com

We are living in the age of the long crisis, in which globalisation throws up an unending series

of shocks and challenges to the global system. Every one of these problems is a shared

problem, a problem that doesn't respect borders, a problem that demonstrably cannot be

solved by individuals, corporations, governments or multilateral institutions on their own. In

fact, all these problems are symptoms of a deeper problem: the fact that we still haven't

learned how to run ourselves as a single species living on a single planet.

Europe is surely mankinds most ambitious and most successful experiment in global

governance, the master problem facing humanity today. Europes duty and destiny is

therefore to continue the experiment and perfect the techniques of multilateralism.

My deliberately ambitious proposal is that the Alpbach Forum should adopt this as its role: to

do whatever is necessary and possible to help Europe redefine itself according to this mission.

In doing so, Alpbach will help to redefine Austria as a leader within Europe (a role it is perhaps

uniquely configured to play, since it has much of the credibility, wealth and sophistication of

the Great Powers but is far more acceptable to the smaller and poorer member states, and far

less politicised).

This is a large task, and it will certainly be necessary for Alpbach to partner, network and

collaborate with other Austrian institutions (such as the Vienna Economic Forum) in order to

achieve the influence it needs.

In order to rise above the mass of think-tanks and conferences currently operating, however, a

big mission is not sufficient: careful thought needs to be given to developing an entirely

innovative format for the organisation and its meetings. The scope of the Competitive Identity

project unfortunately doesnt permit this degree of detailed product development, but with

the right participants in the discussion, it is possible, necessary, and certainly fun, to develop a

completely new way of running an international forum. Alpbach should seize this challenge as

a matter of urgency.

8. Adopt CoderDoJo as State Educational Policy (New Project; Hexagon Point:

People/Governance)

CoderDojo1 is a much-admired free programme for teaching computer programming skills to

children as young as seven in a club environment, which has achieved notable successes in

Ireland and a number of other countries.

1 See http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2012/dec/05/coderdojo-programming-kids

simon anholt

| P.O. Box 1170, Ormesby, Gt Yarmouth NR29 3WW, UK |

www.simonanholt.com

I have spoken to the Founder of CoderDojo, Bill Liao, who would love to see Austria developing

a national programme. This would then form part of Austrias bridgebuilding package for

working with developing countries. If Austria executes the programme at a big enough scale,

with appropriate Symbolic Actions, and shows international leadership in doing so, it is likely to

generate significant international profile.

9. Become Lead Country for the Global Footprint (New Project; Hexagon Point:

Governance)

The Global Footprint Network2 is working to establish the Ecological Footprint as the standard

resource accounting tool for countries, in an effort to ensure that humanity lives within the

available resources of the planet. This tool compares human demands on nature to the

regenerative capacity of nature: thus it can show, for example, how much humanity takes

compared to what the biosphere can renew, or how much a nations population consumes

compared to what the countrys ecosystems can provide.

The Footprint is rapidly gaining acceptance in many countries, and has been endorsed by the

United Nations, the European Union and many multilateral organisations, NGOs and

governments worldwide. Its momentum is clearly gathering, and my strong sense is that it will

soon be accepted as the standard metric for sustainability.

A number of developing countries are already working closely with the Ecological Footprint:

Ecuador, for example, committed in its 2009 National Plan to maintain its Ecological Footprint

at a level within what its ecosystems can renew. It has also adopted a Presidential mandate to

manage ecological assets by developing physical indicators such as the Footprint to track

ecological supply and demand,