Momentum Institut

Momentum Institut – Verein für sozialen Fortschritt
Established2019
Key people
Location
Vienna
Websitemomentum-institut.at

The Momentum Institut is a trade union-affiliated[1] Austrian think tank that aims to develop and disseminate proposals for a more sustainable and fair society. The association's political stance can be classified as left-wing.

Positioning

The Momentum Institute wants to distinguishes itself from other Austrian think tanks by defining itself as a "think tank for the many" with an "Agenda for You and Me".[2]

Financing

The institute emerged from the annual scientific congress Momentum and described itself as being financed solely by donations and crowdfunding.[2] At the beginning of 2022, the institute's financing came under media scrutiny following a parliamentary inquiry by NEOS MP Gerald Loacker.[3] The issue of the institute's subsidisation by means of mandatory contributions from the Arbeitskammer (Chamber of Labour, AK), which provided Momentum with a total of €900,000 in funding in 2020 out of a total budget of €1.6 million, became a topic of discussion.[4][5] The amount was also reported in the AK's activity report at the time.[6][7] According to the institute's annual report, other donors included billionaire and entrepreneur Patricia Kahane, millionaire heiress Marlene Engelhorn,[8] and the ÖGB's "Solidarität Privatstiftung" (Solidarity Private Foundation).[9][5] The inquiry sparked a discussion about the influence of funding on think tanks such as Momentum or the business-oriented Agenda Austria and non-university research institutes such as WIFO, IHS, and wiiw.[7]

Online medium Moment

The editorial guidelines of the online medium moment.at are intended to disseminate the content objectives developed by the Momentum Institut.[10] Editorial director Tom Schaffer described the editorial policy as follows:

"We are progressive. There are certainly left-wing attitudes in many respects, but there are also many liberal elements [...] We call it progressive – partly because the word is not as loaded as 'left-wing'. It also means you're not immediately pigeonholed. For many people, 'left-wing' also means a more rigid view of the world than we actually want to convey."[11]

Parlagram tool

In 2019, the institute developed the Parlagram tool, based on a project by the newspaper Die Zeit, which made all speeches in German parliament since 1949 available for graphical analysis.[12] Parlagram uses open data to make written stenographic transcripts of the plenary sessions of the Austrian National Council from 1996 to 2018 systematically searchable.[13] Such tools make it possible to track how political debates and the associated choice of words have changed.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Momentum-Institut: Gleichstellung würde BIP wachsen lassen". news.ORF.at (in German). 2022-10-28. Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  2. 1 2 Apfl, Stefan (2019-02-28). "›Unsere Arbeit wird für alle relevant sein‹". DATUM (in German). Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  3. ↑ "Parlamentarische Materialien". www.parlament.gv.at. Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  4. ↑ "AK zahlte 2020 900.000 Euro an Momentum Institut". Die Presse (in German). 2022-01-24. Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  5. 1 2 "Momentum Institut wird großteils von der AK finanziert". news.ORF.at (in German). 2022-01-30. Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  6. ↑ "Tätigkeitsbericht Bundesarbeitskammer 2020" (PDF). www.arbeiterkammer.at. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-26. Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  7. 1 2 "Millionen für Ökonomen: Wie objektiv sollen unsere Experten sein?". DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  8. ↑ "Momentum-Institut legt Großspender offen". DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  9. ↑ Kordik, von Hanna (2022-01-21). "Das Momentum Institut, plötzlich im Fadenkreuz". Die Presse (in German). Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  10. ↑ "Redaktionelle Richtlinien". Moment.at (in German). Retrieved 2026-04-24.
  11. ↑ "Schaffer: "Wir wollen nicht nur für die kleine Twitteria schreiben"". Retrieved 2026-04-24.
  12. ↑ "70 Jahre Bundestag: Darüber spricht der Bundestag". ZEIT ONLINE (in German). Archived from the original on 2019-09-09. Retrieved 2026-04-24.
  13. ↑ "Parlagram: Tool zeigt, worüber im Parlament seit 1996 geredet wird". DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). Retrieved 2026-04-24.
  14. ↑ "Wie sich die Sprache im Nationalrat ändert". science.ORF.at (in German). 2020-02-13. Retrieved 2026-04-24.
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