Top representatives from politics, business and academia discussed current challenges and future trends in the retail sector at the WKÖ Retail Day23.

The difficult situation in the retail sector was outlined by Dr. Rainer Trefelik (Chairman of the Retail Division of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber), Dr. Harald Mahrer (President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber) and Karl Heinz Kopf (Secretary General of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber).

Mag. Iris Thalbauer (Managing Director of the Retail Division) and Kambis Kohansal Vajargah (Head of Startup-Services WKÖ) discussed innovative solutions and technologies for ecological sustainability in retail. This was followed by the presentation of the inno up Startup Award of the Austrian retail industry. Among the three finalists, Loopia (software solutions for easy access to circular economy services for consumer goods) prevailed over Prewave (identification of risks along supply chains using AI) and Findings (supply chain monitoring).

Current developments from a scientific perspective were presented by Univ.Prof. Dr. Holger Bonin (Institute for Advanced Studies IHS) on economic developments and Prof. Dr. Monika Köppl-Turyna (EcoAustria) on employment aspects, among others. Univ.Prof. Dr. Christoph Teller and Dr. Ernst Gittenberger (Institute for Retailing, Sales and Marketing) gave an insight into the latest research results on "Employer Attractiveness" in the retail sector.

Other speakers included Maria Ulmer (Federal Ministry of Finance), Johannes Kopf (AMS), Eva Landrichtinger (Federal Ministry of Labor and Economics) and Theresa Schleicher (Zukunftsinstitut). In the talk rounds, participants included Mariana Kühnel, MA (Austrian Federal Economic Chamber), Nicole Reitlinger (IKEA), Dr. Eva Eggeling (Fraunhofer) and Kilian Kaminski and Sarah Weyers (refurbed). The event was moderated by Ina Sabitzer.

We would like to thank Chairman Dr. Rainer Trefelik and Managing Director Mag. Iris Thalbauer for the invitation to the high-profile and exciting WKÖ Retail Day23 and the entire team of the Federal Retail Division for the excellent organization.