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Creative cash in on Vienna's vision

To reinvent its economy, the Austrian city tries creativity grants.

VIENNA - While others in Vienna took time off this summer, Yuji Mizobuchi and Simone Springer toiled in their studio overflowing with boxes, tools and shoes of all shapes and sizes.

The Austrian-Japanese duo who met at a London shoemaking college in 1999 are now running Rosa Mosa, a funky footwear and accessories company, from the artsy fifth district of the Austrian capital.

Mizobuchi, 32, and Springer, 35, are part of a growing group of energetic entrepreneurs benefiting from an initiative by Vienna's municipal government to attract, keep and develop business-savvy creative talent in the city known more for Mozart and museums than modern trends.

Since May 2004, the initiative, known as departure, has doled out $9.9-million in grants to Vienna-based companies in creative industries such as fashion, design, music and multimedia.

"We're trying to contribute to the reinvention of Vienna," departure founder Norbert Kettner said in an interview.

Kettner, who described the program as the first of its kind in continental Europe, said he wanted Vienna to attract talent from Eastern Europe and elsewhere to turn the city once again into the forward-looking center for creativity and innovation that it was about 100 years ago.

"It's really about reinventing the modern economy of cities," added Kettner, who became Vienna's top tourism official on Sept. 1. A similar program in London, known as Creative London, is led by the mayor's agency for economic development.

Gen Pop Culture

According to Vienna's Chamber of Commerce, more than 100,000 people - not counting an unknown number of freelancers - work in the city's creative sector.

The departure initiative also seeks to stabilize the situation of freelancers and claims that more than 520 jobs have been created or secured since the program began. It does not fund purely art-oriented projects, but concentrates on commercially oriented ventures.

"We focus on talent who want something ... we want the people who want something," said Kettner, adding there was a fourfold return for every euro invested into chosen projects.

"The pop culture generation, they're very undogmatic, they simply approach life - and that's what we want to promote and support," he said.

Speeding growth

Mizobuchi and Springer, who are using their $115,834 grant to work on six new collections over three years, say it was time well spent.

While they say they could have managed without the extra cash, they say it has allowed them to delegate duties to others.

"It speeds up growth, because of course if many people are working in parallel on different things, more happens," Springer said.

Springer and Mizobuchi moved from London to Salzburg in 2001, before relocating to Vienna in 2004. Their collections, which have been shown in Paris and Milan, are medium- to high-priced niche products made by artisans at a footwear manufacturer near the Austrian capital.

Peter Jaeger, the 38-year-old CEO of AUTLOOK Filmsales, an agency that markets Austrian films around the world, says getting his business off the ground would have been "a very close call" without departure. He received approval for a $117,754 grant in 2005.

"For me it's very clear: We couldn't have grown and stayed true to our philosophy without departure," said Jaeger, a Belgian national.

Fast facts

How grants work

Since May 2004, Vienna's "departure" initiative has doled out $9.9-million.

Application:Applicants have to prove their project reflects international trends, is competitive globally and will promote the city's economic growth.

Oversight: Those chosen don't get all the money at once. It can be revoked.

Cap: Total funding per company can't exceed $275,785 over a period of three years.

[Last modified September 20, 2007, 01:17:11]