
We’re excited to be celebrating 20 years of RTDS Group. That’s 20 years of facilitating research, supporting sustainability and the bio-based industries, as well as helping innovative products take the next steps towards reaching the market. We’re Austria’s leading EU project consulting company for Horizon Framework research & innovation projects. With a portfolio of 11 projects, 4 as project coordinator, we intend to build on our success and our reputation, as we celebrate and look forward to the challenges and opportunities of the next 20 years. To mark the occasion, we spoke to our CEO and founder, Dr. Stephen Webb.
RTDS group was founded 20 years ago, what does RTDS stand for (literally and figuratively)?
We’ve been around for 20 years, in the days of the Framework Programme, they had what were called RTD activities, which stood for Research and Technological Development work packages. The idea of the company initially (and still is) to provide services to the Research and Technological Development community. So, RTDS is Research and Technological Development Services – our name comes straight from what we do!
RTDS focuses on sustainability projects across a range of sectors. In collaborative projects, there is a combination of research partners, companies (small and large), and academics. RTDS operates in a way that allows everybody to do what they do best: researchers do research, while companies focus on product and service development. We look after the management of the non-technical aspects, this means i.e. management, communication, dissemination and exploitation. RTDS is product independent and we have no ownership claim to the core results. We take care of the administrative efforts of running an EU project and help our partners focus on their work, providing them with the platform to exploit their key competencies.

What has changed in 20 years? How has RTDS adapted to continue providing the best services and ensure that clients keep coming back?
When we started out, environmental monitoring was seen mainly as a compliance issue by industry – a regulatory burden. We have been part of a movement that has changed perspectives on this. Consideration of environmental performance is no longer just a burden – it can add real value through cost reduction, recognition, and branding to both employees and customers; and don’t forget – reducing both demand on resources and emissions! With the transition to a more sustainable, more circular economy, in which consumers are willing to pay a premium for products which have a lower environmental footprint, environmental performance is a selling point that can help differentiate products and producers within a competitive marketplace. We understand that as we have been passionate about the benefits of sustainability since the start.
In general, there is a growing awareness of the fragility of supply chains and the fact that the benefits of being more sustainable go beyond the environmental benefits to include commercial benefits and even security benefits.
RTDS helps our partners develop and exploit the benefits of substituting fossil-based products for bio-based products. This requires us to have a more holistic understanding of the industrial, political, and economic landscape within which the science is located. We act as a bridge and facilitator between different actors and stakeholders.
Looking forward now, what is the European Green Deal and how will the green transition affect RTDS?
The European Green Deal translates to the biobased and sustainable sectors being even more relevant for almost all sectors, and that makes RTDS the perfect partner, as we already have a 20-year track record of success in European sustainability projects. As we shift away from linear value-chains towards more circular models, we are ready to exploit the opportunities this new model presents, in order to contribute towards the continuing paradigm shift. We are the market-leading SME in Austria in this sector.
What about the digital transition, what is that and is that the same?
They are not the same, but they are complimentary. The Green Deal is really about moving beyond the fossil fuel-based processes of the last century. Digitization is an enabling technology that allows measurement through data collection, processing and benchmarking improvements. Other enablers include robotics and AI. These new technologies require large investments, and the benchmarking of those improvements is necessary to justify more investment, as well as ensuring maximum positive impacts.
What role does RTDS see itself as playing in this evolving landscape? How will we support our partners in their work to reach these goals?
In a global marketplace, Europe cannot compete with emerging economies on production quantity; but we can compete on innovation and technologies with and for environmental performance. That comes at a price, so we must be as efficient and innovative as possible. We have the knowledge to help our partners negotiate the complex EU funding landscape.
Does this ultimately help make European industry more competitive in a global market and industry more resilient in a fast-evolving world?
Europe has higher environmental standards than many other regions, which requires Europe to be innovative and agile to maintain its competitiveness. This requires a great deal of capital investment in research, for example, better performing heat pumps in industry, more sustainable fertilisers in agriculture, or innovative crop management techniques. RTDS has, over the last 20 years, successfully positioned itself as a facilitator for this research.


Author: Jonathan Clark, Communications Manager, RTDS
Date: 20th June 2023
All photos © RTDS