On 21 September an international conference on the economic dimension of sport will take place in the Hotel Imperial Riding School Renaissance Vienna. Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for the Civil Service and Sport, Heinz-Christian Strache, will be joined by high-level economic and innovation experts as well as delegates from nearly all member states of the European Union.
The opening lecture will be given by Karlheinz Kopf, Secretary General of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich – WKO). After a panel discussion (facilitator: Folker Hellmund/European Olympic Committees) the conference will be continued in the afternoon with three workshops (“Sports and regional development”, “Sports and innovation” and “Methodological aspects”). The results of the day will then be summarised in a closing session.
The economic dimension of sport, expressed as a contribution to gross value added and employment, is well documented nowadays. However, some of the economically relevant dimensions of sport are not taken into account. The value of voluntary work, for example, is not measured due to the lack of financial flows, but neither is the economic damage caused by physical inactivity. In addition, the significance of sport for regional economic growth on a small‑scale, regional level has not yet been documented or if so, then only scarcely. Likewise, the innovative component of sport as a driver of economic growth has not been presented in sufficient detail yet.
The aim of the conference is to identify these problems, discuss possible approaches and develop ideas about how to even better quantify and present the entire economic dimension of sport in the future.