The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) is an international research institute in natural and mathematical sciences, located in Maria Gugging, Klosterneuburg, 20 km northwest of the Austrian capital of Vienna. It was established and inaugurated by the provincial government of Lower Austria and the federal government of Austria in 2009. ISTA was established on the model of the Israeli Weizmann Institute of Science by its former president Israeli physicist Haim Harari. Like in the Weizmann Institute, scientists are encouraged to pursue their own goals and ideas not restricted by government or economic interest and all research themes are interdisciplinary. The institute as of 2021 consists of 67 research groups. It is expected to grow to about ninety research groups by 2026, and 150 groups by 2036 following commitments from the federal state and Lower Austria. Its graduate school offers an interdisciplinary doctoral program in the life, formal and physical sciences. As of December 2020, 250 students were enrolled.
