Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) is Austria’s leading governmental bank providing funding for Austrian companies, in particular small and medium sized innovation driven companies. The bank provides around € 1 billion in development funding, mainly as grants, loans and guarantees. The aws cooperates closely with international financing institutions such as EBRD, European Investment Bank, European Investment Fund, IFC and World Bank. It is member of AECM (European Mutual Guarantee Association), EDFI (European Development Finance Institutions) and NEFI (Network of European Financial Institutions for SME).