Founded in 1847 as a learned society, today the OeAW has over 770 members and 1,700 employees dedicated to innovative basic research, interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge and the dissemination of new insights with the aim of contributing to progress in science and society as a whole.

The members of the Academy engage in interdisciplinary exchange to consider important questions concerning the future, advise on policy and society and inform the general public of important scientific insights. They also form commissions in which they examine questions of great relevance to science and society.

The OeAW operates 28 research institutes in the field of innovative basic research in the arts and humanities and the social and natural sciences. The Academy stimulates pioneering research by taking up future-oriented topics and ensuring the preservation and interpretation of cultural heritage.