Karl Renner Institute is the political academy of the Austrian Social Democratic movement. In this capacity, it foremostly aims at:

• involving experts from various fields in the development and realization of new political positions by establishing a discourse between experts from various fields and the Austrian Social Democratic Party;
• generating a forum for political discussion and thus helping to introduce social democratic positions into public discussion;
• training representatives of the Austrian Social Democratic Party so that they are optimally prepared for their present and future tasks;
• fostering the organizational development of the Austrian Social Democratic Party in order to open up and modernize party structures.

In order to fulfil these tasks as well as possible, Karl Renner Institute and its nine regional offices (one in each of Austria’s federal provinces) try to orient and modify their individual programmes according to their customers’ demands, needs and wishes. A broad variety of publications, debate evenings, seminars and lectures appeal at a politically interested public while special conventions and seminars aim to invite experts, teachers and educators. Besides this, Karl Renner Institute is involved in educational work on an international level. Together with its foreign sister organisations, it especially tries to support the young Central and Eastern European democracies and to help their integration into the mainstream of European political life. Moreover, Karl Renner Institute organises workshops and individual consultations for functionaries, parliamentary representatives and employees of the Austrian Social Democratic Party in order to support local political work, to sound and discuss various positions on controversial political topics and to impart background information relevant to recent political questions and developments.