Austria intends to launch a national research programme on safety and security that is complimentary to PASR – an EU funded Preparatory Action on Security Research as well as the upcoming Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union. To prepare the ground for this new national research funding initiative, a foresight process was started to investigate conceptual issues concerning safety and security research and to identify Austrian priorities for research in this area. This initiative was coordinated by the Federal Ministry for Transportation, Innovation and Technology of Austria.