Award Ceremony on 9 April 2025
Austria's top research projects were awarded with the acclaimed Houska Prize of the B&C Private Foundation on April 9, 2025. From a long list of more than 50 submissions, high-calibre expert panels selected the winning projects in a two-stage process in three categories - University Research, Non-University Research and Research & Development in SMEs. The Mariella Schurz Prize was awarded by students of the HTL-Braunau. Providing entertainment was behavioral biologist Elisabeth Oberzaucher from the University of Vienna, also known from the Science Busters. Host of the award ceremony was the Austrian Puls 4 anchor woman Isabella Richtar.
Annette Mütze and her team from TU Graz won the main prize in the University Research category for the development of more efficient and cost-effective small electric drives for cars. Markus Makoschitz from the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) and his team impressed the jury, taking home the golden Houska Prize trophy in the Non-University Research category for his work on a high-performance, all-electric charging infrastructure contributing to the mobility transition. In the Research & Development in SMEs category, Siegfried Einhellig from the Austrian company P+F Products + Features was awarded for TricValve – an innovative, minimally invasive transcatheter procedure to regulate venous return in cases of tricuspid regurgitation.
Scientists Johannes Peham and Ivan Barisic, along with their team from the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), received the Mariella Schurz Prize from the student jury of HTL Braunau. The specially designed Houska Prize statue was awarded for their project, "Electrical Cell Lysis for Rapid Antibiotic Resistance Tests".
Congratulations!
The three categories – Higher Education Research, Research & Development in SMEs and Non-University Research – are evaluated independently of one another. Project submissions are evaluated in a two-step procedure by a high-calibre advisory board and an internationally recognised expert jury. The Advisory Committee engages external experts to provide a sound basis for evaluating the submissions. It proposes an initial ranking, which the expert jury makes a final decision on. Five projects are nominated in the categories "Higher Education" and "Non-University Research", three projects in the category "Research & Development in SMEs". The 2024 Houska Prize winners were awarded on 26 April 2024.
Live stream - 01:23 hrs, in German
Direction: Gregor Hofbauer
Production: Concept Solutions
Video - 01:53 min, in German
Direction: Gregor Hofbauer
Production: LWZ.studio
The original white figure stood for the timeless, the human, and the enduring. The new silver sheen evokes progress, technology, and the future. The transparent acrylic glass panel, on which fine circuit traces have been engraved, serves as a symbol of digitalization, networking, and the limitless possibilities of modern technology.
This design invites reflection: How does technology change our humanity? How does digitalization influence our perception? The statue remains visible behind the transparent surface – but never without the filter of technical structures. Perhaps this artwork shows us that we already live in a world in which humans and machines are inextricably linked.
In the brochure “20 Years of Award-Winning Research from Austria” you will find comprehensive information about the Houska Prize of the B&C Private Foundation, including the award winners, the award ceremony, the projects, the advisory boards and jury, as well as background information and organizational details surrounding the 2025 Houska Prize (in German).
