Houska Prize

Austria’s largest privately-awarded prize fund for application driven-research

Houskapreis

Houska Prize of the B&C Private Foundation

Established in 2005, the B&C Private Foundation’s Houska Prize was set up to promote business-related research and innovation. By awarding the prize, B&C’s goal is to help strengthen Austria as a business location and express its appreciation for the outstanding research work that is carried out in the country. Innovation performance and economic impact are key criteria in the selection process. With a total prize fund of EUR 750,000, the Houska Prize distributes more prize money than any other privately-financed awards for application-driven research in Austria. Up to this point, the prize has been awarded to 26 top researchers and a total of 6.33 million euros has been distributed in the form of prize money or vouchers.

Visual Houskapreis 2024

15 projects nominated for the Houska Prize 2024

The nominated projects for the Houska Prize 2024, the research award of the B&C Private Foundation, have been determined. High-profile expert advisory boards initially nominated five projects each from 73 submissions in the categories of "University Research", "Non-University Research", and "Research & Development in SMEs". Among the nominated projects are submissions from Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Carinthia, Styria, and Vienna. The winning projects will be awarded the Houska Prize by the B&C Private Foundation on April 25, 2024.

Nominated Projects for the Houska Prize 2024

Category University Research

Project lead

Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Institute of Intelligent System Technologies, Carinthia - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stephan Weiss, Christian Brommer, Dipl.-Ing. Alexander Hardt-Stremayr

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Project lead

Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine, Vienna - Prof. Dr. Giulio Superti-Furga

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Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Vienna - Prof. Dr. Jürgen Knoblich

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Vienna University of Technology, Institute for Automation and Control (ACIN) - Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.sc.techn. Georg Schitter

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Vienna University of Technology, Institute for Materials Science and Technology (WWWT) - Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Paul Mayrhofer

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Category Non-University Research

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ACMIT GmbH – Austrian Center for Medical Innovation and Technology, Lower Austria - Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Martin Kornfeld

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AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Upper Austria - Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Thomas Klein

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Complexity Science Hub Vienna, Vienna - Dipl.-Ing. Mag. Dr. Bernhard Haslhofer

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JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH, Styria - Dipl.-Ing.in Dr.in Katrin Tiffner

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JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH, Styria - Dr. Martin Smolka

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Category Research & Development in SMEs

Project lead

decide Clinical Software GmbH, Styria - Dipl.-Ing. Andreas Krug

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IB Lab GmbH, Vienna - Dr. Christoph Götz

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Incus GmbH, Vienna - Dr. Gerald Mitteramskogler

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REVOTEC zt gmbh, Vienna - Priv.-Doz. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. techn.habil Michael Reiterer

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RHP-Technology GmbH, Lower Austria - Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Erich Neubauer

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(Order alphabetically by university/institution)

Registration for the Award Ceremony of 2024 Houska Prize

The B&C Private Foundation will award Austria´s top researchers with the prestigious Houska Prize at a festive award ceremony.

Thursday, April 25, 2024, 6:00 p.m. CET
Aula der Wissenschaften, Wollzeile 27a, 1010 Vienna

Please note, that only persons who have been sent an invitation with a registration code can register to attend the award ceremony. The event will be streamed online on our website, YouTube or Facebook to enable anyone to see the ceremony. The event will be held in German.

register here

Fostering business-related research

Established in 2005, the B&C Private Foundation’s Houska Prize is designed to improve the financial environment for  research and innovation in Austria. It is also an expression of the foundation’s appreciation for the outstanding research that takes place in the country. With a total prize fund of EUR 750,000, the Houska Prize distributes more prize money than any other privately-financed awards for application-driven research in Austria. The awards also serve to fulfil the B&C Private Foundation’s commitment to fostering entrepreneurship in Austria and improving the country’s long-term standing as a business location. Awards are presented in the three categories of University Research, Non-University Research and Research & Development in SMEs. The annual Houska Prize is named after former foundation board member Wolfgang Houska. The design of the trophies are inspired by movie actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr.

Houska Prize Team

Nora Dvorak

Nora Dvorak

Alexander Kriz

Alexander Kriz

Doris Mayr

Doris Mayr

HP24 - Submission nicht sichtbar

B&C Private Foundation's Houska Prize

Established in 2005, the B&C Private Foundation’s Houska Prize was set up to promote business-related research and innovation. By awarding the prize, B&C’s goal is to help strengthen Austria as a business location and express its appreciation for the outstanding research work that is conducted in the country. Innovation performance and economic impact are key criteria in the selection process. With a total prize fund of EUR 750,000, the Houska Prize distributes more prize money than any other privately-financed awards for application-driven research in Austria.

Visual Houskapreis 2024

Submissions now open until 30 November 2023

The 19th Austrian “Oscars of research”, the 2024 Houska Prize, will once again be awarded in the three categories of "University Research", "Non-University Research" and "Research & Development in SMEs". Submissions for the 2024 Houska Prize can be made online between 1 September 2023 and 30 November 2023. Please note that the submission form is in German only.

Submissions

Nachruf MS 2023 - nicht sichtbar

Obituary: B&C family mourns the loss of Mariella Schurz

Mariella Schurz
Mariella Schurz (1974-2022)

It is with great sadness that we bid farewell to Mariella Schurz, our long-time colleague, General Secretary of the B&C Private Foundation and Managing Director in the B&C Group. Mariella’s passing on 4 November 2022 spells the loss of an exceptional individual. She was highly committed to the B&C Group, to her employees and to building a better society through her courageous and rousing dedication, and a great deal of warmth and understanding.

 

To the obituary

2023 Houska Prize - Submission closed - nicht sichtbar

Established in 2005, the B&C Private Foundation’s Houska Prize was set up to promote business-related research and innovation. By awarding the prize, B&C’s goal is to help strengthen Austria as a business location while expressing its appreciation for the outstanding research work carried out in the country. Besides innovation performance, economic impact is also a key criterion that determines the winners of the Houska Prize. The Houska Prize is the largest privately-awarded prize for applied research in Austria: to date, the main prize has been awarded to 23 top researchers, and a total of EUR 5.6m has been distributed in the form of prize money or vouchers.

2023 Houska Prize: Submission is now closed

A total of 67 projects were submitted, 24 of which were in the category "Higher Education Research", 20 in the category "Research & Development in SMEs" and 23 in the area of non-university research, the newly introduced third category. The deadline for submissions for the 2023 Houska Prize was 30 November 2022. The submitted research projects will now be judged in a two-stage process by high-profile advisory boards and an internationally recognized expert jury. The five nominees per category will be announced by the end of February 2023. The award ceremony will take place in Vienna on 27 April 2023.

Thank you for the numerous submissions!

call for entries

Preisverleihung Houskapreis 2021

Livestream of the 2023 Houska Prize Award Ceremony - nicht sichtbar

With the 2023 Houska Prize, the B&C Private Foundation honours Austria's best projects in the field of applied research at a festive award ceremony. In addition to the categories "Higher Education Research" and "Research & Development in SMEs", the golden Houska Prize statue will be awarded for the first time in the category "Non-University Research".

The event will be streamed online to enable anyone to watch the ceremony. Please note that the event will be held in German.

Thursday, 27 April 2023, Start: 7:00 p.m. CET

Livestream

2023 Houska Prize - Submission nicht sichtbar

Established in 2005, the B&C Private Foundation’s Houska Prize was set up to promote business-related research and innovation. By awarding the prize, B&C’s goal is to help strengthen Austria as a business location while expressing its appreciation for the outstanding research work carried out in the country. Besides innovation performance, economic impact is also a key criterion that determines the winners of the Houska Prize. The Houska Prize is the largest privately-awarded prize for applied research in Austria: to date, the main prize has been awarded to 23 top researchers, and a total of EUR 5.6m has been distributed in the form of prize money or vouchers.

Submissions for the 2023 Houska Prize:
1 September to 30 November 2022

The Austrian research Oscars will be marking its 18th iteration with a new development: the 2023 Houska Prize will be extended to include a third category – Non-University Research – which will complement the existing categories Higher Education Research and Research & Development in SMEs. As a result, the B&C Private Foundation will be increasing the overall prize fund to EUR 750,000. The top prize for each category is EUR 150,000. Submissions for the 2023 Houska Prize can be made online between 1 September and 30 November 2022.

call for entries

Winners of the 2022 Houska Prize All Stars - offline

The winners were awarded on 28 April 2022.

Project lead

University of Innsbruck, Department of Mechatronics - Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Clemens Zierhofer

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Montanuniversität Leoben, Chair of Nonferrous Metallurgy - Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Stefan Pogatscher

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University of Innsbruck, Institute for Ion Physics and Applied Physics - Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Armin Hansel

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Vienna University of Technology, Institute of Materials Science and Technology - Univ.-Prof. Jürgen Stampfl, Univ.-Prof. Robert Liska, Univ.-Prof. Aleksandr Ovsianikov

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Marinomed Biotech AG - Dr.in Eva Prieschl-Grassauer

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The Houska Prize Nominees 2023 - nicht sichtbar

Established in 2005, the B&C Private Foundation’s Houska Prize was set up to promote business-related research and innovation. By awarding the prize, B&C’s goal is to help strengthen Austria as a business location while expressing its appreciation for the outstanding research work carried out in the country. Besides innovation performance, economic impact is also a key criterion that determines the winners of the Houska Prize. The Houska Prize is the largest privately-awarded prize for applied research in Austria: to date, the main prize has been awarded to 23 top researchers, and a total of EUR 5.6m has been distributed in the form of prize money or vouchers.

13 projects nominated for the 2023 Houska Prize

The projects entered in three categories were evaluated in a two-phase process by the members of a high-level advisory commitee and an internationally respected expert jury. Out of 67 submissions the best 13 projects - five projects each in the categories "Higher Education Research" and "Non-University Research" and three projects in the category "Research & Development in SMEs" - were selected for the final. The expert jury finally decided who has a chance to win the 2023 Houska Prize with a total endowment of 750,000 euros. The nominated projects include submissions from Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria and Vienna. The award ceremony will take place on 27 April 2023.

Award ceremony on 27 April 2023 => Registtration offline

With the 2023 Houska Prize, the B&C Private Foundation honours Austria's best projects in the field of applied research at a festive award ceremony. In addition to the categories "Higher Education Research" and "Research & Development in SMEs", the golden Houska Prize statue will be awarded for the first time in the category "Non-University Research".

Thursday, 27 April 2023, 6:00 p.m. CET
Gartenbaukino, Parkring 12, A-1010 Vienna

Please note, that only persons who have been sent an invitation with a registration code can register to attend the award ceremony. The event will be streamed online on our website to enable anyone to watch the ceremony. The event will be held in German.

register here

The event is organized according to the criteria of the Austrian Ecolabel for Green Events - here to the certificate. Please support our green event and use public transport when you arrive: subways U2 (MuseumsQuartier or Volkstheater) and U3 (Volkstheater); bus 48A (Volkstheater); city bus 2B (MuseumsQuartier); tram 49 (Volkstheater). The Gartenbaukino is barrier-free accessible. Information on the accessibility of the event location can be found under www.gartenbaukino.at. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by e-mail at houskapreis@privatstiftung.at.

2022 Houska Prize All Stars - Winners nicht sichtbar

Established in 2005, the B&C Private Foundation’s Houska Prize is designed to improve the financial environment for innovation and research in Austria. It is also a mark of the foundation’s admiration for the outstanding research conducted in Austria. The B&C Private Foundation announced a special prize for 2022: the 2022 Houska Prize All Stars. This award recognized the achievements of projects nominated for the Houska Prize between 2005 and 2020 which had gone on to achieve the greatest commercial success.

Logo Houskapreis 2022 All Stars

Stefan Pogatscher and Clemens Zierhofer win 2022 Houska Prize All Stars

Out of 28 submissions the best five projects were selected for the final. The winners were announced at the Houska Prize award ceremony on 28 April 2022. For the first time there are two first place winners: Stefan Pogatscher from the Montanuniversität Leoben and Clemens Zierhofer from the University of Innsbruck.

Nominees 2022 - nicht sichtbar

Nominees

List in alphabetical order by university/company

Project lead

Marinomed Biotech AG - Dr.in Eva Prieschl-Grassauer

Project

Project lead

Montanuniversität Leoben, Chair of Nonferrous Metallurgy - Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Stefan Pogatscher

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University of Innsbruck, Department of Mechatronics - Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Clemens Zierhofer

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University of Innsbruck, Institute for Ion Physics and Applied Physics - Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Armin Hansel

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Project lead

Vienna University of Technology, Institute of Materials Science and Technology - Univ.-Prof. Jürgen Stampfl, Univ.-Prof. Robert Liska, Univ.-Prof. Aleksandr Ovsianikov

Project

The Houska Prize Voting 2021 - nicht sichtbar

The B&C Private Foundation will present the Houska Prize in the Higher Education Research and Research & Development in SMEs categories for the 16th time. With a total of EUR 500,000 shared between the winners, the Houska Prize is Austria’s largest private prize for application-led research. The prize is designed to improve the financial environment for innovation and research in Austria. It is also a mark of the foundation’s admiration for the outstanding research conducted in Austria.

Houskapreis_Logo_2021

Online Voting for the Audience Prize

The projects entered in the two categories "Higher Education Research" and "Research & Development in SMEs" were evaluated in a two-phase process by the members of a high-level advisory commitee and an internationally respected expert jury. Out of 61 submissions the best 10 projects - 5 for each category - were selected for the final. The public is invited to vote for their favorite project, the online voting for the audience prize is now open until September 19, 2021. The award ceremony will take place on September 23, 2021.

VOTE NOW

2022 Houska Prize All Stars - Nominierte nicht sichtbar

Established in 2005, the B&C Private Foundation’s Houska Prize is designed to improve the financial environment for innovation and research in Austria. It is also a mark of the foundation’s admiration for the outstanding research conducted in Austria. The B&C Private Foundation has announced a special prize for 2022: the 2022 Houska Prize All Stars. This award will recognize the achievements of projects nominated for the Houska Prize between 2005 and 2020 which have gone on to achieve the greatest commercial success.

Logo Houskapreis 2022 All Stars

Five projects nominated for the 2022 Houska Prize All Stars

The deadline for submissions for the 2022 Houska Prize All Stars was 30 November 2021. The projects entered have been evaluated in a two-phase process by the members of the a high-level Advisory Commitee and an internationally respected expert jury. Out of 28 submissions the best five projects were selected for the final. The winners will be announced at the Houska Prize award ceremony taking place on 28 April 2022.

Winners of the 2021 Houska Prize - nicht sichtbar

The winners were awarded on September 23, 2021.

Higher Education
category

Project lead

Vienna University of Technology, Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics - Assoc.Prof. Mag. Dr. Golta Khatibi

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Project lead

Graz University of Technology, Institute of Process and Particle Engineering - DI Dr. Christian Witz, BSc

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University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Department of Biotechnology - DI Miriam Klausberger, Ph.D., DI Mark Dürkop, Ph.D.

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University of Innsbruck, European Translational Oncology Prevention & Screening Institute (EUTOPS) - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Martin Widschwendter, FRCOG

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University of Innsbruck, Institute of Biochemistry - Priv.Doz. Dr. Eduard Stefan, Ph.D.

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Research & Development in SMEs
category

Project lead

Symptoma GmbH - Dr. Jama Nateqi

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Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH - Dr. Christian Schwarzl

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EET-Efficient Energy Technology GmbH - DI Dr. Christoph Grimmer

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AVILOO GmbH - DI Wolfgang Berger

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Cargometer GmbH - Dr. Michael Baumgartner, DI. Dr. Bernhard Obermaier

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The Houska Prize 2021 Submission - nicht sichtbar

The B&C Private Foundation will present the Houska Prize in the Higher Education Research and Research & Development in SMEs categories for the 16th time. With a total of EUR 500,000 shared between the winners, the Houska Prize is Austria’s largest private prize for application-led research. The prize is designed to improve the financial environment for innovation and research in Austria. It is also a mark of the foundation’s admiration for the outstanding research conducted in Austria.

Houskapreis_Logo_2021

Submission open from 1 January to 31 March 2021

The Submission will be open from 1 January to midnight on 31 March 2021. Please note that the submission form is in German only.

Call for entries deck

Submit now

The Houska Prize - 2021 nicht sichtbar

The B&C Private Foundation presents the Houska Prize in the Higher Education Research and Research & Development in SMEs categories. With a total of EUR 500,000 shared between the winners, the Houska Prize is Austria’s largest private prize for application-led research. The prize is designed to improve the financial environment for innovation and research in Austria. It is also a mark of the foundation’s admiration for the outstanding research conducted in Austria.

Houskapreis_Logo_2021

TU Wien and Symptoma Win the 2021 Houska Prize

In the Higher Education Research category, Prof. Golta Khatibi from the Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics at the Vienna University of Technology won the main prize for her research project "High Reliability Power Electronics". In the Research & Development in SMEs category, Jama Nateqi from the Upper Austrian company Symptoma GmbH impressed the expert jury and the members of the advisory committee, taking away the golden Houska Prize trophy for the digital health assistant Symptoma. Congratulations!

Award Ceremony 2021

The Houska Prize 2021 Nominierte - nicht sichtbar

The B&C Private Foundation will present the Houska Prize in the Higher Education Research and Research & Development in SMEs categories for the 16th time. With a total of EUR 500,000 shared between the winners, the Houska Prize is Austria’s largest private prize for application-led research. The prize is designed to improve the financial environment for innovation and research in Austria. It is also a mark of the foundation’s admiration for the outstanding research conducted in Austria.

Houskapreis_Logo_2021

Ten projects nominated for the 2021 Houska Prize

The projects entered in the two categories "Higher Education Research" and "Research & Development in SMEs" were evaluated in a two-phase process by the members of a high-level advisory commitee and an internationally respected expert jury. Out of 61 submissions the best 10 projects - 5 for each category - were selected for the final. The public can also vote for their favorite project, the online voting for the audience prize will start on August 30, 2021. The award ceremony will take place on September 23, 2021.

Winners of the 2020 Houska Prize - nicht sichtbar

The Houska Prize was awarded on 24 September 2020.

Higher Education
category

Project lead

TU Graz - Graz University of Technology, Institute of Electron Microscopy and Nanoanalysis - Assoc. Prof. DI Dr. Harald Plank

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ÖAW - Erich Schmid Institute of Material Science (ESI) - Priv.-Doz. Dr. Megan J. Cordill

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TU Wien - Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry - Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Peter Ertl

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Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, Center for Secure Energy Informatics - FH-Prof. Priv.-Doz. DI Mag. Dr. Dominik Engel

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ÖAW - Gregor Mendel Institute for Molecular Plant Biology (GMI) - Dr. Michael Nodine

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Research & Development in SMEs category

Project lead

MacroArray Diagnostics GmbH - Dr. Christian Harwanegg, MBA

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bitmovin GmbH - DI Stefan Lederer, DI Christopher Müller, Assoc.Prof. Priv.-Doz. DI Dr. Christian Timmerer

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UrbanGold GmbH - DI Dr. Stefan Konetschnik

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SCARLETRED Holding GmbH - Dr. Harald Schnidar, MBA

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PJ Monitoring GmbH - Christoph Lorenzutti

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The Houska Prize 2021 Submission closed - nicht sichtbar

The B&C Private Foundation will present the Houska Prize in the Higher Education Research and Research & Development in SMEs categories for the 16th time. With a total of EUR 500,000 shared between the winners, the Houska Prize is Austria’s largest private prize for application-led research. The prize is designed to improve the financial environment for innovation and research in Austria. It is also a mark of the foundation’s admiration for the outstanding research conducted in Austria.

Houskapreis_Logo_2021

2021 Houska Prize - Submission is now closed

The deadline for submissions for the 2021 Houska Prize was March 31, 2021. The projects entered in the two categories "Higher Education Research" and "Research & Development in SMEs" will now be evaluated in a two-phase process by the members of the a high-level advisory commitee and an internationally respected expert jury. The five nominated projects for each category will be announced in June 2021. The winners of each category will then be announced at the Houska Prize award ceremony taking place on  September 23, 2021 in Vienna.

We would like to thank all who have entered this year!