2023 Houska Prize

Award Ceremony on April 27, 2023

2023 Houska Prize Review

Austria’s top research projects were honoured on 27 April 2023 with the acclaimed Houska Prize from the B&C Private Foundation. 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. Guest speaker at the Houska Talk was Gabriel Felbermay, an internationally highly respected Austrian economist and Director of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO). He gave a talk entitled "Relevant in the World - Relevant for Europe". Host of the award ceremony was the Austrian Puls 4 anchor woman Isabella Richtar.

TU Wien, Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft and Cube Dx win the 2023 Houska Prize

In the Higher Education Research category, Michael Harasek from the Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering at the Vienna University of Technology won the main prize for his research project "Seperation and Compression of Hydrogen for Fuel Cells". Elisabeth Häusler from the Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft convinces the jury in the category "Non-University research" with the Connected Boot for sensor-based feedback and mobile analysis for optimised alpine skiing. In the Research & Development in SMEs category, Bernhard Ronacher from the Upper Austrian company Cube Dx impressed the expert jury and the members of the advisory committee, taking away the golden Houska Prize trophy for "compact sequencing, a method for an early sepsis diagnosis". Congratulations!

Certification Austrian Eco-Label: Green Events

Since 2022, the B&C Private Foundation's award ceremony has been certified with the "Green Events" eco-label.

To the Certificate

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 2023 Houska Prize winners were awarded on 27 April 2023.