The B&C Private Foundation presented awards for Austria’s top research achievements in front of around 300 guests from the worlds of business and research for the 17th time at an award ceremony on 28 April 2022. B&C’s 2022 Houska Prize All Stars special award focused on the commercial development of projects that had already been nominated for the Houska Prize in previous years. And this year, there was a special surprise: with two projects both claiming first place for the first time.

University of Leoben and University of Innsbruck joint first

For the first time in more than 15 years of the Houska Prize, two researchers were both awarded first place: Stefan Pogatscher from the University of Leoben and Clemens Zierhofer from the University of Innsbruck. As a result, B&C increased its allocation to the prize fund by EUR 90,000 so that each top finisher received EUR 150,000.

Houska Talk with Markus Hengstschläger – held as a green event for the first time

Multi-award-winning and internationally respected geneticist and author Markus Hengstschläger was this year’s Houska Talk guest at the award ceremony. In a talk entitled From the Idea to the Market he spoke to the nominees about courage, opportunities, and the hurdles and successes they encountered in their research work along the road towards commercial breakthrough. Isabella Richtar, a well-known presenter from Austrian TV channel Puls 4, moderated proceedings on the evening. The event was staged in accordance with the Austrian ecolabel criteria for green events.

Further information:

• Review 2022 Houska Prize All Stars – Link
• Photo Gallery, (c) Alexander Müller, Rene Wallentin – Link