AWS: Austria won first prize and a special prize at the 33rd European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS)

A disease that is widespread all over the world and that troubles bee colonies is no longer frightening thanks to a new active ingredient

Youth innovative projects win at the EM of young researchers

Austria was represented at the 33rd European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Leiden with two youth innovative winner projects and won first prize

(PRESS RELEASE) Leiden/Vienna, 20-Sep-2022 — /EuropaWire/ — Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft mbH (aws), a federal development bank and 100% owned by the Republic of Austria, has announced that Austria won first prize and a special award at the 33rd European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS), the most important student science fair in the European Union (EU), celebrating the best of student scientific achievement across the union and beyond.

The summit of Europe’s best talent in mathematics, informatics, science and technology (STEM) took place in Leiden, the Netherlands, from 13 to 18 September 2022. 132 young researchers between the ages of 14 and 20 from 33 countries took part in the competition. They present 86 research projects in nine competition categories, which were evaluated by an international jury of experts.

Austrian teams from Lower Austria (HLUW Yspertal) and Burgenland (HTBLA Eisenstadt) took part in the contest for Europe’s best young scientists.

The Austrian teams qualified for this year’s EU competition by winning their respective categories (SCIENCE, SUSTAINABILITY) at the Jugend Innovativ federal finals in early June 2022.

Grand Prize for Vertical Wind Turbines
The team with the project “vertical wind turbine with integrated centrifugal flaps” from the HTBLA Eisenstadt was able to convince the jurors and won gold for Austria. The 1st prize is endowed with 7,000 euros.

Vertical wind turbine with integrated centrifugal flaps (Andreas Strommer and Michael Strudler)

Depending on the wind speed, a wind turbine chooses the most efficient form of its own. The system based on natural centrifugal forces is an invention of two flight technology graduates from the HTBLA Eisenstadt.

Special Award goes to Lower Austria
The HLUW Yspertal project team can look forward to a special award and thus also to participation in the EXPO Science in Luxembourg 2023.

Finding a specific active ingredient and its dosage for the treatment of American foulbrood (Markus Bollwein, Lorenz Hinterplattner and Jasmin Schalli)

A disease that is widespread all over the world and that troubles bee colonies is no longer frightening thanks to a new active ingredient. Graduates from HLUW Yspertal determined the right dosage in field tests and are already successfully on the market with their product.

A stage for outstanding achievements: Federal Ministers Gewessler and Kocher and Polaschek congratulate them
“This European competition shows impressively that our innovative young researchers can score points in an international environment. We need the ideas and commitment of our young people to turn scientific projects into companies. In this way we are strengthening our business location in the long term. I congratulate the participants teams and I look forward to future projects by the award winners,” congratulates Martin Kocher, Federal Minister of Labor and Economics.

Martin Polaschek, Federal Minister of Education, Science and Research: “With the travel prizes at Jugend Innovativ, Austrian young people get an additional stage for their outstanding achievements. As this year’s EU Contest for Young Scientists shows, our students are well prepared. I am very happy about the success of the teams and would also like to congratulate the educators who have made a significant contribution to this success.”

Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler also congratulates the team from the HTBLA Eisenstadt on the good placement, which had previously impressed in the Sustainability category at Jugend Innovativ: “Austria is playing a pioneering role in environmental and climate technologies. With their great commitment to climate innovations, our young talents make an important contribution to this and work on solutions to the pressing problems of our time. I would like to sincerely thank all participants.”

The awards ceremony took place on Saturday September 17th at 1pm in the Hooglandse Kerk. The European Union Contest for Young Scientists is organized by the European Commission. The aim is to promote scientific exchange and international cooperation between young researchers.

Pictures of the competition

New round of youth innovation starts in autumn 2022
Jugend Innovativ – Austria’s smartest competition – will start a new round in autumn 2022 and again invite pupils and apprentices aged 15 to 20 from all over Austria to take part. Innovative ideas and projects from all MINT areas as well as from entrepreneurship and design will be sought as part of the 36th call from October. All information and registration on the Jugend Innovativ website! Attractive cash prizes await the best projects and participation in international events, such as the European Union Contest for Young Scientists.

About Youth Innovative (Jugend Innovativ)

Jugend Innovativ is commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW), the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) and the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK) and by Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH (aws) settled. To date, over 11,000 project teams have taken part in the competition. The competition is successfully accompanied by workshop offers and qualification measures (such as strengthening the entrepreneurial spirit, advice on innovation protection, etc.) for schoolchildren and teachers.

About AWS

Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft mbH (aws) is a federal development bank and is 100% owned by the Republic of Austria. The Federal Ministry of Labor and Economics (BMAW) and the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK) act as owner representatives. The aws provides its services on behalf of the public. Clients are the owner representatives BMAW and BMK, other federal ministries, states, public authorities and interest groups.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Unternehmenskommunikation
Wolfgang Drucker
T 01 501 75-331
E w.drucker@aws.at

Jugend Innovativ
Jana Breyer
T 01 50175-514
E j.breyer@aws.at

DISCLAIMER: The English version of this press release is a translation of the original press release which was written in German and is for informational purposes only. In the event of any inconsistency, the German version of this press release will prevail.

SOURCE: AWS