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The AIT Poster Award, presented by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, is specifically designed to foster a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurial thinking among young researchers. The award focuses on research projects with high application potential, clear prospects for commercialisation, and the opportunity to develop new technology-driven business models based on scientific excellence.
“Excellent research gives rise to successful spin-offs when technological quality, market understanding and strong partners within the ecosystem come together at an early stage. Over the past three years, AIT has successfully launched seven spin-offs, with further ones already in the concrete planning stage. This demonstrates just how much entrepreneurial potential lies within our research – and how important close collaboration with industry, funding bodies, investors and start-up partners is”, emphasises AIT Managing Director Alexander Svejkovsky.
This year, 17 master’s students, PhD candidates and junior scientists from seven AIT Centers and the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) presented their forward-looking projects at the 2026 Poster Award – projects with potential for applications in fields such as digitalisation, sustainability, mobility and the life sciences. The best entries were honoured at a formal awards ceremony on 28 May 2026.
A key factor in the award’s success is the long-standing collaboration with the Lower Austrian start-up incubator accent Inkubator and the venture capital fund tecnet equity, which have supported the competition since its launch in 2010. “The AIT Poster Award demonstrates the immense potential of application-oriented research. When AIT researchers consider the commercialisation, market and start-up aspects of their projects at an early stage, this generates important impetus for future spin-offs and technology-driven companies. It is precisely at this interface that tecnet equity supports projects on their journey from research to the market”, emphasises Doris Agneter, Managing Director of the venture capital fund tecnet equity.
Both partners contribute valuable entrepreneurial expertise and create direct links for the further development of research projects into marketable products and successful start-ups. “For us as a high-tech incubator, this is precisely what matters most: supporting AIT researchers in developing concrete start-up projects and marketable business models from technologically strong ideas. The AIT Poster Award provides an important impetus for embedding entrepreneurial thinking at an early stage in research”, adds Michael Moll, Managing Director of accent Inkubator GmbH.
“The AIT Poster Award impressively demonstrates that young researchers are increasingly considering their work with a view to application, commercialisation and societal impact. It is precisely this perspective that we wish to promote: combining scientific excellence with entrepreneurial thinking and thereby laying the foundations for marketable innovations at an early stage”, says Svejkovsky.
First place: Innovative simulation solution for wire-based additive manufacturing (WAAM)
This year’s first prize in the AIT Poster Award goes to Juan Esteban Arjona Rodriguez from the Center for Transport Technologies at the LKR Leichtmetallkompetenzzentrum Ranshofen. He was recognised for his innovative poster project on the development of a “Fast Additive Manufacturing Simulation” for wire-based additive manufacturing using an electric arc (Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing, WAAM).
The aim of the concept is to enable highly complex thermal and mechanical simulations to be carried out in a matter of minutes rather than several days. The jury was particularly impressed by the poster’s holistic approach: in addition to the technological vision, Juan Esteban Arjona Rodriguez also analyses the economic potential of the solution. The project highlights the rapidly growing European and Austrian demand in the field of additive manufacturing – particularly in the defence technology sector – and addresses key questions regarding target groups, market entry, IP strategy and revenue potential.
He is currently working at the LKR Leichtmetallkompetenzzentrum Ranshofen of the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology on analytical and numerical simulations of hydrogen tanks in European research projects.
Second place: Highly durable aluminium composite for aviation and hydrogen infrastructure
Behzad Sadeghi from the Erich Schmid Institute for Materials Science at the Austrian Academy of Sciences took second place with an innovative aluminium composite. This material was developed specifically for applications where material fatigue plays a critical role.
Thanks to its low weight and high durability, the material is particularly suitable for use in aviation and hydrogen infrastructure.
Third place: The use of large language models in security operation centres to improve the analysis of IDS alerts
Third place went to Alina Schärmer for her work on the use of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and Gemini in Security Operation Centres (SOCs). Her research focused on the automated interpretation and classification of alerts from intrusion detection systems (IDS) in order to distinguish real attacks from false positives more quickly and to attribute them to known attack techniques.
The study analysed both network- and host-based IDS alerts and demonstrated that additional contextual information, such as log data, configuration details or “few-shot” examples, can significantly improve the quality of classification. At the same time, the results highlight that costs, model reliability and the handling of sensitive data remain key challenges for deployment in security-critical environments.
Spin-offs as a driver of technological value creation
Spin-offs are a key channel for AIT to translate research findings into economic and societal impact. The range of topics spans from life sciences and the digital platform economy to smart tools for urban planning, demonstrating the breadth of market-oriented research at AIT.
Key success factors include close collaboration with national research institutions, funding bodies, and financing and start-up partners. In addition, AIT is embedded in a broad Austrian spin-out ecosystem: as part of the new Academic Spin-out Alliance, AIT works alongside BOKU, MedUni Vienna, ISTA, TU Vienna, the University of Vienna, Vetmeduni, WU Vienna and XISTA, as well as in collaboration with the Vienna Business Agency, to accelerate academic spin-outs and strengthen Austria’s position as an international deep-tech hub.
Find out more about the Academic Spin-out Alliance: Link
This integration complements AIT’s own spin-off activities and helps young technology projects gain access to expertise, infrastructure, capital and initial application partners – particularly during the critical transition from research to commercial implementation.
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