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Styria Innovation Award

Styria Innovation Award – The 2026 Finalists

The 2026 Shortlist

Styria’s innovative strength was once again on full display: In the key areas of digitalization and sustainability, three outstanding projects were nominated in each of the categories for micro and small enterprises, medium and large enterprises, and R&D institutions.

The selection was made by the Vienna Institute of Industrial Economics and Management (IWI), which evaluated the submissions independently and with expert rigor based on their degree of innovation, economic relevance, and market potential.

 

 

Digitalization: Micro and Small Businesses

  • arterioscope FlexCo

    arterioscope.AI-ECG is a cloud-based medtech software that uses AI to derive non-invasive cardiovascular biomarkers from a standard 12-lead ECG. This makes the early detection and monitoring of heart failure in everyday clinical practice faster, more affordable, and more widely available.

  • openmaind FlexCo

    openmaind is developing a vendor-neutral AI Fleet Orchestrator that, for the first time, enables mobile robotics to function as a unified, intelligently controlled system. This allows existing AMR fleets to be operated more efficiently, flexibly, and safely—with measurable impacts on costs, throughput, and scalability.

  • plasoft GmbH

    infinalyse enables the automated collection, analysis, and utilization of production data in real time. Through intelligent interfaces, processes are networked, optimized, and continuously improved. This serves as the foundation for the manufacturing of the future.

Digitalization: Medium-Sized and Large Companies

  • Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik AG

    AT&S has developed a process for embedding semiconductor elements in power electronics, enabling the construction of ultra-compact power supply modules for high-performance data centers. This allows AI applications and other computationally intensive tasks to be executed faster and more efficiently.

  • pewag Schneeketten GmbH

    Serea is a keyless smart lock that, unlike others, operates entirely without batteries or external power sources. Secure – Reliable – Easy – Serea.

  • Siemens Energy Austria GmbH

    Siemens Energy Austria GmbH is digitizing the entire production of large transformers at its Weiz site. This creates transparency and efficiency and lays the foundation for AI-supported decision-making—a crucial step for the future of a globally competitive transformer manufacturing site in Styria.

Digitalization: R&D institutions;

  • Leoben University of Mining and Technology – Chair of Waste Treatment Technology and Waste Management

    The Digital Waste Research Lab (DWRL) is a novel, modular, large-scale research infrastructure for digital waste analytics and treatment that combines the circular economy with digitalization to capture material and waste streams as well as environmental processes in real time and transform them into an intelligent ecosystem. The facility serves as an innovation hub and driver for projects by numerous Austrian technology companies and research institutions, forming a flexible research infrastructure network for developing digital solutions to waste management challenges.

  • Silicon Austria Labs GmbH

    Together with partners, SAL is developing a novel battery system (hardware & software) for use in the aviation sector. Key innovations include the integration of AI methods with quantum sensors, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and specially developed on-board chargers. This work is part of the European research project “Archimedes,” which develops techniques to extend the lifespan of key components in electronic systems, with the goal of increasing the typical lifespan from 8,000 to 120,000 hours.

  • University of Graz

    GEOTEQ is developing a modular multi-sensor platform for the automated acquisition, transmission, and analysis of complex environmental data, which is used in particular for monitoring natural hazards such as snow avalanches. The goal is to enable data-driven decisions through real-time information.

Sustainability: Micro and Small Businesses

  • BirdShades Innovations GmbH

    BirdShades has developed a window film that is invisible to humans but makes glass surfaces visible to birds. In this way, the company effectively reduces bird-window collisions and contributes to the preservation of biodiversity.

  • Ecolyte GmbH

    In the EIC Pathfinder project VanillaFlow (2023–2026), a multidisciplinary team from three countries is working on the AI-driven development of stationary, sustainable, and scalable energy storage systems. In this context, all components (membranes, redox-active molecules, electrodes) as well as the battery’s internal control system are being researched and optimized using AI. The goal is to replace critical raw materials and reduce geopolitical dependencies. Ecolyte GmbH is entering the race with a groundbreaking paper membrane technology.

  • SUPASO GmbH

    SUPASO GmbH develops modular upcycling hubs that enable the production of a high-quality, biodegradable polystyrene substitute from waste paper. In doing so, the company creates a decentralized, sustainable solution for replacing fossil-based packaging materials.

Sustainability: Medium-sized and large companies

  • Binder+Co AG

    Metals such as copper, zinc, and aluminum must be separated from one another even when color differences are not clearly discernible, so that they can subsequently be incorporated into the recycling cycle. To this end, Binder+Co’s existing optical sorting machine was further developed with AI-supported functions to utilize more complex information for sorting via neural networks.

  • GIG Karasek GmbH

    With the innovative CompriVAP system, GIG Karasek is implementing the world’s most powerful industrial heat pump at BASF, which converts waste heat from a steam cracker into up to 50 MW of CO₂-free process steam, thereby saving approximately 100,000 tons of emissions annually. This flagship project demonstrates how industrial waste heat is transformed into a valuable energy source through innovative open heat pump technology, thereby significantly advancing the decarbonization of energy-intensive industries.

  • Insort GmbH

    With the Belt Sorter, Insort GmbH has developed a novel optical sorting machine that, for the first time, enables a 360-degree inspection of moist and delicate foods, such as freshly cut french fries, in a single sorting step. Through a combination of innovative mechanics, modern image processing, and AI-based classification, the machine achieves a sorting performance that significantly surpasses comparable sorting machines in terms of efficiency, hygiene, and sustainability.

Sustainability: R&D institutions;

  • Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH

    The submitted project marks the first successful large-scale, cost-effective production of recyclable fiber-reinforced and polymer-based composite materials for the aerospace industry.

  • Graz University of Technology, Institute of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology

    The project is developing scalable, sustainable, and cost-effective coating technologies for the production of ultra-thin, electrochemical functional layers of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) in fuel cells and electrolysers. This lays the foundation for industrially reproducible MEA production, which takes place entirely in Austria.

  • Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH

    The BATTCAVE is a battery safety laboratory operated by Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH that focuses on testing methods for lithium-ion, sodium-ion, and post-lithium batteries. Through gas analysis and custom-developed test benches, the laboratory contributes to a better understanding of the safety of these technologies.

Your contact person

Portrait Doris Paier
Doris Paier

Projektmanagerin Standortentwicklung & Standortmanagement

+43 316 7093 312