{"id":109496,"date":"2026-04-22T11:38:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T09:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/?p=109496"},"modified":"2026-04-22T11:38:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T09:38:39","slug":"houskapreis-2026-platz-2-fuer-joanneum-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/en\/houskapreis-2026-platz-2-fuer-joanneum-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Houskapreis 2026: 2nd place for JOANNEUM RESEARCH"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Houska Prize award ceremony took place on 21 April at the Museumsquartier in Vienna. JOANNEUM RESEARCH was awarded second prize, worth \u20ac70,000, in the \u2018Non-university Research\u2019 category. This marks the third consecutive year that a JOANNEUM RESEARCH project has received an award.<\/p>\n<p>With PyzoFlex\u00ae, the research team has developed a novel sensor technology that is specifically designed for use on flexible, moving or curved surfaces. The solution thus meets key requirements in fields such as wearables, soft robotics and smart manufacturing.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThis award confirms the relevance of our research for industrial applications and societal challenges. With PyzoFlex\u00ae technology, we are demonstrating how material-based innovations enable new measurement concepts. Our aim is to further develop the technology in collaboration with industry partners and transfer it to additional fields of application. The focus is on scalable production processes as well as new areas of application in mobility, medical technology and industrial automation,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/en\/personen\/di-andreas-tschepp\/\">Andreas Tschepp<\/a> on behalf of the project management team consisting of Martin Zirkl, Gregor Scheipl, Barbara Stadlober and project manager Tschepp.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/en\/personen\/di-dr-heinz-mayer\/\">Heinz Mayer<\/a>, Managing Director of JOANNEUM RESEARCH: \u201cWhat a success! PyzoFlex\u00ae is a prime example of what drives us \u2013 research that finds its way into practical application and delivers real benefits. I am delighted for the dedicated team and would like to thank everyone who has made this success possible.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>PyzoFlex\u00ae-Technology<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pyzoflex.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PyzoFlex\u00ae<\/a> is based on a ferroelectric polymer embedded between printed electrodes. The material converts mechanical deformations or temperature changes directly into electrical signals. The sensor layer is just a few micrometres thick, mechanically robust and responds quickly. A key advantage is that it operates without an external power supply: the sensors do not require an external power source to generate signals. At the same time, screen printing allows for cost-effective scaling.<\/p>\n<p>The industry is already demonstrating specific applications: in paper production, PyzoFlex\u00ae enables real-time measurements of roll gap forces directly during the production process. This improves process control and resource efficiency.<\/p>\n<h3>Contribution to applied research<\/h3>\n<p>The Houska Prize is regarded as the most prestigious privately funded award for applied research in Austria. With total prize money of \u20ac760,000, it recognises projects with clear economic and societal benefits. The award for PyzoFlex\u00ae underscores the importance of materials research for the digitalisation of physical processes. The technology links real-world measurements directly to digital systems, thereby creating new opportunities for data-driven control and optimisation.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Die feierliche Verleihung des Houskapreises fand am 21. April im Museumsquartier in Wien statt. JOANNEUM RESEARCH wurde mit dem mit 70.000 Euro dotierten 2. Preis in der Kategorie \u201eAu\u00dferuniversit\u00e4re Forschung\u201c ausgezeichnet. Bereits zum 3. Mal in Serie wurde ein Projekt der JOANNEUM RESEARCH pr\u00e4miert. Mit PyzoFlex\u00ae hat das Forschungsteam eine neuartige Sensortechnologie entwickelt, die speziell [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":109495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,1],"tags":[4855],"class_list":["post-109496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medieninfo","category-allgemein","tag-pyzoflex","institutes-materials","business_areas-produktion-und-fertigung"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109496"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109500,"href":"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109496\/revisions\/109500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joanneum.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}