BECOM Innovation Award 2025: Talents from HTL Pinkafeld honored for outstanding projects

Now in its third year, the BECOM Innovation Award highlights outstanding final projects by HTL Pinkafeld electronics students. The goal of the award is to support young talents, showcase their innovative potential, and encourage them to further develop their creative ideas.

A panel of renowned experts from industry and business selected the top five projects for the final round. The range of projects included a "3D Styrofoam Cutting Machine" and a "2D hologram". The projects were judged on innovation, feasibility, complexity, and personal commitment. On the final day, the finalists presented their projects to the jury, which was a key part of the evaluation.

The event was opened by Mag. Johannes Bock, Managing Director and co-owner of BECOM Electronics GmbH. In his opening speech, he emphasized the importance of the partnership between BECOM and HTL Pinkafeld: "Every innovation starts with an idea. With the BECOM Innovation Award, we want to empower young people to believe in their ideas and shape the technological future."

A highlight of the program was a keynote by Prof. Dr. Wilfried Sihn on "On a mission for the future". Prof. Sihn, a professor at TU Wien since 2004, was the managing director of Fraunhofer Austria Research GmbH until 2023. He now works as a Senior Advisor for Fraunhofer.

Following this, Dr. Leonhard Schneemann (Regional Councillor), HTL Director Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Wilfried Lercher, and Dr. Harald Schermann (Director of the Chamber of Commerce Burgenland) held a short discussion on the importance of innovation for the Burgenland economy and the challenges young developers face in the region.

The evening's highlight was the official award ceremony. The trophies and cash prizes were presented by notable figures from politics and business, including Dr. Leonhard Schneemann, Mag.a Aniko Benkö (Industriellenvereinigung Burgenland), and Dr. Harald Schermann. After a shared photo session, guests and participants wrapped up the event with a relaxed get-together, enjoying snacks and lively conversations – a perfect opportunity for networking and exchanging new ideas.

The BECOM Innovation Award 2025 was once again a great success, clearly showcasing the innovation and technical talent of the younger generation. We are excited to see future projects unfold and how these talents will influence the evolution of the electronics industry.

Winning Projects Overview:

1st Place (€2,000): Autonomous Boat for Water Quality Monitoring
The winning team developed a system for the automatic control of a pond aerator pump. The goal is to respond quickly to critical water parameters such as high conductivity or elevated temperature in order to improve water quality. An autonomous, solar-powered measurement boat continuously collects data throughout the pond using GPS, LiDAR, and various other sensors. If thresholds are exceeded, the system reacts automatically.

2nd Place (€1,000): Mobile Robot with Real-Time Kinematic GPS Positioning Control
This diploma project focuses on an innovative robot designed to assist therapists with remobilization exercises for individuals with walking impairments. Using a specially developed mechanism, the robot draws fine marking lines made of quartz sand directly onto the floor, creating custom walking paths. These serve as visual guides for patients during walking exercises and specifically support motor rehabilitation. The project aims to relieve therapists in their daily work and provide a flexible, effective training tool.

3rd Place (€500): Development and Integration of a Rescue Robot – ResQ
As part of this diploma project, a remotely controlled rescue robot – the ResQ-Bot – was developed for locating buried individuals in collapsed buildings. The platform combines drive electronics, sensor technology, and a custom-designed user interface for intuitive human-robot interaction. Equipped with a night vision camera, emergency lighting, and various sensors, the robot delivers crucial environmental data to emergency personnel in real time. An interactive display on the device further supports situational awareness. The project's goal is to showcase technical solutions for saving lives and to inspire interest in responsible robotics within the field of electronics and technical informatics.

Winners:

1. "Autonomous Boat for Water Quality Monitoring", Alexander Hummer, Felix Schmidt, Mariss Erdmann
2. "Mobile Robot with Real-Time Kinematic GPS Positioning Control", Jonas Russold, Markus Romirer, Michael Riegler
3. "Development and Integration of a Rescue Robot – ResQ", David Kahr, Pascal Kalchbrenner, Maximilian Mussy

Expert Jury:

• Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dipl. Wirtsch.-Ing. Wilfried Sihn (Managing Director of Fraunhofer Austria Research GmbH and Chair of Management Science, Operations Engineering, and Systems Planning at TU Wien)

• Ing. Jürgen Antonitsch (CEO and Owner of Beyond Horizon Thinking and Automotive Cooperations and Technology at Easelink, former CTO of the ZKW Group, Supervisory Board Member of various industry companies)

• Matthias Klein (Managing Director at Schubert System Elektronik GmbH and CEO at mk Management & Consulting)

• Ing. Mag. Johannes Bock (Managing Director of the BECOM Group)

• Dipl. Ing. Roman Bock, MSc (Managing Director of the BECOM Group)