Ars Docendi recognition award for INNclusion
Our Chair of Production Engineering was awarded a recognition prize as part of the Ars Docendi 2024 award presented by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research on 10 September 2024 in Vienna. Our course ‘INNklusion - Assistance solutions for people with disabilities’ received the recognition in the category ‘Society- and sustainability-oriented teaching’.
In the course, master's students work together with people with disabilities on an interdisciplinary basis to develop innovative assistance solutions. Previous projects include a concept for reduced-irritation shopping and a cover-up aid for people with mobility impairments. INNklusion not only promotes the active participation of people with disabilities, but also encourages students to tackle socially relevant challenges. The award is a great honour and confirmation of our teaching approach and motivates us greatly to continuously develop INNklusion further.
A detailed article on the award and general information on INNklusion can be found at
Participation at VDI – MGA Student Competition 2024
This year's VDI - MGA Student Competition took place at EOS - the world's largest machine manufacturer for Additive Manufacturing - from April 26 to 28. We from the Professur für Fertigungstechnik | HSU Hamburg / LFU Innsbruck of the Universität Innsbruck took part with two teams as part of the Production Engineering 2 lecture. This year, a total of 13 teams with nearly 100 people from different universities demonstrated their impressive skills. This year's theme was Robotics. The teams developed new and innovative products for various use cases, including a business plan and marketing strategy.
Lecturer Prof. Robert Weidner is thrilled about the results: "We are very pleased with the success of our students. Our team "Pro Play Analytics" developed a sports trainer, which took the first place. In addition, the judges appreciated a solid business plan and marketing strategy. Also, the jury honored the documentation, which, to quote the jurors "came up with rivals investor pitches worldwide". Our team "4Paws4Comfort" developed active, modular prosthetics for animals."
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the hosts (Jette Dietrich, Mariella Breinlinger, Lea Markievicz) and jurors (Marc Fette, Linus Tillmann, Bianca Daiminger, Sascha Hartig & Patrick Gerhardt). It was a pleasure for us to take part, and we will be happy to come back next year.
Kick-off event for the Long Night of Research 2024
On 23 April 2024, the kick-off event for the Long Night of Research was held in Vienna. The event began with a press conference attended by high-ranking personalities such as Federal Minister Polaschek (Federal Minister of Education, Science and Research), Federal Minister Gewessler (Federal Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology) and Federal Minister Kocher (Federal Minister of Labour, Family and Youth).
An outstanding highlight of the launch event was our presentation of the INNklusion initiative by Prof. Dr Robert Weidner, Oliver Ott and Heidi Ulm, representing the team from the Chair of Production Engineering.
The INNklusion initiative is committed to an inclusive future by developing and implementing various assistance solutions together with an existing network of people with disabilities, stakeholders, experts and students. The presentation provided an insight into the project, which aims to create a barrier-free environment and actively involve people with disabilities in the research and innovation process.
Further information on the INNklusion initiative can be found on the project homepage.