“Women's Award for Digitalization and Innovation” initiated by ORF and Infineon Austria awarded for the second time

Business & Financial Press

Mar 08, 2024

Villach, Vienna, March 8, 2024 - The “Women's Award for Digitalization and Innovation” initiated by Infineon Technologies Austria and ORF was awarded for the second time on Thursday, March 7, 2024, on the eve of International Women's Day. At the ORF Media Campus in Vienna, young women were once again recognized for their outstanding talent in the fields of technology, digitalization and innovation.

The first prize, endowed with EUR 10,000, was awarded to Dipl.-Ing. Dr.mont. Helene Waldl. Her dissertation “Development of TiAlN based hard coatings applying advanced characterization methods” deals with the production, characterization and optimization of hard material protective coatings, which are used in metal cutting tools, e.g. for car and aircraft production. State-of-the-art characterization methods, such as atom probe tomography, which is unique in Austria, or micromechanical bending tests were used to gain a better understanding of the structure-property relationship of the coatings and to develop optimized coatings.

Second place (EUR 5,000) went to Dipl.-Ing. Lorena Gril. The master's thesis “Tensor-on-Tensor Regression for Human Motion Prediction in an Industrial Collaborative Setting”, written in collaboration with Joanneum Research, is about increasing safety in collaborative workspaces between humans and robots in industrial applications. A tensor-based approach is used to develop a prediction model for future movements based on the movement patterns of past seconds.

Third place (EUR 2,000) went to Tamara Zieher, MSc. The master's thesis “Usability Optimization for Mobile Menu Design: An Empirical Study of Hand Grips and User Preferences” deals with how user interfaces and input options of menu designs on smartphones can be optimized in order to increase user-friendliness with regard to hand grips and hand positions.

The special “Tech for Green” prize for special consideration of sustainability aspects (EUR 2,000) was awarded to Anna Wolff, B.Sc. M.Sc. The master's thesis “Exploratory Data Analysis with Google's Tensor Processing Unit (TPU): Enhancing Traditional Data Mining Algorithms with the Use of the TPU on the Example of the k-Means Algorithm” is about accelerating the k-Means algorithm, which is one of the most prominent algorithms in data mining, by using the TPU while maintaining the quality of the clustering results.

Dipl.-Ing. Dr.mont. Helene Waldl (1st prize): “The 'Women's Advancement Award for Digitalization and Innovation' is an important forum for encouraging young women to pursue a career in the STEM sector. It gives us the opportunity to showcase our skills to the industry, but also to show other young women how diverse and exciting this career choice can be. I am very pleased and would like to express my sincere thanks that my work was awarded first place.”

Ms. Susanne Raab, Federal Minister for Women, Family, Integration and Media: “I want every girl and every woman in Austria to be able to shape her life the way she wants and imagines it. This applies above all to career choices, because the time of purely male professions is over. Austria needs great female scientists, technicians and innovators, which is why I am particularly pleased to be the honorary patron of the Women's Advancement Award for Digitalization and Innovation initiated by Infineon Austria and ORF, because it offers young women a great forum to present their outstanding ideas.”

Dipl.-Ing.in Dr.in Sabine Herlitschka, MBA, CEO Infineon Technologies Austria: “Different perspectives demonstrably lead to better solutions - across all industries. That is why I am committed to inspiring women for technology and science on many levels. Women are no longer a 'nice-to-have' in gender discussions, but have become a decisive economic and competitive factor. I am therefore very pleased about the many submissions, especially the exciting presentations with innovative topics at the cutting edge of technology, and would like to congratulate the award winners. They all show that technical education makes a key contribution to mastering major challenges such as the green and digital transformation. This is encouraging - for more skilled workers, a future and more and more role models who show others what opportunities are opening up - personally and socially.”

Dr. Harald Kräuter, ORF Director of Technology and Digitalization: “No other area influences our society and our lives as much, as quickly and as sustainably as the STEM sector. No other field is so attractive, so challenging, so exciting for young women who want to play an active role in shaping the digital world. The very high level of interest in the 'Women's Award for Digitization and Innovation', which we are awarding together with Infineon Austria for the second time, with around 70 submissions, underlines this in the long term. I am deeply impressed by the diversity, the wealth of ideas and the expertise of the work submitted and would like to congratulate the winners.”

Closing event and award ceremony

The “Women's Award for Digitalization and Innovation” was presented for the second time at a closing event at the ORF Media Campus in Vienna, moderated by Ute Pichler (ORF Carinthia) and held under the patronage of the Federal Minister for Women, Family, Integration and Media, Susanne Raab. First, five finalists nominated by an advisory board presented their submitted work to a jury of experts, who then selected the winners.

The award ceremony took place immediately afterwards. The awards were presented by MMag.a Dr.in Susanne Raab (Federal Minister for Women, Family, Integration and Media), Dipl.-Ing.in Dr.in Sabine Herlitschka, MBA (CEO Infineon Technologies Austria) and Dr. Harald Kräuter (ORF Director for Technology and Digitization).

The members of the jury of experts

The jury was made up of the following members:

Mag.a Silvia Angelo (Board Member ÖBB Infrastruktur AG), Dr. Henrietta Egerth-Stadlhuber (Managing Director Austrian Research Promotion Agency), Mag.a Elisabeth Engelbrechtsmüller-Strauß (CEO Fronius), Dr. Andreas Heindl (ORF Strategic Planning and Administration), Dipl.- Ing. Ing.in Dr.in Sabine Herlitschka, MBA (CEO Infineon Technologies Austria AG), Dr. Georg Krause (CEO msg Plaut Austria GmbH), Axel Kühner (CEO ASK Management), Dr. Harald Kräuter (ORF Director for Technology and Digitization), Dipl.- Ing.in Carina Lehmal (ORF Director for Technology and Digitization), Dipl.- Ing. Carina Lehmal (winner of the first Women's Advancement Award, TU Graz), Manuela Lindlbauer, MBA (entrepreneur), Günther Mayr (ORF Science), Univ.-Prof.in Dipl.-Ing.in Dr.in M.Sc. Sonja Wogrin (Professor TU Graz) and Mag.a Christiana Zenkl (Head of HR Infineon Technologies Austria AG).

About the “Women's Award for Digitization and Innovation”

The prize, which is being awarded for the second time by Infineon Austria and ORF, aims to motivate young female talents to deal with technical issues relating to digitization and innovation as part of their education, to promote their entry into technical professions and to inspire more young women for technology in general.

Around 70 participants submitted their departmental, bachelor's, master's or dissertation theses in the fields of information and communication technologies, engineering and natural sciences, media systems and creative technologies.

Further information is available at extra.ORF.at.

 

Press contacts

ORF Corporate Communications

Johannes Mayer

(01) 87878 - DW 13163

johannes.mayer@orf.at

press.ORF.at

 

Infineon Technologies Austria AG

Christina Taferner-Laggner

christina.taferner-laggner@infineon.com

+43 676 8205 6348

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies Austria AG is a subsidiary of Infineon Technologies AG, a global semiconductor leader in power systems and IoT. Semiconductors are essential for mastering the energy-related challenges of our time and helping to shape the digital transformation. Infineon's microelectronics drive decarbonization and digitalization and enable groundbreaking solutions for green and efficient energy, clean and safe mobility as well as a smart and secure IoT.


Infineon Austria pools competencies for research and development, production as well as global business responsibility. The head office is in Villach, with further branches in Graz, Klagenfurt, Linz, Innsbruck and Vienna. With 5,886 employees (including around 2,500 in research and development) from 79 nations, the company generated revenue of EUR 5.6 billion in the 2023 fiscal year (ending 30 September). With research expenditure of 672 million euros, Infineon Austria is one of the strongest research companies in Austria.

Press Photos

Winners of the Women's Advancement Award

Winners of the Women's Advancement Award

From left: Dr. Harald Kräuter (ORF Director of Technology and Digitization) Dipl.-Ing.in Dr.in Sabine Herlitschka, MBA (CEO Infineon Technologies Austria AG) MMag.a Dr.in Susanne Raab, Federal Minister for Women, Family, Integration and Media Anna Wolff, B.Sc. M.Sc. (special prize “Tech for Green”) Dipl.-Ing. Dr.mont. Helene Waldl (1st place) Dipl.-Ing. Lorena Gril (2nd place) Tamara Zieher, MSc. (3rd place)

JPEG

4600x2854 px

Download
×
img-model
Women's advancement award

Women's advancement award

From left: Dr. Harald Kräuter (ORF Director for Technology and Digitization) MMag.a Dr.in Susanne Raab, Federal Minister for Women, Family, Integration and Media Dipl.-Ing.in Dr.in Sabine Herlitschka, MBA (CEO Infineon Technologies Austria AG)

JPEG

4600x3067 px

Download
×
img-model
Jury for women's advancement award

Jury for women's advancement award

From left to right: Elisabeth Engelbrechtsmüller-Strauß (CEO Fronius) Dipl.-Ing. Carina Lehmal (winner of the first Women's Advancement Award, TU Graz) Univ.-Prof.in Dipl.-Ing.in Dr.in M.Sc. Sonja Wogrin (Professor TU Graz) Axel Kühner (CEO ASK Management) Mag.a Silvia Angelo (Board Member ÖBB Infrastruktur AG) Dr.in Henrietta Egerth-Stadlhuber (GF Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft) Dipl.- Ing.in Dr.in Sabine Herlitschka, MBA (CEO Infineon Technologies Austria AG) Dr. Harald Kräuter (ORF Director of Technology and Digitalization) Dipl.- Ing. Ing.in Dr.in Sabine Herlitschka, MBA (CEO Infineon Technologies Austria AG) Dr. Harald Kräuter (ORF Director of Technology and Digitization) Manuela Lindlbauer, MBA (Entrepreneur) Mag. Günther Mayr (ORF Science) Mag.a Christiana Zenkl (Head of HR Infineon Technologies Austria AG) Dr. Georg Krause (CEO msg Plaut Austria GmbH) Dr. Andreas Heindl (ORF Strategic Planning and Administration)

JPEG

5707x2952 px

Download
×
img-model
Finalists for women's advancement award

Finalists for women's advancement award

Vlnr.: Dipl.-Ing.in Dr.in Sabine Herlitschka, MBA (Vorstandsvorsitzende Infineon Technologies Austria AG) Dr. Harald Kräuter (ORF-Direktor für Technik und Digitalisierung) Anna Wolff, B.Sc. M.Sc. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.mont. Helene Waldl Dipl.-Ing. Lorena Gril Tamara Zieher, MSc. Mercan Falter, MA. MMag.a Dr.in Susanne Raab, Bundesministerin für Frauen, Familie, Integration und Medien Mag.a. Ute Pichler (Moderation)

JPEG

4600x3067 px

Download
×
img-model

Documents

Documents

Information Number : Frauenfoerderpreis

avatar

Christina Taferner-Laggner

Austria

T +43 5 1777 2812

Send email