Winner Category Healthy Life
UMRE is a prototype exoskeleton for people with musculoskeletal problems. A highly sophisticated integrated product combining hardware, sensors, servomotors, controllers and related software, UMRE offers an innovative, affordable and practical option for medical and civilian uses. When finalized as an industrial product, UMRE will offer an optimized software management system for human movement recording and playback, with improved ergonomics.

Winner Category Go Green
Pretty Streets helps everyone who likes to walk, to discover new beautiful places. A simple, yet elegant application, Pretty Streets stands out as a celebration of all things beautiful in cities at-tracting visitors, while also motivates the curious to discover something new in their own city. It targets not only avid walkers, but also people with mobility issues, taking into account slopes or obstacles. A user friendly system even calculates wheelchair itineraries, a first in tourist services. The apps offers custom-made itineraries based on must-see sights or works with the time someone has to pop out for a quick walkabout.

Winner Category Connecting Cultures
NOC is a web platform that helps users meet people and make new friends. The concept builds on the strategy of using social media to empower real world interactions. By binding users to stay online longer every day, on average up to 50 days in a year, social media end up isolating and separating people in reality. Using NOC, people can organize group meet-ups based on shared interests or ‘NOC’ someone specific. The added value of this initiative is that it really offers an alternative, sociable, reason for meeting. The project benefits from great promotion and a community development strategy. Groups coming to new places for the first time and looking to make acquaintances – for instance international students and expats – will love NOC.

Winner Category Active Citizenship
Helperon has all the chances in the world to become a great tool linking companies willing to support non-profits, altruistic individuals wishing to help, and non-profits in need of donations. The application is an easy tool for end users who by viewing advertising content, activate donations to charity without using their own money. The fact that donations easily reach non-profits is highly appreciated and promotes transparency, as non-profits send financial reports back to companies and users.

Winner Category Active Citizenship
Exempt from Theory, Poland’s first social Olympiad for high school students, is an impressive example of how young people can transform society with their creativity, commitment and enthusiasm. The project supports volunteering opportunities for young people to promote civic engagement and to help improve project management skills. An intuitive online portal guides young volunteers through the project cycle.

Monster sentence 40 Sekunden
Harald Plank vom Zentrum für Elektronenmikroskopie in Graz (FELMI-ZFE)
Credit: All4Media

Der ACR Woman Award 2015 geht an die Maschinenbauingenieurin Anke Ristow von V-esearch in Vorarlberg. Die 45-jährige Forscherin ist dort seit 2009 Projektleiterin und Leiterin des Tribologielabors. Sie wird für ein Innovationsprojekt für einen großen Motorenhersteller aus der Schweiz ausgezeichnet.

Das oberösterreichische Start-up Rapperstorfer Automation wurde vor einem Jahr mit einer Geschäftsidee gegründet. Entwickelt wurde eine Produktionsanlage, die den Bewehrungsstahl für Betonwände vollautomatisch berechnet und platziert. Dafür kommen Schweißroboter zum Einsatz. Die erste Anlage nimmt demnächst die Produktion auf. Ein ACR-Forschungsinstitut, das Bautechnische Institut in Linz, war Entwicklungspartner.

In Elektronenmikroskopen lassen sich winzigste elektronische Bauteile charakterisieren um beispielsweise deren Temperaturverhalten im Betrieb zu bestimmen. Das Zentrum für Elektronenmikroskopie Graz (FELMI-ZFE) hat zusammen mit dem Hersteller SCL Sensor. Tech. Fabrication GmbH aus Wien neuartige Messsonden für Elektronenmikroskope entwickelt, die Strukturen im kleinen Nanometerbereich charakterisieren können.