We had a follow-up discussion with a truly interesting and unique organisation: Bauhaus Luftfahrt, an association serving as a centre for creativity and whose purpose is to be both visionary and application-driven (with a long-term perspective).
The founding members include the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology (STMWIVT), EADS, Liebherr-Aerospace, and MTU Aero Engines.
Add comment April 30th, 2008
In addition to the Paris Lodron University (founded 1622), the Mozarteum – University of Music, Theatre and Visual Arts (founded in 1841), the (medical) Paracelsus University (founded in 2002), Salzburg now has a fourth University: the private business University in Seekirchen, see http://www.my-campus-seekirchen.com/ (founded 2008).
The accreditation was done by the Austrian “Akkreditierungsrat”. At their site, you can find a list of all private universities in Austria, see http://www.akkreditierungsrat.at/cont/en/privatuni.aspx, 12 at the moment. The respective laws for accreditation have been established in 1999. This demonstrates that the sector of private universities in Austria is a “young one”.
Universities have almost a thousand years of tradition: Bologna was founded in 1088. In an edited book on “The Future of the University”, Maria Kelo argues that the Roman Catholic Church, the Icelandic Parliament and Universities are amongst the oldest institutions still “in operation. This would be an indication that universities are well suited for changes and adaptation (otherwise they could not be in existence any more).
1 comment April 21st, 2008
Thomas Fichtel, researcher and PhD student at Salzburg Research, pointed me to an interesting site on technology readiness levels.
Add comment April 15th, 2008
A new study programme for a doctoral degree between the Technical University of Timisoara, Fachhochschule Salzburg and Salzburg Research has been established. The idea is to have a three year ECTS conformant PhD curriculum that not only guarantees knowledge about the scientific methods in your respective domain but also know-know about industrial innovation processes, the community, etc. The initiation of the programme was driven by needs from industry – and by Prof. Ulrich Hofmann.
The initial summer school and the curriculum development have been financially supported by Forschung Austria.
The press release can be found here.
Add comment April 14th, 2008
This dialogue is an initiative by BM Dr. Hahn (see http://www.forschungsdialog.at/). The Salzburg event was on interdisciplinary research and had a focus on humanities and social sciences. Some key phrases
An excellent discussion with over a 100 participants.
Add comment April 11th, 2008
… a truly inspiring experience: I happened to be invited to visit a “monastery on Europe”, the Europakloster in Aich. See http://www.europakloster.com/. Pater Johannes Pausch introduced us to the idea and background of this Benedictine Monastery (and also some of the monastery’s products including cordial spirits 
). Also, the monastery is providing mediation services concerning ethics, rules, etc. with respect to Europe.
Add comment April 7th, 2008
… a huge national event with about 250 participants, organised by FFG. I happened to participate in the panel on “Joint Programming – Synergien nationaler und internationaler F&E Aktivitäten” coordinated by Michael Binder (FFG) with Christian Seiser (Ministry of science and research), Michael Koch from Technikon, and myself.
The main messages
- Seiser argued that research programmes in future need to be open not only to national participants but to all member states; also he argued, we need to develop a frontrunner strategy
- personally, I argued that the European Union is not to be seen as yet another funding agency but that we need to develop a European dimension in the projects. For Austria, this could be a geographical focus to e.g. central European and Balkan states; it could be a thematical focus on tourism; it could be a focus on the Alps and sustainable tourism/landscape usage, etc.
- Michael Koch argued for more flexibility of funding schemes and that excellent projects should be funded in any case (even if there was not enough money foreseen).
All argued towards less administration and also more commonalities between national programmes, European programmes, etc.
And: “Austrian Champions in European Research” was a tribute to the 62 coordinators from Austria that were successful in the first call of FP7. Amongst them was Sebastian Schaffert and the KIWI project from Salzburg Research, deadling with knowledge in a wiki.
Add comment April 3rd, 2008
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