FHV students nominated for the State Prize for Europe 2025
23.06.2025
A total of 89 projects from all over Austria were submitted. The "Flow State - 50 Hertz for Europe" project from the Department of Design was among the finalists in the "Innovative Europe" category and received recognition from the jury. At the award ceremony on May 28 at the Sofiensäle in Vienna, Margarita Köhl, Head of the Department of Design, was delighted: "We are particularly proud that a project by students from the first year of the new Master's in Design and Creative Leadership made it to the finalists."
Project on Europe's energy future
The starting point for the project was a design challenge set by illwerke vkw for the Master's students: How can the interdependencies of the European energy supply system be made understandable and tangible for a wide audience? Accompanied by lecturers David Altweger, Christoph Skofic, Thomas Poschauko and others, an interactive experience space with four stations was created in the halls of the CampusVäre, through which the principles of balance, network and pumped storage could be experienced.Innovations in the energy sector can only unfold their full effect if their potential is understood by people. Andreas Neuhauser, Head of Communications at illwerke vkw, therefore considers it particularly important to find new ways of communicating: "This is precisely where I see the value of approaches that create sensory access, think creatively and "out of the box" - instead of being characterized solely by engineering logic.
Designers as bridge builders
A particular strength of the master's degree programme in Design and Creative Leadership is the development of innovative approaches by combining technical skills with interdisciplinary dialog. Students also learn to discover and develop potential through collaboration. As part of this project, through the cooperation with illwerke vkw, one of the FHV's Strong Partners, as well as through the realization of the Experience Space in the CampusVäre - Vorarlberg Creative Institute. "We offer students an inspiring space and countless possibilities for using it. We are delighted to be working so closely with the FHV and enabling students and their content to gain visibility and broad participation," emphasizes Bettina Steindl, university management of CampusVäre. The students also appreciate the fact that collaboration and diversity are a top priority in the Department of Design's degree programmes: "By working together as a team, exchanging ideas with the various project partners involved and engaging with different target groups, we have opened up new perspectives. This has greatly enriched our design work," adds Diana Marte, Master's student of Design and Creative Leadership.
Regionally rooted, internationally networked
The project will become firmly anchored in the region by integrating the developed stations into the upcoming exhibition at Inatura. The potential of collaboration can therefore be felt by FHV students at various levels. The close cooperation between the FHV and local companies is a hallmark of the university. At the same time, it knows how to take advantage of the opportunities offered by internationalization and is one of the founding members of the European university alliance RUN-EU (Regional University Network - European University). "For us as a university, it is of central importance to be part of the European Union. We are a member of the European university network RUN-EU, which enables our students as well as lecturers and researchers to actively use Europe as an innovation area and to benefit from a Europe-wide networked university landscape," Köhl concludes.
The State Prize for Europe was established by the federal government in 2015 to mark Austria's 20th anniversary of membership of the European Union and will be awarded for the ninth time in 2025.
