Last December, the Toolbox Handover ceremony to the Mössinger grammar school cooperative class took place and the eager pupils we able to start building their first machines. Just 7 months later, three projects of the Coop-class pupils were awarded the Technicus Award 2023 of the alumni association. Burkhard Grabner, chairman of the alumni association at Mössingerstraße, initiated the Technicus Award in the school year 2020/21. The award aims to honour particularly committed pupils at Mössingerstraße who work on innovations and above-average, future-oriented projects.
In 2023, there were submissions from pupils from the 1st to 4th grade of the higher technical education institute (HTL) Mössingerstraße. However, for the first time, there were also submissions from the 3rd and 4th graders of the cooperative classes of the grammar school and HTL Mössingerstraße, which are supported with the toolboxes by the CUAS and other sponsors, since the foundation almost 14 years ago.
The dedicated pupils worked on their projects mainly outside of class – some even up to 1,000 hours! From the numerous submissions, the best participants were awarded a total of almost € 5,000. Burkhard Grabner was able to win the renowned entrepreneurs and graduates of the HTL Mössingerstraße Alexander Windbichler (Anexia), Christian Smerietschnig (BigBang) and Michael Marketz (Kelag Netz) as the jury.
During the gala award ceremony, the pupils presented their projects on the theme “Everything is Energy” with a short film and in-person to the jury members. There were thirteen project submissions this year, such as a self-developed smartwatch, single-pixel camera, bionic arm, MarsRover, Tesla coil, and more. From the cooperative classes, there were projects such as a Minecraft server, how to alternatively generate electricity with a bio-electricity generator or a solar blind.
You can watch the recorded live stream of the event on YouTube.
We wish all the winners of the Technicus Award 2023 all the best and we are looking forward to further supporting these talented pupils and encouraging their passion for science.
Yours,
MedTech @ FH Kärnten Team
