We are delighted to have been nominated for the eAward. Together with partners from industry and the public sector, the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, as a high-tech development partner, has been nominated for the eAward 2026 with five projects across four categories. These nominations highlight the breadth of AIT’s research and development – ranging from digital security solutions and sustainable urban development to innovative educational solutions and cutting-edge applications for business and public administration.
(c) AIT
Nomination in Category 1 ‘Education and Social Affairs’: WISPER – Vienna Language Experience
WISPER (Vienna Language Experience) is an AI-based language support solution for three- to six-year-olds in nursery schools, developed by the City of Vienna – Nursery Schools in cooperation with AIT. A child-friendly telephone (user experience) enables children whose mother tongue is not German to learn German through play. With the help of WISPER, children can develop a story at their own pace. WISPER understands any language but always responds in German. Language support staff from the City of Vienna were involved in the development from the very beginning (user-centred design). The solution takes some of the pressure off the language support teachers and specifically complements their work. And most importantly: the children love it. As a reward, the children receive a picture of the story from the printer built into the phone. In Vienna, 26,000 children in nursery schools have language support needs (out of a total of 88,000 children).
Nomination in Category 2 ‘Services and Processes’: BioCapture
Together with the Federal Criminal Police Office (BK) within the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), the AIT has been nominated for the eAward 2026 in the category ‘Services and Processes’ with BioCapture. Developed as part of the KIRAS security research programme, the technology enables secure, contactless fingerprint identification using standard smartphones and supports police forces in rapidly establishing a person’s identity directly at the scene. The responsible development approach combines high user-friendliness and performance with strict requirements regarding data protection, data security, ethics and the rule of law. The solution is currently being rolled out across Austria and was presented as an Austrian best-practice example at the United Nations headquarters in New York, at the invitation of the United Nations, as part of UN Counter-Terrorism Week 2026.
Two nominations in Category 4 ‘Sustainability’: MAKING PEDs and ReUseTex
With MAKING PEDs, the AIT has been nominated in the ‘Sustainability’ category. This European research project is shaping the future of climate-neutral cities by supporting cities, citizens, planners and policy-makers in developing Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) using digital twin technologies and participatory decision-making. The platform combines 3D city models, sustainability analyses and an intelligent decision-support system to simulate and transparently assess the impact of planned measures even before they are implemented. This enables well-informed decisions and accelerates sustainable urban development. Together with the City of Linz and European partners, AIT is demonstrating how digital twins and interoperable data spaces are driving the transformation of European cities, paving the way for climate-neutral, energy-positive urban neighbourhoods and sustainably accelerating urban transformation.
ReUseTex – Circular Economy for Textiles through Artificial Intelligence
Also nominated in the Sustainability category, ReUseTex focuses on the circular economy for textiles: around 5.8 million tonnes of end-of-life textiles are generated in the EU every year – and the figure is rising. With ReUseTex, Saubermacher is working alongside leading research and technology partners such as AIT, Graz University of Technology, KNAPP AG, Bernhard Binder Mechatronics and Walter Thomsen Consulting to develop an AI-powered solution for the automated sorting of end-of-life textiles. Using computer vision, deep learning and robotics, textiles are identified, assessed and allocated to the most suitable recovery pathways. This enables high-quality garments to be specifically set aside for reuse and recycled raw materials to be recovered more efficiently. The aim of the project is to lay the technological foundations for a modern circular economy in the textile industry, to minimise the manual sorting workload and to support the implementation of new European requirements for the separate collection of used textiles. The project combines artificial intelligence with sustainable resource use and demonstrates how digitalisation can solve specific environmental problems.
Nomination in Category 5 ‘Future Technologies’: FPMS
Together with X-Net Services and EWP Recycling Pfand Österreich GmbH, AIT has been nominated for the Fraud Prevention & Monitoring System (FPMS) in the ‘Future Technologies’ category. This AI-powered solution supports the Austrian single-use deposit system in detecting and preventing fraud attempts at an early stage. Using machine learning and big data analytics, FPMS identifies suspicious patterns in the recycling process and automatically detects various fraud scenarios. In this way, the system contributes to the efficient, transparent and trustworthy operation of the Austrian deposit system.
The eAward is one of the most prestigious business awards in Austria and is presented annually by Report Verlag. Since 2005, over 1,500 projects have been nominated and more than 500 winning projects selected. Last year, the AIT projects BuildsaVR and the Peace Tech Alliance were honoured with the eAward.
The winners of the 2026 eAward will be announced at the awards ceremony on 10 September 2026 at the Palais Eschenbach in Vienna.
Information on all projects nominated for the eAward 2026 can be found here:
https://www.report.at/tech/it-wirtschaftspreis-eaward-2026-das-sind-die-nominees