On the main day, the AIT Center for Technology Experience presented ‘Hands-on Research’ at its exhibition stand in the Technical Museum: visitors were able to chat with the virtual agent ‘Experienzia’ (Human Centred AI research area) and find out about current research projects. At the ‘Tactics Holodeck’, everyone slipped into the role of a strategist and was able to immerse themselves in the topic of military planning with VR glasses – a project realised by AIT on behalf of the Theresian Military Academy (research area: XR4Challenging Environments). The FFG project Digital Encounters, led by AIT, and mini robots built by the participants were also presented. One approach in Digital Encounters was to use robotics kits and various ‘identity cards’ to motivate young people to ‘make’ in different roles – away from existing role clichés. (Research area: Social Experience).
On stage with the topic health: Markus Murtinger
Markus Murtinger, Deputy Head of the Centre for Technology Experience, contributed to the programme in the ballroom of the Technical Museum with a presentation on the topic of ‘Digital First Aid Training’. He presented the ‘Green Manikin’, a mixed reality training solution for medical emergency services. AIT has many years of experience in the field of extended reality (XR), particularly in training and education.
Also participating in the programme were: Mario Drobics from the AIT Centre for Digital Safety & Security (workshop on ‘AI as a driver of innovation in companies’), Diellza Ahmetaj from the AI Factory (panel discussion on digital sovereignty) and Quynh Nguyen from the AIT Centre for Technology Experience (workshop on ‘Resilience 5.0 – digital innovation for greater resilience’ at Community Day on the premises of UIV Urban Innovation Vienna).
Hedy Lamarr Prize for blockchain researcher Georgia Avarikioti
One of the highlights of Digital Days was the presentation of the Girls Hackathon prizes and the Hedy Lamarr Prize, which is awarded annually by the City of Vienna to a female computer science researcher. We congratulate all the winners, especially the 2025 Hedy Lamarr Prize winner and blockchain researcher Georgia Avarikioti. The laudatory speech was given by last year's winner Laura Koesten, who also works at the AIT Centre for Technology Experience. We would like to thank the entire UIV team responsible for organising Digital Days for their excellent cooperation: Jutta Löffler, Marcel Simoner, Michael Leitner-Hickisch, Hanna Holoubek, Sophie Zechmeister and everyone else who contributed.
The DigitalCity.Vienna community brings together government, the digital economy, science and civil society. Our common goal: to make Vienna the digital capital.
