The international Josef Umdasch Research Prize awarded by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences for outstanding achievements in the field of forestry and timber science is endowed with 30,000 Euro prize money. As a result of the high quality of entries submitted, the award was split between two winners. The recipients were honoured during an academic ceremony.
Press Contact
Instituted in memory of the founder of the Umdasch Group, this prize was endowed by Hilde and Alfred Umdasch. It represents one of Europe's premier awards for research in the field of forestry and timber science. Its primary focus is on environmentally sound timber harvesting, new reafforestation methods, innovations in the field of timber processing, and on holistic approaches to optimising the value-chain in the forestry and wood-based industries.
This year's winners are submissions by the team of Georg M. Gübitz in cooperation with Gibson Stephen Nyanhongo for their contribution "A novel enzyme based toolbox for functionalisation of wood based materials" and Peter Schwarzbauer with his topic "25 years FOHOW – from waste paper recycling to carbon pool: a holistic system-dynamics simulation model of the timber value-chain".
The enzyme-based toolbox offers potential for future applications ranging from environmentally-friendly processes in the wood pulp and paper industry to generating energy from biomass through to improvement of solid wood in terms of colour and engineering. The timber value-chain simulation model enables advance calculations of far-reaching consequences associated with economic and political decisions, such as the impact on the entire forestry and timber industry when large wooded areas are exempted from use or timber is used for generating energy.
The committee's decision was unanimous. Since the two submissions deal with completely different subject matters, a decision was made in favour of awarding two prizes of 15,000 Euro each.
The winners accepted their prizes during an academic ceremony at the Vienna Boku on 20 November 2014.
Please direct any related queries to:
Wolfgang Pessl
Head of Public Relations
Doka Group
Josef Umdasch Platz 1, 3300 Amstetten (Austria)
Tel.: +43 7472 605-2733
wolfgang.pessl@doka.com
This year's winners are submissions by the team of Georg M. Gübitz in cooperation with Gibson Stephen Nyanhongo for their contribution "A novel enzyme based toolbox for functionalisation of wood based materials" and Peter Schwarzbauer with his topic "25 years FOHOW – from waste paper recycling to carbon pool: a holistic system-dynamics simulation model of the timber value-chain".
The enzyme-based toolbox offers potential for future applications ranging from environmentally-friendly processes in the wood pulp and paper industry to generating energy from biomass through to improvement of solid wood in terms of colour and engineering. The timber value-chain simulation model enables advance calculations of far-reaching consequences associated with economic and political decisions, such as the impact on the entire forestry and timber industry when large wooded areas are exempted from use or timber is used for generating energy.
The committee's decision was unanimous. Since the two submissions deal with completely different subject matters, a decision was made in favour of awarding two prizes of 15,000 Euro each.
The winners accepted their prizes during an academic ceremony at the Vienna Boku on 20 November 2014.
Recognition for research and development
The Josef Umdasch Research Prize is a token of the esteem in which the Umdasch Group holds scientific research as the foundation upon which business-related, product-specific research and development work can build. It also serves to reiterate the Umdasch Group's close ties to, and long-standing co-operative relationship with, the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna. 2014 marked the twelfth time the Josef Umdasch Research Prize has been awarded.Umdasch Group:
The internationally successful Umdasch AG with its Doka Group and Umdasch Shopfitting Divisions operates in roughly 70 countries at more than 170 locations. As one of the leading companies in concrete system formwork and shopfitting, the family business employs 7,400 staff worldwide at this time. With around 1.1 billion € in sales, the company is one of the top players in the domestic industry sector. The Group's main focus on internationalisation will continue to drive growth for the Umdasch Group in the future. Currently 88% of revenues are generated abroad.Please direct any related queries to:
Wolfgang Pessl
Head of Public Relations
Doka Group
Josef Umdasch Platz 1, 3300 Amstetten (Austria)
Tel.: +43 7472 605-2733
wolfgang.pessl@doka.com
Do you have any questions on the article? Get in touch with us!