bridges vol. 9, April 2006 / Guest Commentaries on the Institute of Science and Technology - Austria
by Georg Stingl
History
The idea of a top level Austrian Institute of Science and
Technology was introduced by the Austrian scientists Prof. Anton
Zeilinger and Prof. Peter Schuster around the beginning of 2005. Since
then, experts have reviewed the concept and many concrete steps have
been taken to turn it into a reality.
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bridges vol. 9, April 2006 / Guest Commentaries on the Institute of Science and Technology - Austria
by Peter Kowalski
Austria is building up a world class research center from scratch, where top minds are more important than subjects
Status quo
Europe will run into severe problems if it does not
understand the need to act now to achieve sustained success. The
innovation gap - between Europe and the US and certain rapidly
developing areas in Asia - is growing for a variety of reasons.
European universities are underrepresented in the top tier of
international rankings and instead of concentrating resources to
achieve critical mass in a few top institutions, resources in Europe
are spread across a wide variety of universities. The European higher
education system suffers from fragmentation and underinvestment. In
addition, there is a certain lack of innovation and entrepreneurial
culture in the R&E sector.
Increasing the supply of excellent
university graduates and improving the quality of the training and
development staff are becoming increasingly crucial to creating the
European research capacity required to address this problem.
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bridges vol. 9, April 2006 / Guest Commentaries on the Institute of Science and Technology - Austria
by Erich Gornik
The Institute of Science and Technology – Austria was established
through a decision of the Austrian Parliament in early April of 2006.
More than €600 million has been allocated over a 10 year period.
The idea for this institute comes from Anton Zeilinger, Professor at
the University of Vienna and well-known scientist for his centennial
contributions to quantum optics.
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bridges vol. 9, April 2006 / Guest Commentaries on the Institute of Science and Technology - Austria
by Maria-Regina Kecht
It is hard to imagine that the various commissions and sub-commissions
working on the concept and the timeline of the proposed "Institute for
Science and Technology -Austria" (ISTA) did not know about the EU plans
(admittedly still vague) for the European Institute of Technology (EIT)
touted recently in Vienna by Ján Figel (Member of the European
Commission responsible for Education, Training, Culture and
Multilingualism).
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bridges vol. 9, April 2006 / Guest Commentaries on the Institute of Science and Technology - Austria
by Gregor Kos
The current proposal for the establishment of an "Institute of Science and Technology - Austria," often termed a "University of Excellence," suffers from a series of flaws including a lack of integration with existing research institutions and a lack of funding within the research community of which this institute will be a part. Although concrete plans concerning organizational details are already being made, it is not yet clear what fields of research will be included and what strategic goals should be achieved. The proposed research institute, which will be rather small with a staff of 300 scientists, can only be successful on an international level if it is built on a solid financial and organizational base made up of Austrian universities, research centers, and funding agencies, and is integrated within the European Union.
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bridges vol. 9, April 2006 / Guest Commentaries on the Institute of Science and Technology - Austria
by Christine Mrakotsky
The pursuit of excellence and competition in science and technology in
Europe today is a positive and welcome development. Austria has a
long-standing history of well-founded education and as such should not
lag behind its European partners when it comes to research. However,
whether or not this can be accomplished through the proposed
"Elite-Uni" is highly questionable. While without a doubt Austria needs
universities and research institutes that are more competitive on
international standards, it would seem most natural to invest in and
build on existing infrastructures.
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bridges vol. 9, April 2006 / Guest Commentaries on the Institute of Science and Technology - Austria
by Maria Christina Binz-Scharf
What appears to be the single most important asset in the New York real
estate market should not be nearly as dominant in discussions about a
scientific institution: its location. Ever since the Austrian Minister
of Education, Elisabeth Gehrer, announced in January that the planned
"Institute of Science and Technology - Austria" (ISTA) would be
established in Gugging, all other concerns about the ISTA seem to have
been relegated to the back burner. The location argument is now
seriously endangering the success of the whole project, to the point
that its initiator, the physicist Anton Zeilinger, has withdrawn from
the project, leaving the ISTA without a scientific director.
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bridges vol. 9, April 2006 / Guest Commentaries on the Institute of Science and Technology - Austria
by Martin Nowak
"I am very pleased that Austria has decided to establish a new "university of excellence." In my opinion this is an important step in the right direction, because successful scientific research needs a diversity of institutions and funding agencies. If the new institute can attract and support the best people from Europe and elsewhere, then this would be a significant achievement.
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