HR Excellence in the UAR Innovation Network: Three Award-Winning Initiatives Set New Standards

To attract specialists for top-level research in Upper Austria and retain them for the long term, specific HR measures are needed. The government of Upper Austria is funding the initiative “HR Excellence in the UAR Innovation Network” to support innovative projects that set new standards in personnel development in non-university research. A call resulted in over 30 submissions from the UAR Innovation Network in the following categories: Best Practice Initiatives, Innovative HR Measures and International Research Visits.

The submissions were assessed by an expert jury. The jury of six included top-level managers from the HR departments of major international enterprises such as Engel, KEBA and Dynatrace, experts in HR consulting and recruitment, specialists from international research and development, and consultants from Business Upper Austria’s human capital management.

Award-winning and Pioneering: Three Outstanding HR Initiatives in the Spotlight
Wood K plus impressed the jury with their WOOD4ALL initiative which has been focusing on equal opportunities and the advancement of women in technological research since 2022. Workshops, family-friendly employment models and training in relevant topics are among the measures taken to increase gender and diversity competence. To support women in management, a mentoring programme is in place, while an equality plan ensures that the topic is firmly established within the company in the long term.

The Early Career Voices initiative run by Pro2Future makes scientific work accessible to a large audience. Young researchers present their findings in short, easy-to-follow videos, thus helping not just to increase the visibility of scientific topics within the research community but also to make them understandable to interested members of the general public.

Software Competence Center Hagenberg received an award for the We are… initiative which strengthens the feeling of being part of a community at the company. In times of hybrid forms of working and increasing staff numbers it is particularly important to actively promote a corporate culture. To this end, a team of dedicated employees organizes sporting events, creative workshops and social functions with the aim of increasing the sense of camaraderie and creating a pleasant working environment.

The awards were presented to the research centres by Markus Achleitner, head of the department for industry and research of the Upper Austrian government, Wilfried Enzenhofer, CEO UAR, and Bettina Kern, managing partner of KERN engineering careers as a representative of the jury.

These projects introduce new ideas to strengthen Upper Austria as a research region still further and create a working environment for highly qualified young scientists that promotes innovation.

For more details, see the press kit.

Photos in gallery : Land OÖ/Lina Spenlingwimmer