#LNF24 another big success

With 41,500 enthusiastic visitors in Upper Austria and 169,000 in Austria as a whole, the eleventh edition of the Long Night of Research (#LNF24) on 24 May 2024 was another great success. In Upper Austria, a wide range of live activities were offered in 10 regions, providing fascinating insights into the world of research. Around 140 exhibitors presented their research at over 700 stations, offering visitors amazing insights, discoveries and the chance to experiment.

All over Upper Austria, exciting research topics were presented in a wide-ranging programme of activities for young and old. In ten regions – Braunau, Grieskirchen, Hagenberg, Linz, Mondsee, Ried, Schärding, Steyr, Wels and, for the first time, Kirchdorf – visitors could see for themselves which future issues are currently the focus of research, what solutions are being found for the major challenges of our times day and what the working environment of scientists and researchers looks like.

Impressions of the 2024 Long Night of Research from all the participating regions can be viewed in the picture galleries at CITYFOTO.at.

Among the exhibitors were those institutions in Upper Austria most heavily involved in research, including not only tertiary education and research institutions and technology centres but also innovative SMEs and global players in industry. The topics ranged from digitalization, technology and business to the sciences, the environment and energy and also touched on health, society and culture.

The visitors to this large-scale event were granted exclusive access to high-tech innovation facilities that are otherwise off limits to the general public. For example, KEBA opened the new InnoSpace to visitors for the first time. They were shown the future topics the company is exploring and the innovations it is working on. All of these have artificial intelligence and digitalization in an industrial context as their focus.

Apart from instructive insights into top-level research, many of the exhibitors were particularly interested in introducing complex technologies and the kind of jobs that will be available in the future to young visitors through creative and entertaining activities. Infineon Technologies Austria, for instance, sent children on an interactive workshop journey on the subject of robotics, and organized games to familiarize the youngest visitors with the basics of programming.

Countless researchers from all over Upper Austria have expended great efforts to make their complex topics easy to understand and present them in an interesting way. These efforts play a vital role in reaching potential young scientists and stimulating their interest in new technologies. As a result, the event has established itself as an important means of promoting the next generation of researchers and developers.

As coordinator of the LNF for Upper Austria, Upper Austrian Research GmbH thanks the numerous cooperation partners, the exhibitors and the regional coordinators. This year, with a total of 18 cooperation partners, the initiative enjoyed a particularly high level of support. Thanks to their combined efforts, all those involved made the 2024 Long Night of Research a resounding success.

The cooperation partners in alphabetical order:

• AMST-Systemtechnik GmbH
• ANDRITZ Hydro GmbH
• AVL List GmbH
• FACC AG
• FH OÖ Forschungs & Entwicklungs GmbH
• Fill Gesellschaft m.b.H.
• Format Werk GmbH
• Frauscher Sensortechnik GmbH
• Industriellenvereinigung Oberösterreich
• Infineon Technologies Austria AG
• IT:U
• Johannes Kepler Universität Linz
• Life Radio GmbH
• LINZ AG
• RegionalMedien Oberösterreich GmbH
• Silhouette International Schmied AG
• Sprecher Automation GmbH
• WIEHAG Holding GmbH