Best of #IMM2026 — Industry meets Makers

10 Years of Collaborative Innovation

What happens when industrial companies, startups, researchers and makers spend months or days working side by side on real-world challenges?

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On May 7, 2026, the answers came together at Vienna City Hall as Industry meets Makers celebrated its 10th anniversary with the “Best of IMM2026” showcase. More than just a final presentation event, the evening highlighted how cross-sector collaboration can create practical innovation, unexpected partnerships and entirely new perspectives on the future of technology and manufacturing.

What started as an experimental open innovation format in Austria has grown into a cross-border ecosystem connecting industry, technology and creative problem-solvers across disciplines and regions. This year’s edition was particularly special, as IMM became part of the Twin City Future Innovation Manufacturing Hub — supported by the EU co-funded Interreg Slovakia-Austria program — strengthening collaboration between Austria and Slovakia and expanding the initiative’s international reach.

Throughout the evening, Vienna City Hall turned into a meeting point for innovators, engineers, startups, public institutions, students and technology enthusiasts. Between project demos, spontaneous discussions and networking sessions, the event created exactly the kind of open exchange that has defined Industry meets Makers for the past decade.

Curious to see what findings our IMM teams have come up with? Then take a look!

From Briefings to Real Solutions

Explore the evening through a chronological photo and video story.

Discover who took part in this year’s edition, which new partnerships emerged and which projects stood out.

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Welcome by our supporters & partners

Opening remarks by the moderators Thom Kunz (Smile IT) and Markus Kleinfercher (EIT Manufacturing East & Twin City Hub), as well as the initiator Sandra Stromberger (Industry meets Makers) and the supporters Michael Schwantzer (Vienna Business Agency), Prof. Franz Fidler (UAS St. Pölten & Digital Innovation Hub Ost), Nilufar Mokhtari (Interreg Slovakia-Austria program) and our iMMi awards sponsor Thomas Gruber (Trivion).

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AUVA | NextGen Safety: Innovating Safe Journeys to School

This challenge focused on transforming traditional school route plans into an interactive digital safety experience for children and parents. Participants were invited to rethink how technology can help create safer and smarter journeys to school for first graders.

Klaus Wittig (Deputy Head of Prevention and Head of the Safety Testing Centre), AUVA (also on behalf of Joachim Rauch, AUVA), Miloš Blaščák (CEO), Chilli Muffin and the team Emma Tóthová, Marcela Šuvadová, Peter Bernát, Adam Mäsiar, Kristína Magurová, Barbora Moravíková, Romana Prokešová, Pavol Salaj and David Smolinský (Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava) presented how they solved it together.

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BeKa Software | Natural-Language for Open Source CRM Systems

This challenge explored how AI-powered voice and text interfaces could make open-source CRM systems more intuitive and user-friendly. Participants were invited to develop conversational assistants capable of simplifying workflows and automating complex business tasks.

Marek Drnzík (Branch Manager Slovakia), BeKa Software, Srdjan Kupresanin (Founder) and Nikola Zrnić (Full Stack Developer), Blockstruct presented how they solved it together.

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Alstom | Predicting Remaining Useful Life of Train Battery Systems & Vibration-Based Fault Detection for Motor-Gearbox Units

These two challenges focused, on the one hand, on developing predictive models capable of estimating the remaining lifetime of train battery systems using operational data and, on the other hand, on exploring how vibration and frequency data could be used to automatically detect faults in train motor–gearbox systems.

Florian Gombotz (Project Manager), ALSTOM (also on behalf of György Jeney, ALSTOM), Michal Šaštinský (CEO), BatteryCheck and the team team Lukas Kirmann, Markus Fink, Toni Inurean, Henry Pfeiffer and Ahmad Alsayad (UAS St. Pölten) presented how they solved it together.

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GRÜNSTATTGRAU & RENOWAVE | Plug-and-Play Renovation for a Circular Future

This challenge explored how building renovation processes could become modular, circular and “plug-and-play” – inspired by principles from industrial manufacturing. Participants were invited to focus on scalable retrofit solutions that integrate recyclability, resource efficiency and urban greening from the very beginning.

Elisabeth Leitner (Project Manager), GRÜNSTATTGRAU (also on behalf of Susanne Formanek, GRÜNSTATTGRAU & RENOWAVE), Burkhard List (Co-Founder), b&mi and the team Elena Hausner (IMC Krems), Johannes Spitzer (Forschung Burgenland), Michelle Jane Dote and Elin Holmqvist (UAS St. Pölten) presented how they solved it together.

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smander.com, Mariahilfer i & IoT Austria | Back in Control: The Open Appliance Maker Challenge

This challenge explored what truly repairable, modular and open household appliances could look like in the future. Building on the open-source “MyGenWashy” project, participants were invited to rethink consumer technology through openness, sustainability & user control.

Patrick Awart, President of IoT Austria & Founder of Mariahilfer i (also on behalf of Clemens Mayer, smander.com) and the team Maximilian Riegler, Daniel Fock and Kevin Lang (UAS St. Pölten) presented how they solved it together.

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City of Vienna | Smart Asset Tracking for Commercial Waste Containers

The City of Vienna challenged participants to develop smart tracking and monitoring solutions for commercial waste containers. The original ideas ranged from geofencing and real-time alerts to AI-supported logistics and operational optimization for urban waste management.

Michael Maier (IoT Expert und Business Analyst, GPC1 – Innovation Lab, Wien Digital), City of Vienna, the team Laila Gruber, Magdalena Schreivogl, Dominik Steurer, Hubert Eßletzbichler, Bernhard Radakovits and Ralf Hörhager (UAS St. Pölten), the team Paul Hitzl, Lukas Pesendorfer and Jona Josef Zeichen (UAS St. Pölten), the team Sviatoslav Sarov and Danylo Yaryna (Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava) and the team Fatih Simsek, Mathias Holzinger, Emre Kaygisiz and Tobias Schuster (UAS St. Pölten) presented how they solved it together.

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Next Steps and Conclusion of the “Official Part”

In this video, you'll find out which partners are still in the middle of the process and are continuing (AM Austria, NEOALP, ONRAsens, Hunter ID, LevexRobotics, …), what's next for IMM, and how we managed to fit approx. 65 people into one photo! :)

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Community Building & Networking

Innovation rarely happens in isolation

IMM2026 showed what becomes possible when industry, technology and creative communities build the future together.

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Interested in joining the next IMM edition as a maker, challenge partner, technology expert or supporter? Stay connected – the next round of Industry meets Makers is already in preparation.

Our #IMM2025/26 Partners

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Twin City Hub Project Partners

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Supporters & Network Partners

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Maker Brands

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Briefing Partners

As of July 1, 2024, Industry meets Makers has become part of the Twin City Future Innovation Manufacturing Hub (2C FIMH) – a cross-border initiative aimed at driving innovation, fostering collaboration, and promoting sustainable growth in the manufacturing sector across Austria and Slovakia. The project is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) within the Interreg Slovakia-Austria program. Learn more