To Infinity and Beyond – Are Innovation Contests at Austrian Technical Colleges the Right Tool to Stimulate the Creative and Technical Potential of the Country?

Nowadays, creativity as it is applied for finding new technologies and making new inventions, is characterised by new unorthodox aspects of and approaches to problem solving. At the same time, innovation uses new scientific, technical and cultural elements to sustainably change the social structure of society. However, creative and innovative ideas are not affluent or ever-lasting resources. They need to be stimulated, elicited and put into realisation. This has to be done through expensive research and development cam-paigns, but may also be achieved at a lower level, namely, for example, at Austrian Technical Colleges. There, students are often encouraged to submit their diploma thesis projects in national and regional competitions and have recently proved to be very successful.