Tiroler Sparkasse honors outstanding theses - Entrepreneurial School® impresses with two category wins – First prize in the categories "Innovation" and "Europe" with a further six nominees on the shortlist
Every two years, the Tiroler Sparkasse awards the Graf Chotek Prize for outstanding theses in the fields of business or economics. For 2019, MCI graduates secured wins in two categories. Viktoria Wegscheider, a graduate of MCI master's program "Management, Communication & IT", was awarded the special prize "Innovation". The special prize "Europe" went to Philipp Weinkogl, a graduate of MCI master's program "International Business & Law".
Viktoria Wegscheider's master thesis, submitted to the Management, Communication & IT program, deals with the topic "Neuro-adaptive Virtual Reality - A User Experience Study for Mind Fitness Training in Clinical Settings". The award-winning thesis examines the potential of virtual reality in relation to health-related behavior. Furthermore, it impressively demonstrates how new technologies and commercial developments in the field of IT can expand and restructure existing forms of therapy thus making a valuable contribution to the further development of health care in Tyrolean companies.
Philipp Weinkogel, a graduate of the Master's program "Strategic Management & Law", has written an outstanding legal paper dealing with the principle of direct impact of EU law at a national level in his thesis “Horizontal Direct Effect of Equality and Solidarity in EU Law”. This immediate - horizontal - effect determines the legal relations between EU citizens. Among other issues, the final thesis submitted to the MCI in 2017 drew attention to the "Good Friday problem", on which a recent ruling was issued.
What was particularly pleasing from an MCI point of view was that in addition to the two special prizes, another six graduates made it onto the list of nominees: Cornelia Praschberger, Hannes Rieser, Matthias Pirs and Susanne Schwarzl (all Strategic Management & Law graduates), Verena Wachter (International Business & Management), as well as Katharina Anna Aschenwald (Entrepreneurship & Tourism).
The main prize went to Julia Katharina Kraus, the special prize "Tyrol" to Stefanie Essl, both from the University of Innsbruck.
The Entrepreneurial School® congratulates all award winners and nominees respectively.
The Graf Chotek University Prize of the Tiroler Sparkasse is intended to promote Tyrol as a research location. The prize represents an important initiative for the promotion of young academics and is aimed at authors of highly rated theses from the University of Innsbruck, UMIT and MCI, which not only possess excellent scientific quality, but also a strong practical relevance.
