IST Austria inaugurates Miba Machine Shop

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Thomas Henzinger, President of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria), today presented a new donor of the institute as part of a ceremony on campus: the technology company Miba AG supports research at IST Austria with 350’000 Euro. To honor the donation, the Institute’s workshop was named Miba Machine Shop.

Henzinger appreciated the donation as confirmation of the concept of IST Austria: “The leading market position of Miba is based on a consistent affirmation of excellence. This forms the connection with our Institute. I thank the Miba AG and the Mitterbauer family for their support. They thereby make an enormously important contribution to the support of basic research in Austria.” Furthermore, Henzinger pointed out that in accordance with the strict rules of IST Austria, the Institute has not entered into any obligations with regards to the Miba AG: “However, we feel responsible towards Miba AG – as to all our other donors – to ensure excellent research with the resources made available.”

The CEO of the Miba AG, Dr. Peter Mitterbauer, explained the motivation for the donation in his statement: “The basis of our success story from a small workshop to one of the leading technology companies in Austria is continued development. Therefore, the topics of research and development are of great importance in the Miba AG. Within our company, we focus on applied research. We are, however, aware that crucial impulses for this are based on excellent basic research. With our support, we would like to also set a signal for Austria as location for research and industry. It makes me proud that the Institute’s workshop will carry the name of the company that my father founded 85 years ago.”

Since 2007, companies and private individuals have donated 17 Million Euro to IST Austria. IST Austria can only acquire the full federal budget until 2026 if the Institute is successful in attracting third-party funding such as these donations. The Miba Machine Shop is one of six Scientific Service Units at the Institute.

These service units provide scientists with modern equipment and efficient service, to enable research at internationally competitive levels. Doing so, IST Austria follows the philosophy of using the equipment in as many research groups as possible so as to avoid a doubling of efforts and costs. The Scientific Service Units of IST Austria are central facilities, which can be used by all scientists at the Institute. The Miba Machine Shop supports experimental scientists in designing mechanical and electronic installations, equipment, and lab devices. It comprises a 3-D printer, a milling machine, a turning machine, a grinding and buffing machine, and several smaller pieces of equipment.

Guests of the ceremony were, amongst others, the managing director of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), Henrietta Egerth, the deputy head of the section for scientific research in the Federal Ministry for Science and Research, Günther Burkert, and the mayor of Klosterneuburg, Stefan Schmuckenschlager.