Post by Silicon Austria Labs (SAL)

We are proud to celebrate two outstanding achievements at last week’s Falling Walls Lab South-West Austria 2026, where two of our researchers presented their breakthrough ideas in just three minutes. 🥇 Emily Bezerra won first place with her project “Breaking the Wall of End-of-Life Electronics.” Emily presented a visionary approach to transforming electronic waste into a circular resource. Her work, carried out within the Advanced Sensors & Electronics Technologies Research Unit at Silicon Austria Labs, focuses on recyclable electronic materials and innovative disassembly strategies that enable valuable resources to be recovered and reused, contributing to a more sustainable future for electronics. Emily will also attend the Falling Walls Lab Finale in Berlin in November. 🥈 Wolfgang Lakata, Scientist in the Research Unit Photonic Systems, achieved joint second place with his work on understanding and measuring the hidden molecular world at surfaces and interfaces. Using sum-frequency generation spectroscopy (SFG), his research aims to transform a complex laboratory method into a compact, industry-ready sensor platform that can improve process control, reduce waste, and support more sustainable technologies. A huge congratulations to Emily and Wolfgang for representing SAL with excellence and for showcasing how cutting-edge research can help address global challenges. Local Organisers Kärnten Gründungsnetzwerk build! Gründerzentrum Kärnten AplusB Austria's Tech Startup Incubator Network Stadt Villach High Tech Campus Villach GmbH Academic Partners Universität Klagenfurt Technische Universität Graz Fachhochschule Kärnten Silicon Austria Labs (SAL) Photos: Sabine Biedermann Photography