Radio podcast it’s TALK: Career paths – from studies to science, to business, to start-ups

Digital signatures, privacy, IT security – our researcher Fabian Knirsch talks about his career and research at the Center for Secure Energy Informatics in the current radio podcast “it’s TALK”. He recently received a high six-figure investment for his start-up that deals with legally compliant digital signatures.
The podcast can be listened at https://its.fh-salzburg.ac.at/podcast.

Fabian Knirsch sproof

State-of-the-Art Systems Engineering at the Josef Ressel Centre for Dependable System-of-Systems Engineering

The team of the Josef Ressel Centre for Dependable System-of-Systems Engineering was honored to represent INCOSE, the International Council on Systems Engineering, at this year’s NAFEMS World Congress.

INCOSE is a world-wide renowned membership organization founded to develop and disseminate the transdisciplinary principles and practices that enable the realization of successful systems. “This is where the state-of-the-art of systems engineering is written. Precisely for this reason, it is a special honor that we were able to officially represent INCOSE at the World Congress”, announces center director Christian Neureiter, who is delighted about this special confirmation and appreciation of the research work of his team at the Josef Ressel Center for Dependable System-of-Systems Engineering.

NAFEMS World Congress
The biennial NAFEMS World Congress is held on a large scale and provides a forum for presenting a combination of innovative techniques and best practices. This year, the simulation world came together in an international forum to push engineering analysis. Numerous companies from the field of automotive and avionic participated, such as RIMAC Automobili, Ford Motor Company, Airbus Group, Boeing Commercial Airplanes and many more. “It was a unique opportunity for us to report on our research work at the well-known world congress for simulations and to exchange ideas with representatives from industry and academia,” Christian Neureiter proudly states.

Paper on User Simulation Published

Reserach on energy informatics especially in the residential sector requires the consideration of human behavior and their influence on the performance of corresponding demand response programs. Judith Schwarzer  from the Center for Secure Energy Informatics (CSE) developed an agent-based model to simulate customers’ decisions in this context and presented her results as full paper at the 16th annual Social Simulation Conference 2021 (Cracow/online). The conference were open to all topics around social simulation and computational social science at which several papers deal with social-technical aspects and provide a very good platform for fruitful discussions. In a final state “Judith’s model” should provide quantifiable results for the optimal adjustment of incentives both for general participations in demand response program and short-term energy price adaptions.

  • [PDF] J. Schwarzer and D. Engel, “Consumer Participation in Demand Response Programs: Development of a Consumat-based Toy Model,” in 16th Annual Social Simulation Conference 2021, 2021.
    [Bibtex]
    @inproceedings{Schwarzer21a,
    author = {Judith Schwarzer and Dominik Engel},
    title={Consumer Participation in Demand Response Programs: Development of a Consumat-based Toy Model},
    booktitle={16th Annual Social Simulation Conference 2021},
    year={2021},
    pdf={https://www.en-trust.at/papers/Schwarzer21a.pdf},
    }

Clemens Brunner Successfully Defends PhD Thesis

We are very proud to announce, that yesterday, Clemens Brunner, member of our PriSec research group, successfully defended his PhD thesis on “Decentralized Trust Management for Privacy-preserving Authentication in the Smart Grid” at the University of Salzburg. Congratulations from the whole team, Dr. Brunner!

Best paper and “Madness-Award” for CSE

Günther Eibl and Dominik Engel from the Center for Secure Energy Informatics are happy to receive the Best Paper Award of the DACH+ Energy Informatics Conference. © HES-SO Valais-Wallis

Researchers from the Center for Secure Energy Informatics (CSE) at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences have collected two awards at this year’s DACH+ Energy Informatics. This year, the conference took place online for the first time.

Günther Eibl and Dominik Engel from the CSE received the Best Paper Award for their Paper Comparison of approaches for intrusion detection in substations using the IEC 60870-5-104 protocol in cooperation with Michael Egger from the Austrian Power Grid AG.

The award-winning paper on intrusion detection in the smart grid analyzes different machine learning based methods for anomaly detection. The aim is to avoid cyber attacks on smart grids that could lead to possible power failures.

The “Madness Award” in the category best choreography went to Judith Schwarzer, also from the CSE, for her poster presentation on “Agent-based Modeling of Consumer Participation in Demand Response Programs with the Consumat Framework”, which is well worth seeing. Click here for the video

About DACH+ Energy Informatics

The conference series is a joint initiative of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy.

The objective of the DACH+ conference series on Energy Informatics is to promote the research, development and implementation of information and communication technologies in the energy domain and to foster the exchange between academia, industry, and service providers in the German-Austrian-Swiss region and its neighbouring countries (DACH+).

https://energy-informatics2020.ch/

The award-winning paper on intrusion detection is available Open Access.
  • [PDF] [DOI] M. Egger, G. Eibl, and D. Engel, “Comparison of Approaches for Intrusion Detection in Substations using the IEC 60870-5-104 Protocol,” Energy Informatics, vol. 3, p. 1–17, 2020.
    [Bibtex]
    @article{Egger20a,
    author = {Egger, Michael and Eibl, G{\"{u}}nther and Engel, Dominik},
    doi = {10.1186/s42162-020-00118-4},
    journal = {Energy Informatics},
    pages = {1--17},
    publisher = {Springer},
    title = {{Comparison of Approaches for Intrusion Detection in Substations using the IEC 60870-5-104 Protocol}},
    volume = {3},
    year = {2020},
    pdf={https://www.en-trust.at/papers/Egger20a.pdf},
    }

Houska Prize 2020: Center for Secure Energy Informatics receives recognition award

The Center for Secure Energy Informatics (CSE) under the direction of Dominik Engel was honored at the Houska Prize 2020 award ceremony for its outstanding work.

Houska Preisverliehung Team CSE
Mariella Schurz, General Secretary of the B&C Private Foundation, Nicole Siebenhandl, Christian Neureiter, Dominik Engel, Günther Eibl and Judith Schwarzer from the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences and Erich Hampel, Chairman of the B&C Private Foundation (from left to right) at the award ceremony, which took place under the strictest corona protection measures (e.g. negative corona test). Photo: B&C/Alexandra Thomson

Austria’s best research projects were awarded the renowned Houska Prize of the B&C Private Foundation on September 24, 2020. From a total of 60 submissions, top-class experts selected the winners in the categories “University Research” and “Research & Development in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises” in a two-stage process.

Top-level research at the Center for Secure Energy Informatics

The project “Secure data protection-oriented IT architectures for future energy systems” of the Center for Secure Energy Informatics received a recognition award in the category university research.

The central subject of the project is the security and data protection of power grids. The challenge here is to harmonize data protection and IT security with the functional requirements of digital energy systems. Until now, this has not been possible with conventional IT systems. The team under the leadership of FH-Prof. Priv.-Doz. DI Mag. Dr. Dominik Engel (Salzburg University of Applied Sciences) has developed a completely new, holistic and systemic view of all interactions between providers, consumers and society. The findings of the in-depth analyses in combination with applied cryptography (data encryption) resulted in a software toolbox for industrial partners, which enables a modern and secure use of smart energy systems.

“The recognition award is a great confirmation of our research work. We are very pleased!”

Dominik Engel


With a total prize money of € 500,000, the Houska Prize is Austria’s largest private award for application-oriented research.

Video about the research project
“Secure data protection-oriented IT architectures for future energy systems”
Center for Secure Energy Informatics
(in German)

Houska Prize 2020: Center for Secure Energy Informatics nominated

A research project of the Center for Secure Energy Informatics is nominated for the renowned Houska Prize. © Gregor Hofbauer

A total of 500,000 euros will be awarded by the B&C Private Foundation for top research from Austria. Among the nominees for Austria’s largest private research award is a research project of the Centre for Secure Energy Informatics (CSE) at the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg, under the direction of Dominik Engel.

This year, the B&C Private Foundation is awarding the coveted research award for the 15th time. In a two-stage process, top-class, internationally recognised experts nominated five research projects each in the categories “University Research” and “Research & Development in SMEs” for the Houska Prize 2020, which is endowed with 500,000 euros. The winners will be presented at a festive gala in Vienna.

CSE nominated in the category “University Research

Security and data protection of power grids are the central focus of the project “Secure Privacy- Aware-IT-Architectures for Future Energy Systems”. The challenge here is to harmonize data protection and IT security with the functional requirements of digital energy systems. Until now, this has not been possible with conventional IT systems. The team of the Center for Secure Energy Informatics under the direction of FH Prof. Priv.- Doz. DI Mag. Dr. Dominik Engel at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences has developed a completely new, holistic and systemic view of all interactions between suppliers, consumers and society. The findings of the in-depth analyses in combination with applied cryptography (data encryption) resulted in a software toolbox for industrial partners that enables modern and secure use of smart energy systems. Dominik Engel about the nomination: “We are very pleased about this great confirmation of our research work. The nomination for the award alone, the ‘Oscar of applied research’, is a great honour.”

500,000 euros in prize money for application-oriented research

Submissions for the Houska Prize 2020 come from a wide range of scientific disciplines, such as materials science, medicine, IT and multimedia, as well as applied physics and chemistry. High-ranking advisory boards and a renowned jury selected the five nominated projects per category in a two-stage process. They will be chosen during a anniversary gala on 23 April 2020 in Vienna. [Note: The gala will be postponed due to the Corona virus]

The first-place winners will receive prize money of 150,000 euros each. In addition, a 2nd and 3rd place will be awarded for each category: The runners-up will each receive 60,000 euros, while the third-placed will be determined by the audience during the awards ceremony by means of live voting and will each receive 20,000 euros. The remaining nominees will receive prize money of 10,000 euros each.

About the Houska Prize

The research promotion prize was established in 2005 by the B&C Private Foundation and has since become a fixed point in the domestic research landscape. With this award, the B&C Private Foundation is committed to improving the financial basis for innovation and research in Austria and to sustainably strengthen Austria as a business location. The B&C Private Foundation has been awarding the Houska Prize since 2006. With an endowment of 500,000 euros, it is Austria’s largest prize for applied research. The foundation is committed to fairness of opportunity in education and to the development of the general economic competence of Austrians from childhood onwards.

About the B&C Private Foundation: www.bcprivatstiftung.at

Fabian Knirsch receives scientific award by Austrian Labour Chamber

Senior Researcher Fabian Knirsch was awarded the AK Science Prize for his dissertation.

For the 7th time the Austrian Labour Chamber (AK) Salzburg has announced a science prize. Submissions could be made on topics that are important for the interests of employees. The juries consisting of representatives of the universities in the federal state awarded the best work of 20 young women and men in 4 categories as well as a promotional prize. The awards were presented on 17 December at the Parkhotel Brunauer.

According to the motto “Justice must be”, the Chamber of Labour has been supporting young people and their scientific work in social, economic, professional and cultural subject areas since 2013. Important: The work must be thematically relevant to the interests of employees. “Motivated, curious but also critical scientists are of enormous importance for the development and future of a society. Therefore I would like to thank all students who submitted their work and enrich our society with their research topics”, says AK Deputy Director Cornelia Schmidjell.

The AK Science Prize is awarded in two categories

The category “live & work 4.0” honours works in the fields of technology & design, natural & engineering sciences. CSE researcher DI Dr. Fabian Knirsch received the prestigious award for his dissertation on “Privacy-enhancing Technologies in the Smart Grid User Domain” at the University of Salzburg, Department of Computer Science. A total of four works were selected in this category, the winners each receive 1,250 Euro.

In the category “living & working with equal opportunities”, a total of five works were selected. The prize winners will each receive 1,000 euros.

Andreas Unterweger receives Christian-Doppler-Prize

State Councillor Andrea Klambauer awarded the Christian-Doppler-Prize 2019 in the category “Application of the Doppler Principle, Technical Sciences, Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics” to Andreas Unterweger for his outstanding scientific work. Photo: FH Salzburg/Siebenhandl

FH-Prof. Dr. Andreas Unterweger was awarded the renowned state prize for his excellent scientific work in the energy sector.

On 13 December the award was presented in the Christian Doppler lecture hall of the University of Salzburg. Andreas Unterweger, research associate at the Center for Secure Energy Informatics and senior lecturer in Information Technology & Systems Management at Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, received the award in the category “Application of the Doppler Principle, Technical Sciences, Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics”.

Andreas Unterweger’s award-winning research deals with the topic of energy data compression in intelligent power grids. By 2020, most households will have smart meters at their disposal. Data will then no longer be transmitted once a year, but every 15 minutes. However, the power grid is not designed for such enormous data volumes of around 1 terabyte per year – around 500 million book pages. Unterweger has developed a practical process that reduces this amount of data to a tenth and is hardly more complex than data transmission without compression.

At the award ceremony, Andrea Klambauer, State Councillor for Science, expressed her satisfaction with the high standard of the research work and the commitment of the scientists to the natural sciences. “This year great research work was submitted. The prize is a tribute to this outstanding achievement and an incentive to further intensify it,” said Klambauer.

About the Christian-Doppler-Prize

With the Christian-Doppler-Prize, the province of Salzburg honours outstanding scientific work, developments and inventions in the field of natural sciences. The prize is awarded every two years by the Salzburg State Government in cooperation with the Christian Doppler Fund.

Read the award-winning paper:

  • [PDF] [DOI] A. Unterweger and D. Engel, “Resumable Load Data Compression in Smart Grids,” IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, vol. 6, iss. 2, p. 919–929, 2015.
    [Bibtex]
    @Article{Unterweger15a,
    author = {Andreas Unterweger and Dominik Engel},
    title = {Resumable Load Data Compression in Smart Grids},
    journal = {IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid},
    year = {2015},
    volume = {6},
    number = {2},
    pages = {919--929},
    month = {March},
    doi = {10.1109/TSG.2014.2364686},
    pdf = {http://www.en-trust.at/papers/Unterweger15a.pdf},
    publisher = {{IEEE}},
    url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TSG.2014.2364686},
    }