Two young startups from the TU Graz ecosystem were among the standout winners at the Innovation Award Styria 2026, underlining the region’s growing strength in turning academic research into commercially relevant innovation. At this year’s awards in Graz, the Styrian Business Promotion Agency (SFG) honored six projects in total across the fields of digitalization and sustainability, with arterioscope and Ecolyte taking the top spots in the categories for micro and small enterprises.
In the digitalization category, arterioscope was recognized for its project arterioscope.AI-ECG, a cloud-based medtech solution that uses artificial intelligence to derive non-invasive cardiovascular biomarkers from a standard 12-lead ECG. The goal is to make the early detection and monitoring of heart failure faster, more accessible and more efficient in everyday medical practice. According to brutkasten, the startup sees its technology to improve patient routing and reduce costs in the healthcare system.
In the sustainability category, Ecolyte impressed with a novel paper membrane technology for stationary energy storage. The startup is working in the European VanillaFlow project on AI-supported storage systems designed to replace critical raw materials, using vanillin derived from lignin from the paper industry as an energy-storage material in batteries. The company has already attracted international attention through support from the European Innovation Council and by winning the Innovation Radar Prize 2025.
Together, the two winners show how Styria’s innovation landscape is producing startups with both scientific depth and real market potential, spanning advanced health diagnostics on the one hand and cleaner energy technologies on the other. Five of the awarded projects are now set to be recommended by SFG for Austria’s national State Prize for Innovation 2026.
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