Haslhofer is entering the competition with the “CryptoFinance” project.
The Houska Prize is Austria’s largest privately-awarded prize fund for application driven-research. Now, the 15 nominated projects for 2024 have been announced, and one of them is from the Complexity Science Hub.
THE NOMINATED PROJECT
“In this project, we have effectively linked high-quality research with significant international economic implications. Consequently, I am particularly enthusiastic about our nomination for this year’s Houska Prize,” states Bernhard Haslhofer, who leads the research on Financial Technologies at CSH. In his project “CryptoFinance,” he and his team are working to provide a deep insight into the complexity of crypto asset ecosystems.
Cryptoassets have been revolutionizing the global financial landscape for over a decade, offering unprecedented opportunities but also bringing challenges like cybercrime. To make these complex systems more understandable, the research team has developed an innovative modeling approach. This approach allows for detailed and comprehensive analysis of transaction flows in systems like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The technical implementation is carried out on the open-source platform “GraphSense,” capable of efficiently processing billions of transactions.
The results of this research are now being professionally marketed and applied worldwide, contributing to a safer economic landscape both in Austria and internationally.
ABOUT THE HOUSKA PRIZE
The Houska Prize was established by the B&C Private Foundation in 2005 to promote economically relevant research and innovations. It honors the most outstanding domestic research projects every year.
With a total endowment of 750,000 euros, the Houska Prize of the B&C Private Foundation is the largest private award for applied research in Austria. This aims to strengthen Austria’s standing as a business location.
This year, there were a total of 73 submissions. Five projects each in the categories of “University Research,” “Non-University Research,” and “Research & Development in SMEs,” were nominated by an expert jury, competing for the domestic “Research Oscar.”
The coveted golden statue will be awarded during a ceremonial event on April 25, 2024, marking the 19th edition of the prestigious Houska prize.
