New FORWIT chair team
With effect from 1 April 2026, Council member Theresia Vogel will assume the role of Deputy Chair of the Council for Sciences, Technology and Innovation (FORWIT). She succeeds Sylvia Schwaag Serger, who is leaving the body after more than two years at FORWIT and, before that, eight years in its predecessor organisation, the Council for Research and Technology Development (RFTE). DI Theresia Vogel has many years of experience in Austria’s research and innovation landscape, including as former Managing Director of the Climate and Energy Fund.
“I would like to thank the Council assembly for its trust and I look forward to close cooperation in the Chair. Shaping a future-oriented research and innovation system requires joint effort – scientifically grounded, internationally connected and with an eye to social impact,” said Theresia Vogel.
In her parting remarks, Sylvia Schwaag Serger stressed: “Working with FORWIT, and before that with the RFTE, was an extraordinarily enriching experience for me. It has always been important to me to bring international perspectives and insights into Austrian research and innovation policy. I wish the Council every continued success in carrying out this important task.”
Thomas Henzinger, Chair of FORWIT, paid tribute to Schwaag Serger’s contribution and welcomed Vogel to the Chair team: “With Sylvia Schwaag Serger, we are losing a distinguished expert in international research policy and innovation systems, whose contribution to Austrian STI policy has been, and remains, of great value. On behalf of the entire Council assembly and the staff of the Secretariat, I would like to thank her for her commitment and wish her all the best. At the same time, I am looking forward to working with Theresia Vogel in the Chair team. FORWIT has already benefited from her experience as a strategist who combines innovation, technology and sustainability.”
About Theresia Vogel
DI Theresia Vogel is an independent expert and led the Climate and Energy Fund from 2010 to 2022. Before that, she worked as Head of Department at the FFG, as well as at the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt and TU Wien. Her current focus areas are innovation-driven, climate-compatible industrial transformation, and the sustainable design and climate change adaptation of urban spaces. She has been a member of the FORWIT Council assembly since November 2023. In 2025, she became a board member of the Forschungsstiftung Energiepark.
About Sylvia Schwaag Serger
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sylvia Schwaag Serger is a professor at the Department of Economic History and the Centre for Innovation Research at Lund University. Since October 2024, she has been President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA). The internationally renowned expert on innovation and transformation policy holds various roles for the Swedish Government, the European Commission and the OECD. From 2015 to 2023, she was a member, Deputy Chair and, most recently, Chair of the Council for Research and Technology Development (RFTE); since then, and until 31 March 2026, she has been Deputy Chair of its successor organisation, FORWIT.
