Evaluation Talent Award 2024: Jakob Kofler honoured

The Austrian Council for Sciences, Technology, and Innovation (FORWIT) and the Austrian Platform for Research and Technology Policy Evaluation (fteval) are delighted to present this year’s Evaluation Talent Award to Jakob Kofler. The award recognises outstanding young talent in the field of evaluation, which contributes significantly to the further development of research policy and creates international attention for the talents in this field. The expert jury consists of experienced experts in research policy and its evaluation – including Council member Sonja Sheikh and Deputy Managing Director Alexandra Mazak-Huemer – as well as the award winners from previous years.

A creative mind for social transformation processes

Jakob Kofler, research associate at the Austrian Institute for SME Research, impresses with his wide-ranging expertise in research, technology and innovation policy.He is particularly interested in analysing social transformation processes and their political implications, which he examines using systems analysis approaches.
His interdisciplinary academic career, including a Master’s degree at University College London under Mariana Mazzucato, shapes his creative and flexible approach. Peter Kaufmann, Deputy Director of the Institute, emphasises: ‘Jakob uniquely combines all the skills needed for evaluation. He has a promising career ahead of him.’ Jakob plans to invest the prize money in AI-supported data analyses and participatory research methods in order to further develop evaluation practice.

Award ceremony at the REvaluation Conference 2024

The Evaluation Talent Award was launched in 2021 to mark the 25th anniversary of the fteval platform. This year’s award ceremony will take place at the REvaluation Conference – European Research and Innovation Policy Evaluation Conference – in December 2024. Jakob Kofler will present his work and have the opportunity to network with leading experts from academia and practice.