The vgbe/VÖU Expert Event “River Management and Ecology” took place on 22 and 23 June 2023 in the new BOKU Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory in Vienna. This unique hydraulic engineering laboratory of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences on the Danube was officially opened only a few days before our event. We thank Prof. Dr. Habersack, the initiator, project leader and head of the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and River Research (IWA) for the opportunity to hold this year’s vgbe Expert Event in this new building.
The event was opened by Dr. Mario Bachhiesl, Head of Renewables and Distributed Generation, Health and Safety at vgbe energy e.V. and Martin Schönberg, Managing Director at VÖU and Environmental Project Manager at VUM.
The topics were varied and ranged from legislative and political frameworks,practical implementation and research at the Christian Doppler laboratory in Vienna.
Prof. Dr. Habersack personally guided the event participants through the impressive laboratory on the Danube in the afternoon of the first day. Among other things, it was impressively shown how up to 10 cubic metres of water per second can be channelled through a canal in the basement of the laboratory between the Danube and the Danube Canal. This makes it possible for the first time for the laboratory to carry out model experiments on a full scale.
After the event could only take place as a web conference in the past years due to the pandemic, the response from speakers and participants was very positive. In addition to the on-site participants, many online participants were also connected.
vgbe events, such as this one, offer participants an ideal platform for professional discussions following the presentations and on the sidelines of the event as well as at the get-together in the evening. This provides the opportunity to expand and refresh existing contacts as well as to establish new relationships.
This vgbe Expert Event showed that the upcoming river management, ecology and hydropower issues can only be overcome together with all parties involved, i.e., manufacturers, operators, scientists, politicians and consumers. For the solution of these problems and in coping with these tasks, vgbe offers a technology-open framework, which was again optimally used at the Expert Event in Vienna in the new BOKU Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory.
The vgbe organisation team would like to thank all speakers and participants who contributed to the successful outcome of the Expert Event.
The next vgbe Expert Event “River Management and Ecology” is planned for spring 2024. Information on this will be announced in good time on the vgbe event platform.
