At the General Assembly 2018 of the Austrian Tribological Society, Prof. Friedrich Franek, long-standing ÖTG President, announced on the occasion of the then upcoming election of the new Executive Board that he would “only be available for the next year for the function of President”, as his intensive support of the ÖTG’s concerns had already begun with the opening of an ÖTG office in Vienna’s Argentinierstraße in 1981 – at that time managed for several years – and then in his function as ÖTG Secretary General from 1983. In 1986 he took over the office of ÖTG chairman from his “tribological trainer”, the ÖTG founding president O. Univ. Prof. DI Dr. Helmut Detter.
After reaching the age of 70, after a third of a century in the aforementioned function and after several 1000 hours of voluntary work, it seemed “fittingly and appropriate to place the responsibility for the association in younger hands”, as he said. As a consequence, he proposed at the recently held ÖTG General Assembly 2019 (20 Nov. 2019, Dornbirn) to elect his long-time “comrade-in-arms” in tribological matters, Prof. DI Dr. Andreas Pauschitz, as ÖTG chairman (president). The General Assembly unanimously accepted this proposal and Andreas Pauschitz accepted this election.
At the ÖTG General Assembly 2019, Prof. Franek expressed his sincere thanks for so many years of trust and support, which he received from many friends and colleagues as well as from the ÖTG members and the ÖTG secretariat. Prof. Franek: “I can hand over the ÖTG in an orderly and economically sound manner and am grateful to have experienced that tribology – not least thanks to the activities of the Austrian Centre of Excellence for Tribology in Wiener Neustadt – has seen a significant increase in public perception, not only in the area of “customers” or the economic target group (the relevant branches and companies), but also in politics and finally even in (university) education (at the Vienna University of Technology).
On the occasion of the ÖTG Symposium 2019 (21 Nov. 2019, Dornbirn) Prof. Franek introduced the newly formed ÖTG team and wished them the best success for their work in the interest of the ÖTG. With Prof. Andreas Pauschitz (mechanical engineering and business sciences) as president, the vice-presidents DI Dr. Nicole Dörr (polymer technology and technical chemistry) and university professor Dr.-Ing. Carsten Gachot (materials science, professorship tribology) as well as the secretary general DI Dr. Ewald Badisch (materials science), the ÖTG management consists of proven personalities well known in the tribological world. Prof. Franek will continue to be available to the ÖTG as a member of the board with advice (and certainly with some action).
We can therefore look for-ward to the future of the ÖTG with confidence, but also with a certain amount of excitement, and – without neglecting the necessary continuity – look forward to new accents and activities in the appearance of the Austrian Tribology Society.