The 2006 award winner is one of those who ideally meet the guidelines laid down by Wilhelm Exner, namely to achieve economic progress through scientific innovation. Among other things, Frequentis, the high-tech company headed by Bardach, developed a fully digital, fault-tolerant voice switching system for air traffic control, which went into operation in 1992 as the first system of its kind in the world.
This also laid the foundation for market leadership in this field. The successful air traffic control system was expanded by a change in the application software, which also made it possible to use it for air defense systems, police, rescue, fire departments, coastal radio stations and railroads. Last year, for example, Frequentis equipped the Metropolitan Police Service, which is part of Scotland Yard, with a command and communications system ranging from voice radio to video surveillance. At Frequentis, about 70 percent of the employees are engineers and radio software specialists, who have also been cooperating closely with the Vienna University of Technology for years. The Vienna University of Technology is the university where Bardach studied industrial electronics and control engineering as well as computer engineering between 1970 and 1976, after which he completed further training at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.
From 1977 onwards, Bardach worked as an assistant at the Institute for Computer Technology and as a consultant. In 1979, he founded CDS-Computer und Datensysteme GmbH, whose shares he transferred to his partner in 1989. In 1983, he took over the management and turnaround management of Frequentis. Through technical innovation, Bardach was able to turn the company into the world market leader in the air traffic control systems sector, increasing sales from the original 3.3 million euros to 108 million euros and the number of employees from 36 to 621. The scientist and entrepreneur Hannes Bardach has received many awards, including an honorary doctorate from the Vienna University of Technology in 2006, he was Entrepreneur of the Year in 1997 and received the Golden Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria, was awarded the Austrian Export Prize and the Kaplan Medal in 1998. He was awarded the title of Kommerzialrat in 2003.