Distinction of Gabriele Zuna-Kratky and Georg Lamp

For the first time, I.M.Austria gave the IMA Award for outstanding achievements in the exhibition, event and congress sector to two persons: to Dr. Gabriele Zuna-Kratky, Managing Director of the Technical Museum of Vienna, and to Georg Lamp, Managing Director of Congress und Messe Innsbruck (COME). Mrs. Zuna-Kratky is the first woman ever decorated by I.M.Austria.

The solemn ceremony was held in the imperial rooms of the Vienna Hofburg on 7 October 2008 during the access 08, Austria's largest trade fair for conferences, meetings and incentives.

In her honorific speech, Christine Marek, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour, introduced Mrs Zuna-Kratky as a very determined woman who loves to accept new challenges, attaching great importance to good cooperation with all her employees.

Mrs Zuna-Kratky is not only very committed to the implementation of her goals, but also has great pleasure in dealing with people, which helped her in establishing many successful cooperations with artists and the industry, acquiring sponsors as well as increasing the number of visits to her museum to over 300,000 visitors annually. In addition, Mrs Zuna-Kratky is a member of the board of trustees at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Foundation Administrator in the Berlin Museum of Technology, Vice President of the ÖAMTC, a board member of ICOM (International Council of Museums), Councilor of the Technical University of Vienna, a member of the Council for Research and Technology Development and member of the supervisory board of Museumsquartier Vienna and Erste Bank.

Besides her wide professional commitment, in her leisure time she enjoys nature, is committed to the further development of the creative industries in Austria and is always ready to support women in combining business with family life - be it in the context of her job at the Technical Museum or within women's networks.

The other honoree, Georg Lamp, was honored in a speech full of verve by Christian Mutschlechner, managing director of the Vienna Convention Bureau and past president of ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association).

He pointed out that Mr. Lamp has been working for the Austrian and specifically the Tyrolean congress and exhibition industry for almost 3 decades and is continuously creating new projects for its further development. And all that with plenty of humor and dedication - whether for the unification of Messe und Congress Innsbruck under the common roof of COME, the integration of the Congress Park Igls, the construction of a cableway station on the site, the ongoing investment in technical upgrades of the buildings or the modification of Messe Innsbruck with an investment volume of nearly 26 million Euro.

Today Innsbruck is the second largest congress city of Austria. In the Congress und Messe Innsbruck itself, some 500 exhibition events with over 450,000 visitors are held annually.
For Georg Lamp, the IMA Award 2007 fits in a series of tributes: he received the Environmental Prize of the city of Innsbruck in 1997, the seal of "Golden Wheelchair" in 1998 and the medal of the Leopold Franzens University Innsbruck in 2003. Furthermore, he was decorated as “Tourism Entrepeneur of the Year 1999” and in 2001 the Congress Innsbruck was considered the best congress center in the world by the international congress organization AIPC.

At the following champagne reception at the IMA Info Point - the booth of I.M.Austria - the two honorees and the members of I.M.Austria as well as their partners and friends, State Secretary Christine Marek, Christian Mutschlechner and all attendees of the Award ceremony had once again the opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas and to socialize.

We congratulate our honorees Dr. Gabriele Zuna-Kratky and Georg Lamp on their successes and wish them continued good luck and energy for the implementation of their goals!