Over 180 invited guests enjoyed a pleasant evening at the JKU’s Festsaal, including club members, partners, Rectorate representatives, government representatives, and leading figures in the business community.

Florian Mayer, managing director of the JKU’s Alumni Club, remarked: "I am delighted to once again welcome so many alumni back to campus this year as part of our New Year's reception and spend an entertaining evening together. The JKU Alumni Club is all about keeping closely connected to the university and creating space for alumni to come together."

Andreas Janko, JKU Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, enjoyed the alumni evening, pointing out the value: "Countless graduates laid the foundation for their future careers here at the JKU. They are important ambassadors for our university and I was very pleased to see and meet past graduates at the JKU Alumni Club's traditional New Year's reception. I enjoy experiencing the different ways in which our graduates are contributing to society through their various professions. I would like to thank the JKU Alumni Club for all the important work it does to support our university and our graduate."

JKU Rector Stefan Koch also extended his compliments: "The JKU Alumni Club has always served as the hub to keep our graduates connected to their alma mater. Be it at events or continuing education programs, the Club plays a key role in creating a strong JKU network. I would like to thank the JKU Alumni Club and I wish Florian Mayer and his team a successful 2024."

Honorary President Gerhard Stürmer added to his welcoming remarks, emphasizing the JKU alumni community’s significance and the Club’s collaborative impact. He is extremely proud of the JKU Alumni Club’s growth since its inception almost a quarter of a century ago.

AI at the Crossroads of Art and Science
This year's reception also addressed the ever-present topic of "artificial intelligence" at the crossroads of science and art. Andreas Pfaffenberger, artist and puppeteer, and his A.I. puppet, provided a very entertaining take on the workings and challenges of AI. The guests also listened to "A Liadl, ans üwa KI" by the Linz cabaret artist Blonder Engel. The song stems from work conducted by researchers at the LIT Robopsychology Lab (LIT - Linz Institute of Technology) at the JKU, focusing on making AI more tangible and relatable.

Networking Opportunities Among Friends and Acquaintances
Over 180 guests attended this year's JKU Alumni Club event, including a number of university representatives, well-known guests from the business community, and those in government, such as State Councilor Markus Achleitner and Michael Lindner, former Governor Josef Pühringer, WKOÖ Vice-President Leo Jindrak, Upper Austrian military commander Brigadier Dieter Muhr, and businesswoman and honorary consul Ulrike Rabmer-Koller. During the course of the enjoyable evening, guests mingled and made new contacts, engaged in lively conversations, and enjoyed culinary specialties, including Kaiserschmarrn in the giant cast-iron pan. The guests enjoyed the jukeboxes and pinball machines, and listening to music that took them on a trip down ‘memory lane’, back to when the JKU was established.

About the JKU Alumni Club
The JKU Alumni Club is the JKU's alumni association, supporting a network of JKU alumni that consists of graduates and friends of the Johannes Kepler University Linz. Under the keywords Network - Career - Continuing Education - Knowledge, the association connects graduates with each other as well as to their alma mater, the business community, and the wider community. In addition to organizing countless events, meetings, tours, and seminars in support of continual education, the club also manages the JKU Career Center to assist alumni and students with job searches and applications. Currently, the JKU Alumni Club has well over 4,000 members from graduates in all majors and, in addition to Linz, also has local chapters in Vienna and Salzburg, as well as in several European countries, the USA, and in Asia. Verbund CEO Michael Strugl has been president of the club since 2022.