The orchid-growing software developer

He inherited his passion for technology from his father, a communications electronics engineer, and his enthusiasm for plants and nature from his grandfather. He combines both professionally: he works as a software developer at Frequentis and runs a very successful orchid farm together with his wife.

He is studying for a part-time Master's degree in Cloud Computing Engineering at Burgenland University of Applied Sciences. The choice of a technical education was a coincidence, as the then 14-year-old Thomas actually wanted to attend the horticultural school in Schönbrunn. When this didn't work out due to his parents not having a business, he began an apprenticeship as a communications electronics technician at Siemens. He worked there for 15 years in global back-level support. During this time, he completed a bachelor's degree in computer science on the side.

Thomas Ederer has been working as a software developer in the air traffic control sector at Frequentis since 2011. "I've always programmed since I was young and joined the development team at Frequentis via systems engineering." There he works on remote tower solutions and explains: "Some smaller airports don't have air traffic controllers on site. That's why there are technical solutions that allow air traffic controllers to manage several airports from a central location. We develop the software required for this."

He came across the Master's degree programme in Cloud Computing Engineering by chance.

Thomas Ederer's "plant-based track" developed in parallel. He has been interested in growing orchids since he was a teenager. The special thing: "With tropical orchids, you can't just scatter seeds and let them grow. They need a symbiotic fungus, which is not available here. So we simulate this fungus." Since orchid cultivation is a good market that used to make a lot of money in the past, there was hardly any documented knowledge about these processes. "I first tried out asymbiotic sowing with my Kosmos chemistry kit when I was 15 and started with household products (fertiliser, sugar, cake jelly). Unfortunately, the only thing that grew was mould because I didn't know how to work aseptically. As I had no access to further literature at the time, I had to put the project on ice with a heavy heart."

Years later, he came across a book that helped him to acquire the necessary knowledge. He has documented his expertise on his website. There has been a voluntary co-operation with the botanical garden in Vienna for a good 25 years, in which the seeds are provided by the botanical garden. The young plants grown from these seeds are returned to the botanical garden and the surplus is used to finance the cultivation. As the laboratory in which the orchid seedlings are grown grew steadily, Thomas Ederer's wife turned her husband's hobby into a one-person business in 2007 after her maternity leave and expanded it further.

Thomas Ederer also organises practical courses and lectures at schools and universities and has contributed to several books. The Ederer family's company focuses on species conservation. "We propagate some very endangered orchids, around 250 different species in total. By breeding them, we want to reduce imports from the wild a little."

He is currently working on a project with Forschung Burgenland. Clemens Gnauer and his team are involved in vertical farming. Thomas Ederer is in dialogue with the experts on the subject of light sources and optimal lighting and has developed an inexpensive measuring instrument for measuring the light spectrum.