From September 22 to 27, the 33rd Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT) took place in Dublin, Ireland, during which the SOFT Innovation Prizes for 2024 were awarded. For the first time in history, Slovenian researchers received this prestigious award. The Fusion Materials Research Group from the Department for Nanostructured Materials at the Jožef Stefan Institute was recognized for their development of materials for the divertor, the thermally most loaded part of future fusion reactors. The prizes, funded by the EU’s Euratom program, are awarded for ground breaking projects, which accelerate fusion research and promote collaboration between researchers and industry.
1st Prize (€50,000): Petra Jenuš, Jožef Stefan Institute, Slovenia
2nd Prize (€30,000): Alexander Feichtmayer, Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Germany
3rd Prize (€20,000): Stephane Gazzotti, CEA IRFM, MATISEC, France