Conference chairs Dr. Sebastian Wurster and Dr. Uwe Schaller, supported by the program committee, curated a broad scientific program with presentations across 16 sessions and a poster session featuring around 60 contributions.

A particular focus of this year’s conference was “Munitions in the Sea,” a topic addressed in four dedicated sessions. Laura Wachter from Fraunhofer ICT was responsible for coordinating the contributions in this field.

The PEP Speaker Award was presented to Mathieu Daniel for his contribution on “Investigation of arene and heteroarene nitration supported by high-throughput experimentation and machine learning” and to Christopher Miller for “Hierarchical modeling of pressed high explosives: using microstructure-resolved mesoscale simulations to inform continuum reactive flow response”.

There were also two winners of The Best Poster Award, nameley Patrick Schnippering of the Franco-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis (ISL) for his “Study of the phase transition within crystals of 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazacyclooctane (HMX) using temperature-dependent Raman spectroscopy,” and Sebastian Knapp from Fraunhofer ICT for his work on the “Application of SHS-synthesized nanostructured boron particles in solid rocket propellants.”

This year’s Fraunhofer ICT Annual Conference was held jointly with the 49th seminar of the International Pyrotechnics Society (IPS), which addresses closely related topics. Helene Dehlinger (ISL) received the IPS Dr. Bernard E. Douda Young Scientist Award for her presentation on “Parameter modulation of energetic composites: first steps toward controllable detonation performance.”

Around a dozen international companies took the opportunity to present their products and services to experts from academia and industry at the Gartenhalle in Karlsruhe. The consensus among the exhibitors was that the Fraunhofer ICT Annual Conference was a very rewarding event, leading to fruitful discussions and offered excellent opportunities for exchange and networking. “It is an interesting congress, and we have made very good contacts here. There was a lot of traffic at out booth”, explained Marcel Stiegelmann of Propex Technologies.

Chairman Sebastian Wurster was delighted: “We have a record number of attendees, and more than 200 experts coming from 25 countries around the globe, so it’s safe to say that it’s a great success. We have a strong focus on European countries, but the United States and the Far East are also well represented in our energetic materials community. We also tried to make the conference more attractive for exhibitors, and our efforts have paid off: some amazing companies have attended, who can make a significant contribution to successful research.”

The 56th Annual Conference is scheduled to take place from June 29 to July 2, 2027, again at the Gartenhalle in Karlsruhe.