The 15th IEA Heat Pump Conference closed in Vienna, Austria, after four days of presentations, discussions and exchange among 812 participants. The closing session summarized the event, presented paper and pitch awards, acknowledged committee members and announced Denmark as the host country for the 16th IEA Heat Pump Conference in 2029.
The conference included 6 plenary lectures, 367 scientific and applied research contributions, 367 presentations across 78 chaired sessions, 10 workshops, 3 policy forums, 15 exhibitions and 6 technical site visits. A total of 317 reviewers completed 2,943 reviews. The proceedings are expected to be openly available in three months.
Five professionals also received the Peter Ritter von Rittinger International Heat Pump Award 2026 during the conference dinner. The awardees are Björn Palm of KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Thomas Nowak of Qvantum International, Graeme G. Maidment of London South Bank University, Choyu Watanabe of Zeneral Heatpump Industry Co., Ltd. / Nagoya University, and Renato Lazzarin of the University of Padua.
The award is described as the highest international honor in the heat pump, air conditioning and refrigeration sector. It recognizes contributions to international collaboration in research, policy, market development and applications of energy-efficient heat pumping technologies that strengthen energy resilience and deliver environmental benefits. Stephan Renz, Chair of the Executive Committee of the Technology Collaboration Programme on Heat Pumping Technologies under the International Energy Agency, presented the award.
The Best Pitch Presentation Award went to Austin Labuschagne, Tingting Zhu and Wilko Rohlfs of the University of Twente and RWTH Aachen for “Development and validation of micro-CT compatible experimental platform for frost formation studies.” The Best Scientific Paper Award went to Michel Bernier and Massimo Cimmino of Polytechnique Montréal, while the Best Applied Research Paper Award went to Nils Ahlbrink, Fredrik Dupont Holdt, Jonas Lundsted Poulsen and Benjamin Zuhlsdorf of Danish Technological Institute.
Benjamin Zuhlsdorf of Danish Technological Institute announced that the 16th IEA Heat Pump Conference will take place at the Bella Centre in Copenhagen in May/June 2029. The exact date will be defined and communicated later.
