Clean water, the elimination of space debris, new methods for medical endoscopy, and more powerful lasers – once again innovative theses with a special connection to applied photonics were honored with the Applied Photonics Award, the young researcher award by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF. The award was presented to the four prize winners on September 29 virtually by Nobel Prize winner Reinhard Genzel as part of the Photonics Days Jena.