We are proud to announce that Digital Futures faculty member, researcher and Doctor of Science (Technology), Jan Kronqvist, at KTH Royal Institute of Technology has been awarded a prestigious €30,000 prize from the Ruth and Nils-Erik Stenbäck Foundation.
The award, presented through the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, recognizes outstanding scientific achievement and supports high-quality research across disciplines. Founded in 1838, the Society is an independent and academically rigorous institution that promotes freedom of research, fosters multidisciplinary dialogue, and contributes to the advancement of science through publications, conferences, and financial support.
“I am deeply honored to receive this recognition from the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters and Ruth och Nils-erik Stenbäck Foundation. This award is not only a personal milestone, but also a testament to the great efforts of mycollaborators and research group. For me this is a great motivation to continue advancing the boundaries and fundamental theory of optimization and its applications in artificial intelligence and machine learning,” says Jan Kronqvist.
Jan Kronqvist (b. 1989) is an internationally recognized leader in optimization and systems theory. Born in Finland and a native Swedish speaker, he earned his PhD with honours from Åbo Akademi University in 2018, where he also received the Faculty of Science and Engineering prize for the best doctoral thesis. His academic journey includes research visits at Carnegie Mellon University and a Newton International Fellowship from the Royal Society, supporting postdoctoral work at Imperial College London.
At KTH, Kronqvist leads a dynamic research group focusing on mixed-integer optimization, with particular emphasis on algorithm development, convex relaxations, and applications in artificial intelligence and machine learning. His work has driven significant advances in areas such as deep neural network optimization and mixed-integer clustering, with publications at leading venues including AAAI and NeurIPS.
Among his many distinctions, Kronqvist received the Howard Rosenbrock Prize in 2022 and a best paper award at CPAIOR 2021. He is also the founder of the open-source MINLP solver SHOT, which earned him the COIN-OR Cup. In 2024, he was elected to the Young Academy of Sweden.
This recognition from the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters and the Stenbäck Foundation highlights not only Kronqvist’s exceptional contributions to his field, but also the global impact of cutting-edge research within Digital Futures.
Full prize citation is available here
Read more in this article on KTH website: KTH mathematician Jan Kronqvist is awarded the Ruth and Nils Erik Stenbäck Foundation Prize.
