site.btaINSAIT Scientists Receive Award for Best Scientific Paper at Chicago Conference 

Scientists from INSAIT, Sofia University's Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology, in collaboration with ETH Zurich and Princeton, received the award for the best scientific paper at the 2024 FOCS Conference, which took place in Chicago, USA on the last week of October. 

The forum is in the top three in the world in the field of algorithms and attracts the international attention of researchers in informatics, mathematics and artificial intelligence. The authors from the Bulgarian scientific organization were awarded among over 130 accepted scientific works by leading scientists from all over the world, the press centre of the Ministry of Education and Science said.

Their paper uncovers surprising new possibilities for the nearly 70-year-old classic Dijkstra's algorithm, taught in every introductory algorithm course and the basis of some of the world's most widely used programs like GPS applications, route planners, and more. The paper presented a new mechanism by which the algorithm can be used to compute the most direct route optimally as quickly as possible, given any graph task (e.g., logistics, crisis response), without even a minimal deviation. 

Their scientific work is defined as a breakthrough in the work of algorithms in general, which in the coming years could change many areas of human life that are related to routing, from logistics and crisis response to choosing the most direct route home.

INSAIT researchers Bernhard Heupler, Richard Hladík, Vaclav Rozhon, Jakub Tetek, together with Turing Award Winner Robert Tarjan, developed the article, which caused significant interest in a number of specialized publications in the field of artificial intelligence and informatics. 

INSAIT, the Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology in Sofia, Bulgaria, is the first in Eastern Europe to offer world-class working conditions that match those of leading Western universities and institutes. The institute is structured as a special unit of Sofia University and was created in partnership with the Swiss ETH Zurich and EPFL, two of the best technological universities in the world. Leading scientists from top American, European and Israeli universities and research laboratories lead and advise the institute. INSAIT's main focus is on scientific excellence: world-class research, attracting international scientists with outstanding achievements, training the next generation of students and technological leaders.