Finding new paths, combining different perspectives and questioning supposed boundaries: with this goal in mind, 72 children and young people competed in the West Thuringia regional competition of "Jugend forscht" at TU Ilmenau on February 12, 2026. Under the motto "Maximum Perspective", the young talents aged between 10 and 21 presented their creative solutions, interdisciplinary approaches and visionary ideas for the future in both the "Jugend forscht Junior" and "Jugend forscht" competitions, under the patronage of the Federal President.
"By participating in the competition, young people develop independent research questions, design original solutions, engage in active exchange, work in teams and learn to question and evaluate information and gain new insights from it," said Dr. Jessica Bönsch, Managing Director of the Jugend forscht e. V. Foundation, at the start of this year's competition round.
In this way, Jugend forscht teaches creativity, communication, collaboration and critical thinking - key skills for the future in our increasingly complex world.
Addressing challenging everyday problems
The participants in the regional competition at the TU Ilmenau from secondary schools and grammar schools in Gotha, Günthersleben-Wechmar, Ilmenau, Neudietendorf, Ruhla and Saalfeld had spent weeks and in some cases months preparing intensively for this day. The projects in the fields of work, biology, chemistry, earth and space sciences, mathematics/computer science, physics and technology were correspondingly diverse and challenging. Most of them were directly linked to everyday questions and experiences: Does an ambulance make people ill? How can the cleanliness of escalator handrails be improved? And what impact does climate change have on the spread of the TBE virus caused by ticks in Germany?
Other projects included the optimization of lactose detection using electronic parameters, the requirements for a vertical wind turbine in a solar-based microgrid and the question of how location influences the entry into insect hotels.
Levi, Sebastian and Noah from the Goetheschule Ilmenau were among the particularly successful research teams who addressed a problem in the world of work. They tackled a problem that many people know from their own experience: Long waiting times for the evaluation of X-ray images due to staff shortages in doctors' surgeries and hospitals. Together, they developed an AI-supported system for automatically analyzing X-ray images. It is intended to enable a pre-diagnosis and thus support radiologists in making a diagnosis more quickly. It has already been tested in a hospital. They and seven other teams were awarded first prize for this achievement and qualified for the state competition on April 1 in Jena.
Janina Leistritz, a 12spez pupil from the Goethe School in Ilmenau, was also delighted to be forwarded to the state competition. Juror Dr. Tom Ströhla, senior assistant at the Group of Mechatronics at TU Ilmenau:
The work on the modelling, construction and characterization of a low-cost tripod demonstrator that you submitted is of outstanding quality and is based on a very broad, interdisciplinary approach, as we also pursue here at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.
It was therefore not only awarded the special prize of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, but also won the regional prize for the best interdisciplinary project, donated by the TU Ilmenau, the Universitätsgesellschaft Ilmenau - Freunde, Förderer, Alumni e. V. and LINDIG Fördertechnik GmbH.
"Spaces to try things out and think ahead"
TU Ilmenau, the university society and LINDIG Fördertechnik GmbH have been involved in the regional competition as sponsoring companies since 2013. Heiko Röscher from LINDIG Fördertechnik was also impressed by the commitment and innovative spirit of the participants:
We support this event to encourage the courage of these young people and strengthen their innovations. I am very impressed by the level of developments that they have presented here as young people in the projects.
"Stay curious and keep researching!" is Röscher's plea, which also expressly applies to those who are not allowed to take part in the state competition this time: From the initial idea to the careful implementation of their projects to the presentation in front of the jury and the public, they gained valuable experience - also thanks to the detailed feedback from the numerous volunteer jurors: They strengthen their professional and personal skills and impressively demonstrate their commitment and enthusiasm for science and research, says coordinator Jenny Gramsch from TU Ilmenau:
'For me, Jugend forscht is a real highlight every year because you experience first-hand how much curiosity, creativity and perseverance young people bring to their own research questions. It is impressive to see the technical depth and independence with which the projects are developed - a quality that also impressed the jury. This enthusiasm and spirit of research show the enormous potential of our pupils and how important it is to give them room to try things out and think ahead at an early age.
Impressions of the Jugend forscht 2026 competition
