Dr Batuhan Aktas wins RINA-QinetiQ 2026 Maritime Innovation Award

Dr Batuhan Aktas MRINA has won the 2026 RINA-QinetiQ Maritime Innovation Award. The award recognises his invention and the first commercial deployment of the Eco Boss Cap, a vessel-specific, CFD-optimised propeller boss cap retrofit designed to suppress hub vortex formation and improve propulsive efficiency. The device is now in service on four vessels, with owner-reported fuel savings of 3.1 to 4.0%. The award, presented annually by RINA in association with QinetiQ, was given at the RINA Annual Dinner in May 2026. Aktas is the chancellor’s fellow in future proof ship design at the University of Strathclyde and founder and chief executive of EcoNavis Solutions.

The rotating propeller hub sheds a concentrated vortex into the low-pressure region downstream of the boss, a rotational energy loss that is also a common source of