diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index c74906704..1329e11ce 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 For a list of open issues and known problems, see:
 https://github.com/radical-cybertools/radical.saga/issues
 
-1.70.0 Release                                                        2024-09-03
+1.80.0 Release                                                        2024-09-03
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
   - maintenance release
@@ -1227,3 +1227,4 @@ Version 0.1.7 released 2011-11-09
 
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+  - (HEAD -> master, origin/devel, origin/HEAD, devel) devel version bump
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index df484cbb1..aaceec04e 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.71.0
+1.80.0
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 8f4359429..f9138d5f3 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 
-radical.utils~=1.70
+radical.utils~=1.80.0
 parse