Press Releases

Nov 05, 2012: Fraunhofer institutes took home a total of four awards from this year’s European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC). At the awards ceremony held on the 25th of Ocotber in Munich, the Bavarian Regional Prize went to the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, while the Project Center of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML in Prien was awarded the HPI Special Prize. In addition to winning its region, Fraunhofer Portugal was also named overall winner.

Oct 16, 2012: Enzymes remove spots from our laundry, whiten paper and help with brewing beer. To wit: They facilitate many industrial processes. In many cases, enzymes are obtained from fruits. However, if the harvest is poor, this might lead to shortfalls. Researchers therefore designed a process to produce enzymes microbiologically. A multifunctional facility now opening in Leuna should help with adapting these new processes to an industrial scale.

Oct 16, 2012: Oil-independence is the dream of many countries that lack raw materials. Nevertheless, black gold still retains its dominant role as a power source, and also serves as a basic material for the chemical industry. In order to change this, researchers started the “Integrated BioProduction” project. At the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP in Leuna, the pilot plant-scale production of epoxides, made from domestic vegetable oils, begins in October. The intermediate chemical products support the production of lubricants, surfactants and emulsifiers.

Oct 10, 2012: An achievement for the solar experts: Dr. Andreas Bett of Fraunhofer ISE and Hansjörg Lerchenmüller of the Soitec Company received the 2012 DBU German Environmental Award (DBU Deutscher Umweltpreis). Federal President Joachim Gauck will honor them with this distinction on October 28, in recognition of the development and industrial application of concentrator photovoltaic systems.

Oct 01, 2012: Today, October 1, 2012, Professor Reimund Neugebauer takes office as Fraunhofer President at its headquarters in Munich. He is now in charge of Europe’s largest organization for applied research, with more than 20,000 employees. The Senate of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft elected him in May.

Aug 21, 2012: Dr. Sabine Brunswicker has been intrigued by new innovation models and, in particular, the subject of „Open Innovation“ for a long time. Together with the publisher John Wiley & Sons, now the prestigious International Society for Professional Innovation Management, ISPIM, awarded the doctoral dissertation of the engineer with its „Best Dissertation Award“.

Jul 11, 2012: Three leading solar research institutes: the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NREL (USA), Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE (Germany) and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology AIST (Japan) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form the Global Alliance of Solar Energy Research Institutes GA-SERI.

Jul 09, 2012: GoalRef reliably determines whether or not the whole ball has passed the goal line. Goal or no goal? In response to this question, world football association FIFA wants to use technical assistance in the future. In its meeting of Thursday 5th July 2012 the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body which determines the laws of the game, approved both goal-line technologies GoalRef and Hawk-Eye.This approval is subject to a final installation test at each stadium before the systems can be used in “real” football matches, in accordance with the FIFA Quality Programme for GLT.

July 7, 2012: During a visit of the President of the National Institute for Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the biggest public research organization of Japan, in Stuttgart on the 6th of July AIST and Fraunhofer concluded a memorandum of understanding on comprehensive research cooperation (MOU). The intensified research cooperation will contribute to the enhancement of international competitiveness and the advancement of industrial science and technology in Germany and Japan.

May 10, 2012: At its meeting on May 8, 2012, the Senate of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft elected Prof. Dr.-Ing. Reimund Neugebauer as the Institute‘s next president. In October, he will succeed Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Bullinger, who has stood at the helm of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft for the past ten years.

May 08, 2012: The semiconductor industry is faced with the challenge of supplying ever faster and more powerful chips. The Next-Generation Lithography with EUV radiation will help meeting that challenge. Fraunhofer researchers have developed key components.

May 08, 2012: These coatings offer protection against rust, scratches and moisture and improve adhesion: Surfaces with a nano coating. A new plasma process enables these coatings to be applied more easily and cost-efficiently – on an industrial scale.

May 08, 2012: The shorter the pulse duration, the more precisely the laser tool operates. Ultra-short laser pulses of outstanding high average püower are opening the doors to new applications in high throughput materials processing. Thanks to the short pulse duration, thermal damage of the material being processed is minimized.

May 08, 2012: Running nicely – this applies even more to aqueous biopolymer solutions than to oil. These solutions are used as a cooling lubricant for machining hard metals and for tool-making machinery on which tools are manufactured.

May 08, 2012: Is a contact wire missing or is it faulty? What‘s the situation in front of the entrance to a railway station or a tunnel? A 3D laser scanner can increase the train‘s safety and reliability.

May 08, 2012: The following have received Hugo-Geiger awards: Sven Rademacher in recognition of a mobile measuring device for emission monitoring (1st prize), Harry Kummer for his new heat exchanger coating system (2nd prize) and Anna Marie Kruspe for her automated world music classification process (3rd prize).

Apr 18, 2012: Cities consume energy and raw materials, produce waste and pollutants, and overload their transportation systems. Fraunhofer researchers have now combined forces in the innovation network German for “Morgenstadt” (or “City of Tomorrow”), in order to engineer innovative urban technologies and systems.

Jan 27, 2012: The Munich-based producer of professional motion picture equipment ARRI and the Freiburg Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques have been awarded the “Academy Award of Merit” by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for their jointly developed ARRILASER film recorder. The Oscar statuettes will be presented on February 11 in Beverly Hills.