This release is available in German.
Five research centers in the United States, representative offices in Brussels, Moscow, Seoul, Beijing, Dubai, Tokyo and Jakarta – Fraunhofer’s international presence knows no bounds. “The experience we gain internationally and our success achieved around the globe also benefit our partners in Germany,” states Professor Hans-Jörg Bullinger, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft: “They benefit from the know-how that the institutes, centers and representative offices have built up and from the relationships they have forged. These competences are essential at a time when more and more companies have an international footprint.”
Growing internationalization is paying dividends: The revenue Fraunhofer generates outside Germany continued to increase in 2007, totaling 125 million euros. The lion’s share comes from revenue associated with EU Commission projects, accounting for more than 55 million, plus another 43 million euros from business involving European partners. The United States generated 15 million euros, while 10 million euros came from Asia.
In 2007, Fraunhofer also initiated several joint research and development projects with renowned European research institutions – including Cambridge University in the UK. Links with the Carnot Institutes in France were also strengthened. Fraunhofer subsidiaries will soon be set up in Portugal and Austria. 2007 also saw Fraunhofer project and working groups collaborate with the Universities of Graz and Vienna in the fields of production planning and logistics. The Fraunhofer Center for Ambient Assisted Living is being set up in Porto – its mission is to develop ICT technologies to help the elderly or handicapped cope with daily life. And in the United States, too, Fraunhofer has close links with cutting-edge research institutions: the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation and Boston University have set up a strategic alliance in the field of medical engineering – the Fraunhofer Alliance for Medical Devices, Instrumentation and Diagnostics. The Alliance aims to provide the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft with access to the medical engineering cluster in and around Boston. Recently, the Fraunhofer executive board approved another collaborative venture: The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE will in future collaborate in the field of renew-able energy with MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by setting up a “Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems”.
(Further information can be found in the press release “Fraunhofer and MIT establish research center for renewable energy”).