This press release is also available in German.
"There are many reasons why Fraunhofer should go to Korea," states Fraunhofer president Hans-Jörg Bullinger. "The purely human factors, for a start: We have a lot in common with the Koreans. Like the Germans, they are industrious, single-minded achievers. They live in a divided country – as we did for many decades. Korea is also the ideal location for a research organization like Fraunhofer: The economy is growing steadily by about five percent a year. The state annually invests 2.9 percent of the gross domestic product in research and development. And, last but not least, Korea has a more than average quota of well-trained and highly motivated engineers."
The Koreans, adds the Fraunhofer president, possess valuable know-how and are therefore the ideal research partners: "We complement one another in numerous areas, for instance in flat-screen technology, microelectronics, communication technology and mechanical engineering."
Scientists and engineers from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft have been closely cooperating with Korean research establishments and industrial companies for several years already. The Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems FOKUS in Berlin, for example, has a cooperative agreement with Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology – the think tank of the Samsung corporation. The members of the German/Korean team are working together to devise technologies for markets beyond tomorrow – examples being 4th-generation mobile radio and "smart homes".
The Fraunhofer researchers are being welcomed to Korea with open arms, reports Joohwan Kim, director of the new Fraunhofer Representative Office in Seoul: "There is a tremendous demand particularly in IT, renewable energy technology, and in energy management sectors."
Quite a number of agreements on joint research projects have been signed in recent months, including one between the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and the city of Seoul. Another planned strategic cooperation will take place between Sunic System, a leading Korean producer of vacuum deposition equipment for organic materials, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS in Dresden. The partners intend to enhance the technology used in the production of organic light-emitting diodes – OLEDS – and organic solar cells. "If we are to capture a large segment of the market for OLED lighting systems, we first need to improve the currently available production facilities in terms of both output and costs," explains Ines Schedwill of IPMS. "The pilot plant that is currently being set up at our institute will enable us to increase throughput rates for vacuum coating and to optimize material consumption."
"Our involvement in Korea is part of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's international strategy," declares its president Hans-Jörg Bullinger: "We must establish a strong presence abroad and gather experience in order to be able to advise our German customers who are, or would like to become, global players themselves. Korea is an important partner to German industry, and that's why we want to – and, indeed, must – establish a presence there."