Research partners and networks

With its lighthouse projects, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft sets strategic priorities in pre-competitive research. By pooling their expertise and involving industrial partners at an early stage, the Fraunhofer Institutes involved in the projects aim to turn original scientific ideas into marketable products as quickly as possible.

Institutes or departments of institutes organize themselves in thematic networks with concentration on a scientific-technological research topic.

The performance center organizes the close cooperation of university and non-university research with industry and aims to promote knowledge and technology transfer, especially in SMEs. Strategically relevant research focal points are focused with players in production, materials and lightweight construction research as well as electronics technology. 

The German-Polish Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft High-Performance Center is researching new technologies for the use of 3D printing processes, known as additive manufacturing technology, in medical technology. 

The Fraunhofer Group for Light & Surfaces combines six Fraunhofer institutes that cooperate in the fields of lasers, optics, metrology and coating technology. 

Alliances are instruments that Fraunhofer uses to address industries that are key to Germany’s and Europe’s power of innovation.  As a partner of automotive manufacturers and their suppliers, equipment suppliers and service providers, the Fraunhofer autoMOBILE Production Alliance has been supporting research and development for the optimization of production processes since 2010.

The Battery Alliance is concerned with both primary and secondary (rechargeable) systems, from small-scale applications such as button cells to large stationary systems such as redox-flow batteries.

In the Fraunhofer Space Alliance, the institutes pool their technological expertise in order to provide the industry and funding agencies such as the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission with a central contact.

The 15 Fraunhofer institutes, 8 Leibniz research museums and 5 main institutions of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation united in the alliance strive for a lively exchange of experience. In particular, the development of innovative restoration and conservation techniques is to be advanced within the framework of joint research projects.