Founded in 1949, Fraunhofer has evolved into the largest organization for applied research in Europe with more than 66 institutes and research units throughout Germany. It is engaged in a number of international activities and has representative offices in Europe, the U.S., Asia, and South America.
Fraunhofer undertakes applied research that drives economic development and serves the wider benefit of society. The Fraunhofer Institutes help to reinforce the competitive strength of the economy in their local region, and throughout Germany and Europe. They carry out research in hundreds of technology fields and make the results available as patents, licenses, and particularly in the form of research projects commissioned by industry.
Customers and contractual partners are: Industry, Service sector and Public administration
Fraunhofer promotes innovation, accelerates technological progress, disseminates knowledge and helps to train the urgently needed future generation of scientists and engineers.
Research Activities
The organization’s research focuses on the needs of people in the areas of:
> Health and Environment
> Security and Protection
> Mobility and Transportation
> Energy and Resources
> Production and Supply of Services
> Communication and Information
International Cooperation
The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft engages in a number of international activities and therefore has research centres, representative offices and senior advisors in the world’s major economic regions:
> Fraunhofer Brussels office
> Fraunhofer subsidiaries in the United States, Austria, Portugal, Italy, United Kingdom, Sweden and Chile
> Fraunhofer project centres in Brazil, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Australia
> Representative offices in Brazil, Japan, China, Indonesia and Korea
> Fraunhofer senior advisors in India, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and South Africa
In addition, Fraunhofer participates in international networks and organisations like the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM), the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO), the Global Research Alliance (GRA) and the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations (WAITRO).
Staff and Budget
The majority of the nearly 24,000 staff members are qualified scientists and engineers, who work with an annual research budget of €2 billion. Of this sum, more than €1.7 billion is generated through contract research. More than 70 percent of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s contract research revenue is derived from contracts with industry and from publicly financed research projects. Only 30 percent is contributed by the German federal and Länder governments in the form of institutional funding.
