Press / Newsroom

The official dedication of the new building on the Niederrad campus marks a fresh milestone in the research landscape of the state of Hesse, set by the Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology ITMP. Some 200 prominent representatives from government, the science and research sector, industry and the trades involved in the building project gathered for the opening celebration at the invitation of Gerd Geisslinger, executive director of Fraunhofer ITMP. The new research building will serve as a locus of expertise in translational medicine while strengthening Hesse as a hub of pharmaceutical and biotech activity.

Eleven Fraunhofer institutes will be showcasing their innovations at K, the world’s leading trade fair for plastics and rubber, to be held in Düsseldorf from October 8 through 15. These advances include everything from circular design and monomaterials to bio-based films and polyamides made from various production residues. Different material flows will be illustrated in tangible ways in an interactive miniature wonderland of the circular economy.

Erlangen, Germany / North Hollywood (CA), USA: The Fraunhofer-Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS is excited to announce that its moving picture technology experts receive the world-famous Emmy® Award for engineering, science and technology for its JPEG XS video codec. This forward-looking standard for professional video production pushes the boundaries of high-quality transmission over IP for a wide variety of applications in media and studio technology and streamlines real-time video processing in data centers.

A new generation of CAR T cell therapy is bringing hope in the fight against cancer, targeting not only blood cancers but also solid tumors such as ovarian and breast cancer. Fraunhofer researchers teamed up with the University Hospital of Würzburg to streamline the complicated process of manufacturing these therapies as well. This could make them much more available.

People being monitored for chronic kidney disease or heart failure often have high levels of potassium in their blood (hyperkalemia) due to impaired renal potassium excretion caused by kidney damage or by medications. But such medications interfere with urinary potassium excretion. This electrolyte imbalance can be life-threatening and thus must be closely monitored. In collaboration with French start-up Ki'tech, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Microengineering and Microsystems IMM want to revolutionize patient monitoring with a minimally invasive solution that measures biomarkers, including potassium, in the subcutaneous interstitial fluid.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT will be presenting a car that can hear at the IAA MOBILITY trade show in Munich. The researchers have developed a prototype that incorporates acoustic sensors into the vehicle technology, thereby enhancing safety and reliability on the road.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) have achieved groundbreaking results in generating arbitrary light distributions. These findings are also relevant to atomic quantum computing. Spatial light modulators can be used to hold a large number of atoms in desired positions at the same time via laser beam. Localized in this way, they become switchable information carriers for quantum computers or for other applications in quantum metrology and quantum simulation, marking a major stride toward scalable quantum systems.

Sewage treatment plants do more than just clean wastewater. They are also sources of raw materials. In the KoalAplan project, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB are working with partners to recover high-quality products from municipal wastewater. These include ammonium, hydrogen and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), which can be used to produce bio-based and biodegradable plastics.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB have developed a technology that uses AI to automatically log and analyze human movements inside vehicles. Their innovation, called the AktiMeter, is ideal for market research, user-centered product development and ergonomic studies.

As part of his first official visit to North Rhine-Westphalia, German Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz was joined by Hendrik Wüst, Minister-President of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Ina Brandes, Minister of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, in visiting the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production FFB, where they viewed a sample line for complete battery cell production on a smaller scale. In conversation with the Chancellor, Constantin Häfner, Executive Board Member for Research and Transfer, and the Fraunhofer FFB directors stressed the importance of battery research in terms of value creation and Germany’s technological sovereignty.