Globalization is a phenomenon that also affects the market for research and development services. To stay in the race, an organization has to measure itself against its international competitors, forging contacts and going along with the mainstream technological and market trends.

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft started to set up outposts in the world’s major economic regions many years ago. Today, in addition to its european subsidiaries in Italy, Austria, Portugal and United Kingdom  and the Fraunhofer Brussels Office, it has Fraunhofer Project Centers in the USA,  in Brazil, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Canada, Australia and Singapore. Further Fraunhofer has Representative Offices in Japan, China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, India and in the United Arab Emirates, and is planning to open further international bases.

• International Locations

The purpose of the international activities is the following:

• Advancing the level of scientific and engineering know-how and exploiting the innovation potential of competing centers of excellence through local presence and involvement.
• Penetrating new markets for research services and for the technologies offered by the Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany and their industrial partners.
• Offering wider opportunities for staff development by adding an international aspect, both in terms of scientific knowledge and with respect to the encounter with other management styles and business cultures, including foreign-language and social skills.
• Continuous improvement of problem-solving skills through a wider range of projects, often based on other market dictates and other sets of customer requirements. This helps to raise the quality of the services offered to German industry. International competition forces us to develop a different attitude to quality.