In Reimund Neugebauer, the Senate decided on a new president with years of leadership at Fraunhofer institutes. The 58 year-old engineer and university professor studied mechanical engineering at the Dresden University of Technology, majoring in production technology. After earning his diploma, he was employed as a scientific research assistant there until he obtained is doctorate in 1984. This post was then followed by a management position in the machine building industry and post-doctoral degree in 1989. He was subsequently appointed university lecturer at the Dresden University of Technology, where he assumed the executive directorship of the Institute for Machine Tools in 1990. In 1992, he became head of the newly-established Fraunhofer Research Institution for Machine Tools and Forming Technology in Chemnitz, which just two years later became a full-fledged Institute. Then in 1993, Neugebauer became a full professor of machine tools and forming technology at the Chemnitz University of Technology. There, he founded the Institute for Machine Tools and Production Processes IWP, and has been its director since 2000. In addition, he served as dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering from 2003 to 2006.

Commitment to science and business

Neugebauer is member of numerous national and international scientific institutions and associations. He served as president of the German Academic Society for Production Engineering for the 2010–2011 term. He is a member of the German Consortium of Forming Engineering AGU, and is a Fellow at the International Academy for Production Engineering CIRP, whose members appointed him chairman in Dresden at its 2007 General Meeting. Moreover, he is a member of the German Academy of Technical Sciences acatech and founding president of the Industry-Club of Saxony 1828 regd. assoc.

Reimund Neugebauer developed the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU in Chemnitz into a global leading partner to the automotive and machine building industry. With locations in Dresden, Augsburg and Zittau, it expanded its fields of research to include mechatronics, medical technology and lightweight construction. With “resource-efficient production,” his current area of focus, Neugebauer has provided an important impetus that fostered a paradigm shift toward the security and development of value creation throughout Germany.

Hans-Jörg Bullinger will hand over the position to Reimund Neugebauer during October 2012. Bullinger, who held the top leadership position at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft for ten years, will return to the Senate and remain actively engaged in the research organization in various capacities. Furthermore, he will continue to be involved with advisory committees and Supervisory Boards in support of Germany as a key location for innovation.