Press/Newsroom

Germany’s excellence in research can generate sustained innovation, value for industry and technological sovereignty only if the policy and regulatory framework speeds up the transfer of research findings into industrial ap-plications. The Freedom to Innovate initiative set out in the coalition agreement aims to accelerate the industrial application of research and strengthen Germany’s competitiveness. In a joint position paper, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the Federation of German Industries (BDI) therefore call for the initiative to be implemented swiftly—primarily through regulatory measures under existing law rather than through new legislation.

Christoph Igel has been appointed Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE effective August 15, 2026. Igel will jointly lead the institute with Peter Martini, Executive Director of Fraunhofer FKIE. This shared leadership structure will strengthen Fraunhofer FKIE’s position as one of the largest defense technology research institutes within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB is strengthening its leadership team. Effective August 1, Marc Eichhorn has joined the institute management and will co-lead Fraunhofer IOSB alongside Executive Director Jürgen Beyerer. The new dual leadership structure reflects the institute’s expanded expertise in laser technology, optronic systems, computer vision and AI-based robotics.

Industrial drying processes consume large amounts of energy and negatively impact the climate since they burn fossil fuels to heat air. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB are working with industry partners on a new approach to decarbonize this process: Instead of hot air, they are using superheated steam. Combined with a heat pump and smart controls, their superheated steam drying process saves significant amounts of energy and eliminates the need for natural gas.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS is expanding its leadership team: Wenke Weinreich has been appointed the institute’s second director, effective immediately. In her new role, she will be working alongside Institute Director Harald Schenk and guiding the institute’s strategic and scientific direction. At the same time, she will take on the professorship in Functionalized Microelectronics for Heterogeneous Systems at the Dresden University of Technology.

Hair products used in hair salons release aerosols that can cause respiratory tract irritation if inhaled. Under a contract from industry, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM investigated the effects of aerosols produced when using heated chemical hair products. Using an innovative cell-based in vitro inhalation method, the researchers can estimate effects on the respiratory tract and identify potentially harmful substances. This non-animal testing method supports safe product development that is fully in line with the safe-by-design approach, which integrates safety in product development right from the start.

Criminals use deepfakes for fraud and identity theft—even in situations where people have come to trust their eyes and ears. Corporate videoconferences are increasingly becoming a target for illegal activities. Fraunhofer researchers are working to detect attempted fraud in real time.

Every year, billions of products are sealed in film packaging. This packaging must be reliably leakproof, especially in regulated sectors such as in the medical and food industry. In the OCTInline project, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS have developed an innovative testing system. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) can be used to non-destructively detect defects in seals in real time during the packaging process, with a resolution in the micrometer range.

US technology giants dominate the cloud market, threatening the technological sovereignty, data privacy and innovative capacity of European companies. In the project ApeiroRA, the Fraunhofer Institutes for Software and Systems Engineering ISST and for Applied and Integrated Security AISEC are supporting software company SAP in safeguarding Europe’s technological and economic independence in the cloud and edge computing sector. The partners are developing an open-source blueprint for a European, vendor-neutral cloud-edge infrastructure that guarantees interoperability between different providers.

Statement by Holger Hanselka, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, on the suspension of applications for the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM) and its implications for innovation, technology transfer and the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).