Press / Newsroom

At Booth 115 in Hall B2 at IFAT Munich 2026, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft will showcase pioneering solutions for a sustainable water and raw materials management industry, ranging from the removal of heavy metals and rare metal recovery to recycling of wind turbines. In line with the motto Water, Energy, Circularity—Green Technology for a Resilient Future, eight Fraunhofer institutes will show how reusable materials can be extracted from wastewater, how key raw materials can be recovered from electronic waste and how linear processes can be turned into closed circles.

Seven key sectors, clear industrial policy priorities, and strategic recommendations for action: the Franco-German AI Dialogue sends a strong signal for sovereign, competitive, and trustworthy artificial intelligence in Europe. At the Franco-German Forum on Industrial AI, held at the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance, the final report was officially handed over to representatives of both governments. It demonstrates how Germany and France aim to jointly advance the development of a high-performing European AI ecosystem—in close collaboration with industry, research, and policymaking.

What can be done to maintain efficient, sustainable and adaptable industrial value creation in times of great global uncertainties? The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft will answer this question at Hannover Messe 2026. Under the motto “Innovations for our Future,” nine Fraunhofer institutes and groups as well as the Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD) will present tangible solutions for promoting a resilient digitally networked industry from April 20 to 24. Journalists are very welcome to join the press tour (please see below for further details).

How can medical data be analyzed more effectively, documentation processes be handled more efficiently and how can the basis for clinical decision-making be improved? At DMEA 2026, which will be taking place in Berlin from April 21 to 23, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft will be presenting technologies for analyzing health-related data that are designed to reduce the burden on medical staff and facilitate data-based applications in research and care. Five institutes will be presenting their latest developments at the joint Fraunhofer booth (Booth D-109, Hall 2.2). These range from AI-assisted symptom analysis and data spaces that allow for health data to be securely shared to assistance systems for medical documentation, data-based decision-making support and solutions for training and evaluating AI models for medical data.

Overfertilization in agriculture weakens crops, endangers drinking water quality and harms the soil. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB are now developing an alternative fertilizer that is fully biodegradable and only supplies plants with the nutri-ents they actually need, thus preventing overfertilization.

The development of AI models in joint projects yields improved results because multiple companies contribute their data. The situation becomes critical, however, if a partner withdraws and requests the return of its data. With federated unlearning, Fraunhofer researchers and Fujitsu Research have developed a method for precisely removing data from decentralized AI models.

Women who have experienced a stroke or heart attack are at a higher risk of mortality than men. Fraunhofer researchers want to improve gender-specific aftercare with a customized assistance system – thus helping to prevent further heart disease.

Present systems do not monitor large PV plants on the module level. Yet that is exactly where faults occur, which affect the connection of several solar modules in series, that is, the complete string. Research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF are developing a sensor system together with partners, which provides a detailed view down to the module level, thus detecting all kinds of anomalies, soiling and defects early.

Lithium, cobalt and nickel are in high demand – and they are hard to obtain. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM are developing an electrochemical process to recover scarce raw materials in battery recycling. This new technology could also enable the extraction of rare earth elements from electronic waste in the future.

The EPO Technology Dashboard 2025, released today, ranks the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft as Europe's leading research institution for patent applications. This ranking reaffirms the critical role of research and science for Germany's long-term competitiveness.