“I would like to express my deep gratitude to Prof. Fuhrmann, Prof. Spanner-Ulmer and Mr. Zipse for their many years of faithful service. Together, we have managed to advance the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s work and set a course for a sustainable, thriving future,” said Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, president of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. “My sincere congratulations go to Hildegard Müller, Oliver Zipse and Kerstin Grosse, and I am looking forward to working with them all. As a team, I believe we have what it takes to develop and strengthen the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s capabilities and what it contributes to keeping the German and European economies competitive.”
Fraunhofer President Prof. Reimund Neugebauer
Prof. Reimund Neugebauer took up the mantle of president of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft on October 1, 2012 and created a lasting strategy for keeping the success of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft on course. As a result, the number of Fraunhofer institutes and research units has grown from 64 to 76 during his term of office. There have also been increases in the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s budget, from around two to three billion euros, and in its number of employees, from around 20,000 to more than 30,000.
Key milestones have been the development of the Fraunhofer Strategic Research Fields, the establishment of high-performance centers, lighthouse projects and clusters of excellence, plus the restructuring of international partnerships. These steps have led to a stronger sense of responsibility among groups, complete transparency in key performance indicators and main areas of research within the presidential council, and Fraunhofer opening itself up to large-scale projects of systemic importance, such as the Research Fab Microelectronics, the Research Fab Battery Cells and the National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity ATHENE. New fields of research such as energy technologies, quantum technologies, translational medicine, artificial intelligence and smart farming have all been established successfully.
In 2021, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft was faced with a context of COVID-related challenges, new structures at headquarters level, plus longer-term tasks aimed at helping the German and European economies to be global competitors and the successful advancement of the work of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. In July, the senate of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft therefore followed the proposal of the election committee and reelected Prof. Reimund Neugebauer to serve two additional years as President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Against this backdrop, the extension of Prof. Reimund Neugebauer’s mandate represented the senate making a commitment to ensuring the organization’s stability in challenging times, and to carrying on the development of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft as Europe’s leading applied research institution.
“Looking back on my term so far, I believe that Fraunhofer is delivering scientific excellence and is in a very solid financial position,” said Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, president of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. “I myself intend to continue supporting the implementation of the new executive board structure, the senate changes and the Fraunhofer-wide introduction of SAP. In a year’s time, I believe that these processes will have progressed very far along and may even be complete. I have therefore taken this opportunity to inform the senate that I intend to step down as president of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft on September 30, 2023. By making this announcement, the process for appointing my successor can begin in an orderly manner. Until then, I will of course continue to dedicate myself fully to serving the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft with my particular responsibilities in mind. I am looking forward to continuing our cooperation, sharing ideas and achieving more success.”
A new president will be elected at the next scheduled senate meeting on May 25, 2023, with a view to ensuring that the successor is able to take up the post on October 1, 2023.
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft