Networks

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft based in Germany is the world’s leading applied research organization. Prioritizing key future-relevant technologies and commercializing its findings in business and industry, it plays a major role in the innovation process. It is a trailblazer and trendsetter in innovative developments and research excellence. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft supports research and industry with inspiring ideas and sustainable scientific and technological solutions and is helping shape our society and our future.

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s interdisciplinary research teams turn original ideas into innovations together with contracting industry and public sector partners, coordinate and complete essential key research policy projects and strengthen the German and European economy with ethical value creation. International collaborative partnerships with outstanding research partners and businesses all over the world provide for direct dialogue with the most prominent scientific communities and most dominant economic regions.

Founded in 1949, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft currently operates 76 institutes and research units throughout Germany. Over 30,000 employees, predominantly scientists and engineers, work with an annual research budget of €2.9 billion. Fraunhofer generates €2.5 billion of this from contract research. Industry contracts and publicly funded research projects account for around two thirds of that. The federal and state governments contribute around another third as base funding, enabling institutes to develop solutions now to problems that will become crucial to industry and society in the near future.

The impact of applied research goes far beyond its direct benefits to clients: Fraunhofer institutes enhance businesses’ performance, improve social acceptance of advanced technology and educate and train the urgently needed next generation of research scientists and engineers.

Highly motivated employees up on cutting-edge research constitute the most important success factor for us as a research organization. Fraunhofer consequently provides opportunities for independent, creative and goal-driven work and thus for professional and personal development, qualifying individuals for challenging positions at our institutes, at higher education institutions, in industry and in society. Practical training and early contacts with clients open outstanding opportunities for students to find jobs and experience growth in business and industry.

The prestigious nonprofit Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s namesake is Munich scholar Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787–1826). He enjoyed equal success as a researcher, inventor and entrepreneur. 

In the Fraunhofer Groups, individual Fraunhofer Institutes pool their thematic expertise in order to jointly achieve outstanding research results. In the Fraunhofer Alliances, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft addresses innovative growth markets. Fraunhofer ILT is a member of the following alliances and groups:

The close collaboration with selected chairs at the RWTH Aachen University, one of Europe’s leading technical universities, provides us with access to a broad base of fundamental knowledge in the field of laser technology.

When faced with interdisciplinary issues, we can access the knowledge garnered by the R&D centers that cooperate with us. Consequently we are able to offer our customers one-stop solutions. Small and medium-sized enterprises are often eligible for support in rolling out high-risk processes through programs run by the ministries, Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and the banks. Fraunhofer ILT’s experts give our partners access to regional, national and international competence networks.

At local level we are cooperating with institutions such as the competence center automotive region Aachen e.V. and the Aachener Kompetenzzentrum für Medizintechnik e.V. At regional level we are actively represented in the IVAM Association for Microtechnology and in NeMa – Neue Materialien e.V. We support the networking of laser users, manufacturers and researchers at national level by participating in projects such as the Arbeitskreis Lasertechnik e.V., the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft Lasertechnik e.V. as well as the Deutscher Verband für Schweißtechnik e.V. DVS. In international competence networks such as the Laser Institute of America LIA, we cooperate with foreign companies and research institutions in our branch and jointly set new trends.

The connection between applied research at Fraunhofer ILT and basic scientific research at the local universities with the involvement of industrial partners is an essential component of our activities. Fraunhofer ILT cooperates with RWTH Aachen University, FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences, the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT and numerous renowned industrial partners in various joint projects.

An example of this is the "ICTM International Center for Turbomachinery Manufacturing in Aachen", a cooperation of the Fraunhofer ILT with the Fraunhofer IPT and the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering of RWTH Aachen University WZL and the Chair for Laser Technology LLT at RWTH Aachen University with about 30 industrial partners from the field of turbomachinery engineering.

RWTH Aachen Campus brings together research and industry. Supported by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF), a total of 16 clusters are being created on the Aachen campus, in which industrial questions for future technologies are being researched in the interaction of industry and science. The six starting clusters include the "Photonics Cluster", in which Fraunhofer ILT is involved with the "Center for Digital Photonic Production (CDPP)".

Further information on the goals and tasks of the individual centers can be found on the corresponding websites.

The Fraunhofer ILT conducts both bilateral and collaborative projects with foreign companies and branches of German companies abroad. In Plymouth, Michigan USA, the Fraunhofer Center for Laser Technology CLT was established under the guidance of Fraunhofer ILT. The Fraunhofer ILT is conducting joint research projects with the Townes Laser Institute TLI in Orlando, USA. In addition, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft maintains liaison offices in the USA and Asia. Finally, the Fraunhofer ILT is a member of national and international associations such as the Laser Institute of America LIA.

The Digital Photonic Production DPP research campus establishes a new form of long-term and systematic cooperation between RWTH Aachen University, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and industry under one roof. With this project, the DPP research campus is part of the Germany-wide funding initiative "Forschungscampus – öffentlich-private Partnerschaft für Innovationen" of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF.

The DPP research campus offers its partners from science and industry a common location for inter- and transdisciplinary research. Due to the spatial proximity, not only explicit knowledge is transferred: Implicit knowledge, such as procedures, methods and culture, also boost innovative research work for digital photonic production.