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Fraunhofer Gesellschaft President Hans-Jörg Bullinger

(© Fraunhofer)

In 2009, Germany's Fraunhofer Gesellschaft celebrates both its 60th anniversary as a motor of innovation and 15 years of Fraunhofer USA, which includes a research portfolio ranging from diamonds to lasers to pharmaceuticals.

Fraunhofer USA is a subsidiary of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, the leading organization for applied research in Europe, with an annual budget of $2.15 billion.  Fraunhofer, which was founded in Munich in 1949 and now consists of 59 research institutes spread across Germany, opened its first subsidiary in the United States in 1994.

Today six Fraunhofer centers closely cooperate with top universities in the US to engineer solutions that industry can apply to everyday business practices. They have focused on research and development in energy, health, coatings, lasers, manufacturing, software and digital media technologies.

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German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth and wife Ulrike Scharioth (center), with (left to right): Dirk-Meints Polter, Executive Board of Directors (retired) of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft; FhG President Hans-Jörg Bullinger; William F. Hartman, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Fraunhofer USA; and Georg Rosenfeld, FhG Division Director, Corporate Development.

(© German Embassy)

'Yes, we can'

On October 22, a special seminar was held in Washington to mark the 15th anniversary of Fraunhofer USA, followed by a dinner hosted by German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth.

The ambassador applauded Fraunhofer's transatlantic connections: "The USA is Germany's most important scientific and technological cooperation partner. Fraunhofer USA plays a very important role in this transatlantic cooperation." 

Fraunhofer Gesellschaft President Hans-Jörg Bullinger meanwhile underscored that Fraunhofer USA is here to stay: "Can a German organization for applied research be successful in the world's leading economic and scientific market? Fifteen years ago when Fraunhofer USA was founded we could not be sure. But now we know the answer: Yes, we can."

Also as part of the anniversary program in Washington, a topical conference was held on October 23 on the subject of Software Engineering for Medicine and Health, hosted by the Fraunhofer Center for Experimental Software Engineering (CESE) in College Park, Maryland.

"Our growth has been possible because our partnering Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany recognize the value of our insights into emerging high-tech markets and the quick path to those markets that results from our collaborations," Fraunhofer USA Executive Vice President William Hartman said in a statement. "We are proud to be a partner in facilitating important international exchange in both applied research and education." 

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(© picture-alliance/dpa)

Saving software

CESE Director Rance Cleaveland explained one successful example of such effective collaboration: "Defective software can become a costly matter. While testing NASA communications software, we determined that the transmission of image data from Mercury to the control center on Earth would need a third more time than expected, because data was unnecessarily re-transmitted under certain circumstances. Had this problem not been detected, then the costs of transmissions would have skyrocketed by thousands of dollars."

Error detection became possible through SAVE, or Software Architecture Visualization and Evaluation. SAVE was developed by a German-American research team: researchers at Fraunhofer USA are working together with experts from Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, as well as at the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering (IESE).

"SAVE also displays the software structure of complex programs in an easy-to-read way. That's important when you want to systematically analyze programs and track errors that could lead to unexpected and undesirable conditions," said Cleaveland.

CESE and IESE have submitted a joint application to patent SAVE's new analysis method, which is already delivering profitable benefits to NASA, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the industry partners of the German institute.

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Damian Hirst, Midas and the Infinite (butterflies and industrial diamonds)

(© dpa - Report)

Diamonds in the rough

Diamonds have come to symbolize fidelity, stability and glamour. They are also a coveted and precious commodity which scientists and engineers have long sought to produce affordably.

Jes Asmussen's research group at Michigan State University has been developing diamond technology since the 1980's, including plasma machines that create diamonds from methane and hydrogen gases using chemical vapor deposition. This caught the attention of engineers at the Fraunhofer Center for Coatings and Laser Applications. Both institutions have since joined forces and continued to advance this method.

"It was often the technical details that determined success or failure," said Thomas Schuelke of CCL. "During the synthesis process, the pressure and temperature conditions have to be set and adjusted with absolute precision. We studied these parameters and then started to automate the manufacturing process. Ultimately, a new kind of production machine that meets industry standards emerged. It can finish diamond monocrystals for the jewellery business and for the electronics industry."

This technology is now commercially available - industry partner Lamda Technologies builds and distributes the diamond production machines in the American and world markets.

"Our work indicates that the Fraunhofer model - the research at the interface between basic principles and industrial applications - has again proven its value in the USA," said Schuelke, whose German-American team is now working on the next generation of diamond harvesting machines to allow industry to simultaneously produce several diamonds of more than one cubic centimeter in size.

"This is where our colleagues' experience at the German parent institute comes into play and it is extremely useful to us," he added. "We are in constant contact with the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology (IWS) in Dresden."

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Munich on June 23, 2009, when Fraunhofer celebrated its 60th anniversary during its annual meeting.

(© dpa - Report)

History at a glance

In September 1994, Fraunhofer USA was born when two Fraunhofer Institutes based in Aachen, Germany, opened research centers in the US.

The University of Michigan together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT) created the Fraunhofer Center for Laser Technology in Plymouth, Michigan. And Boston University partnered with the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology (IPT) to create the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation, which now focuses on pharmaceuticals, medical instrumentation, and optoelectronics.

Also in 1994, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology opened the Center for Surface and Laser Processing (CSLP), today's Center for Coatings and Laser Applications (CCL). The Center is located at Michigan State University, and is one of the world's leading applied research labs developing synthetic diamond technology.

In 1999, the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering created the Center for Experimental Software Engineering (CESE) at the University of Maryland. Some of their major projects have been with NASA's space shuttle missions.

In 2001, the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology, with support from the State of Delaware, started the Fraunhofer Center for Molecular Biotechnology (CMB). It develops technologies to produce vaccines in greenhouses, using host plants and engineered plant viruses.

In 2007, the Fraunhofer Office for Digital Media Technologies opened in San Jose, California. Its aim is to promote the audio-coding technologies of the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS), where the MP3 format was invented.

In 2008, the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy was opened in Boston, near the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) campus. Just like its parent institute, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy, the Center specializes in solar energy and the energy efficiency of buildings.