Networking within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Structure of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

The Fraunhofer Society is one of the world's largest research organizations. It is a registered association and decentrally organized.

Different bodies and committees advise, lead and coordinate.

More about the structure of the Fraunhofer-Society

Statute of the Fraunhofer-Society

A large network and smart minds are crucial for the success of projects. Our specific mathematical competences make Fraunhofer ITWM a sought-after and appreciated cooperation partner within Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. The »Powerhouse« represents the organizational and funding structure of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Below, we show how Fraunhofer ITWM is involved at all levels:

Fraunhofer Alliances

Institutes with related expertise organize themselves in research alliances and appear together on the R&D market. They play an active role in corporate policy as well as in the implementation of the functional and financial model of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Fraunhofer ITWM is a member of the Alliance for:

Information and Communication Technology – IUK
Materials, Components – MATERIALS (guest status)

More about the network of Fraunhofer-Society

Fraunhofer Performance Centers

Performance centers organize the shoulder-to-shoulder cooperation of research with industry. Universities, colleges, Fraunhofer institutes and other non-university research institutes work together with companies and players in the civilian sector on specific topics at a single location in order to quickly transform innovations into applications. They stand for excellent infrastructure, training concepts and know-how that can be used across organizations. They bring together suitable partners and accompany ideas all the way to the market. Kaiserslautern is home to the »Simulation and Software-based Innovation« performance center, which is under ITWM management.

Fraunhofer Group IUK Technology

The Fraunhofer Group for Information and Communication Technology is the largest IT research organization in Europe. Currently the Fraunhofer network has 20 member institutes throughout Germany.

Fraunhofer-Verbund IUK-Technologie (iuk.fraunhofer.de)

Fraunhofer Group MATERIALS

The Fraunhofer Group for Materials and Components combines the expertise of 15 materials science and related institutes of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. The Fraunhofer ITWM is one of the three guest institutes.

Fraunhofer Materials (materials.fraunhofer.de)

Networks and Partners

In order to promote scientific innovations, to seek dialogue and ideas outside the institute, strong co-operation for the ITWM plays an important role. A broad network and innovative partners are therefore very important to us. Here is a selection:

Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence

These clusters promote the cooperative development and processing of system-relevant topics by means of a cross-institute research structure. Organizationally, the research clusters correspond to a virtual institute which is spread over several locations. We are involved in these clusters:

Advanced Photon Sources CAPS
Cognitive Internet Technologies CCIT
Programmable Materials CPM

Fraunhofer Strategic Research Fields

The Fraunhofer Strategic Research Fields (FSFs) specify the portfolio-defining priorities of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and bundle the essential future fields of application-oriented research. They provide an overarching strategic focus on key challenges in line with the goals set. Our institute director Prof. Dr. Anita Schöbel is spokesperson of the »Next Generation Computing« FSF and together with Prof. Dr. Manfred Hauswirth (Fraunhofer FOKUS) responsible for the topic »Quantum Computing« at Fraunhofer. The Rhineland-Palatinate competence center with focus on »Quantum High Performance Computing« is located at our institute.

© Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
The »Fraunhofer Powerhouse« illustrates the further developed structure of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Our institute is actively represented at all levels.

Lead Market-Oriented Alliances

With the lead market-oriented alliances, Fraunhofer aims to target sectors that are highly relevant to innovation – the Fraunhofer lead markets – and create added value by offering system solutions and cross-institutional transfer. We are involved in the following lead markets:

Plant, mechanical and vehicle engineering
Health care sector
Chemical industry
Mobility sector
Digital economy
Energy sector
Automobile Production
Batteries
Big Data and Artificial Intelligence
Cloud Computing
Lightweight Construction
Numerical Simulation of Products and Processes
Transport
Vision (Image Processing)
System Research Electromobility
Technical Textiles

Interactive Location Map of the Fraunhofer Alliances.

Fraunhofer Lead Projects: Preliminary Research in a Network

The topics of the Fraunhofer lead projects are oriented toward the current needs of the industry and combine the expertise of various institutes for efficient preliminary research. The aim of the program is to exploit the synergy potential by bringing together the competencies of several institutes to provide solutions to the challenges of the German industry. Lead projects with ITWM participation are:

FCC – Strong Partner in Sweden

One of our most important international partners is the »Fraunhofer-Chalmers Research Center for Industrial Mathematics«, FCC for short, founded in 2001 by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and Chalmers University in Gothenburg. 65 employees worked on topics such as multiphysics simulation, geometry, modeling of biological systems and data mining in 2020. The budget was seven million euros.