Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. – Germany
About us
The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, headquartered in Germany, is the world’s leading applied research organization. With its focus on developing key technologies that are vital for the future and enabling the commercial exploitation of this work by business and industry, Fraunhofer plays a central role in the innovation process. As a pioneer and catalyst for ground-breaking developments and scientific excellence, Fraunhofer helps shape society now and in the future. Founded in 1949, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft currently operates 75 institutes and research institutions throughout Germany. The majority of the organization’s 29,000 employees are qualified scientists and engineers, who work with an annual research budget of 2.8 billion euros. Of this sum, 2.4 billion euros are generated through contract research.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM (located in Freiburg; www.iwm.fraunhofer.de) is a leading research centre in the modelling, experimental and theoretical characterization of material properties. The objective of Fraunhofer IWM is to develop solutions that improve the safety, reliability, durability, and functionality of materials, technical components, and systems, thus making them more cost-effective and energy-efficient. The combination of experimental characterization, computational simulation, and multiscale modelling is a primary focus of the institute. Lately, the Fraunhofer IWM took a leading role in the digitization of materials, i. e. making data and models available and interoperable for advanced analytics and sustainable long-term accessibility. Fraunhofer IWM seeks for a common agreement on community-based ontologies for materials modelling and characterization and is heavily engaged in the European Materials Modelling Council (EMMC), in the European Materials Characterization Council (EMCC) and in the platform MaterialDigital.
