Fraunhofer Network

Automotive production, their suppliers and the companies equipping the automotive industry represent a decisive economic factor in Germany. Significant changes to the entire concept of mobility are ultimately being driven by global trends such as dwindling natural resources, an increasing need for mobility, urbanization and megacities. In addition, German carmakers and their suppliers are facing increasingly tough competition as a trend takes hold towards low-cost vehicles.

The Fraunhofer Alliance pools the expertise of 17 institutes, who collectively provide the German automotive industry with a competent single-source partner for its needs in research and development. The complementary effect achieved by combining the individual institutes' key areas of research makes it possible to generate rapid, integrated and sustainable innovations along the entire process chain of vehicle manufacturing – from the planning stage right through to the finished vehicle. The Alliance tackles the challenges posed by environmental policies (reducing fuel consumption and CO2; electromobility; consumption of cutting material) while taking full account of commercial imperatives (ongoing pressure to cut costs).

Big Data is the term used to describe large volumes of all kinds of data that accumulates rapidly: every day, all over the world, in companies and urban infrastructures, on the web and even in private households. According to forecasts, the volume doubles every two years. Processing and analyzing these vast volumes of data is a key technology for high-tech countries. Worldwide, companies expect Big Data will secure strategic competitive advantages as well as boost turnover and productivity.

The Fraunhofer Big Data Alliance provides support from a single source across all sectors and areas of business. Using their many years of experience in analyzing large volumes of data, the individual Fraunhofer Institutes help companies build expertise and to work up solutions that can then be applied to traditional business processes, production and logistics, and also to research and product development. We place feasibility and profitability on equal footing with data protection and security.

In the Fraunhofer Energy Alliance Fraunhofer Institutes join their expertise in energy technologies and energy research, with the aim to give research and development from one hand to industry and energy economy.

The alliance co-operates with the Fraunhofer networks Microenergy Technology, Wind Energy, Direct-Ethanol-Fuelcell and Intelligent Energy Nets.

The Alliance’s work is chiefly focused on: Renewable energy sources (solar energy, biomass, wind power); energy-efficient technologies (fuel cells, combined heat and power (CHP) systems and gas delivery, building-service technologies, power electronics); buildings and components (low-energy-houses, building energy technology); intelligent energy nets (p.e. systemtechnological net integration of distributed generators; electrical energy storage and micro-energy systems (lithium battery technology, fuel-cell systems).

Rapid tooling and rapid manufacturing offer tremendous potential for success in terms of quickly and efficiently translating product innovations into prototypes and small production batches.

The Fraunhofer Additive Manufacturing Alliance has earned a reputation as the largest interdisciplinary European alliance of competence for high-speed processes enabling individual manufacturing of products made of metals, plastics, ceramics and other materials.

Collaborating closely with national and international partners, the alliance develops new rapid strategies, concepts, technologies and processes to enhance the performance and competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises. Its advanced rapid methods and tools enable it to support all major sectors of industry: p.e. the automotive and aerospace industries, mechanical engineering and machine tools, medicine and medical engineering.

Technical textiles made of high-performance fibers are currently being rediscovered as reinforcing materials for structural elements subject to high stress. Here carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics will be particularly prominent in the materials of the future. Experts expect the automotive branch to be the largest driver and thus the principle future market for carbon fibers. However, current use is still dominated by prepregs (pre-impregnated fibers), so that the predicted "Automotive" growth scenario will only come to pass if the cost of carbon-fiber-reinforced components drops significantly and the potentials for cost savings are leveraged to the greatest extent possible.

Since these savings potentials are primarily found in use of materials and in the component manufacturing process, it will only be possible to realize these tangible ecological and economic effects as forecast in large-scale industrial series manufacturing of this type of component. This makes it absolutely necessary to develop new textile machines as a central unit in new manufacturing processes for semi-finished textile products and preforms, also with regard to intelligent hybrid components in multi-material design.

In this context the Fraunhofer Institutes have formed the Technical Textiles Alliance. By consolidating the individual areas of expertise of the member institutes, they intend to represent the entire textile value creation chain, from the textile machine to fiber production, manufacture of preforms/semi-finished products, textile functionalization, Smart Textiles, process and product simulation, all the way to fiber-reinforced composite components.

The Fraunhofer Traffic and Transportation Alliance develops technical and conceptual solutions for public-sector and industrial customers and translates them into practical applications. It does this by identifying future developments and guiding the focus of sponsored research programs.

The Alliance analyzes market requirements and develops system solutions in multi-institute collaborative projects. It also draws together and markets the expertise of its members in the field of traffic and transportation. Workgroups such as Automotive, Rail, Aviation and Waterborne help to assure a close relationship with the sector. International research programs and contracts from around the world ensure that the member institutes maintain links to companies and research organizations involved in traffic and transportation worldwide. The Alliance’s central office brings together suitable partners.

The Fraunhofer Vision Alliance combines the expertise of institutes in the field of image processing.

The main office in Fürth serves as the initial point of contact for customers. This office is also responsible for the coordination of joint projects. The allianced institutes offer services relating to applications of innovative sensors, from infrared to x-ray, plus the associated handling apparatus. Their work focuses particularly on optical sensing and automated inspection processes for quality assurance.