Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design 
Fraunhofer – #WeKnowHow
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
70 years of Fraunhofer
The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft based in Germany is the world’s leading applied research organization. With its focus on developing the key technologies of the future and on enabling their commercialization by business and industry, it plays a central role in the innovation process. As a pioneer and catalyst for groundbreaking developments and scientific excellence, Fraunhofer helps shape society now and in the future. Founded in 1949, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft currently operates 76 institutes and research units throughout Germany. The majority of the organization’s 30,000 employees are qualified scientists and engineers, who work with an annual research budget of 2.9 billion euros. Of this sum, 2.5 billion euros is generated through contract research.
Our network at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
Fraunhofer Group for Production
The Fraunhofer Group for Production is a research and development partner for the manufacturing industry. The Fraunhofer IEM is one of seven institutes and two Fraunhofer facilities that provide a wide range of technologies and services to get companies in shape for the “production of the future.”
In particular, the Fraunhofer IEM contributes its expertise for the model-based development of self-optimizing, safe production systems, ranging from system design to detailed elaboration in the technical disciplines. Together with the partner institutes in the Group, Fraunhofer IEM is working, among other things, on establishing a secure cloud infrastructure for Industrie 4.0 solutions - the Virtual Fort Knox.
Fraunhofer Adaptronics Alliance
The Fraunhofer Adaptronics Alliance focuses on the development, application and optimization of intelligent material systems and components. Through their cooperation in the alliance, the institutes want to offer users a central point of contact for system development and thus contribute to solving complex smart structures tasks more efficiently.
As one of a total of seven member institutes, the Fraunhofer IEM contributes its extensive expertise in the field of design methods for intelligent technical systems. Our long-standing experience in the field of control engineering enables us to incorporate an important cornerstone of smart structures. Functional materials and intelligent actuators have been studied and used in numerous research and industrial projects.
Fraunhofer ICT Group
With 21 member institutes, the Fraunhofer ICT Group is the largest provider and most important point of contact in the field of applied research in information and communication technologies in Europe. It provides the business community and society with key competencies for utilizing the opportunities and overcoming the challenges that arise from the comprehensive digitalization of all areas of life. With its member institutes, it covers a wide range of technological fields from the fundamentals through to practical solutions in the areas of computer science, mathematics and information and communication technology. In addition, it supports national and international IT providers and IT users, especially in the SME sector.
As one of the leading institutes for secure software development, the Fraunhofer IEM will contribute to the Fraunhofer ICT Group as a guest institute, in particular with its methodological expertise in the secure development of IT systems. This research field is being pioneered by scientists in Paderborn under the leadership of Prof. Eric Bodden, Director of Software Engineering at the Fraunhofer IEM and Head of the “Software Engineering” department at the Heinz Nixdorf Institute of the University of Paderborn.
Fraunhofer AutoMOBILE Production Alliance
As a partner of automotive manufacturers, their suppliers and service providers, the Fraunhofer AutoMOBILE Production Alliance has been supporting research and development for the optimization of manufacturing processes since 2010 and pools the expertise of 20 Fraunhofer Institutes.
The addition of the Fraunhofer IEM enabled the Alliance to reposition itself in 2021 and expand its portfolio to include the latest fields of research in plant and mechanical engineering. It is also the first point of contact for companies with complex inquiries relating to the production of the future, supporting them, for example, in the development of innovative production machines and manufacturing systems, thereby ensuring that the German automotive industry remains a technology leader.