November 14, 2007

Fraunhofer CCL Opens its Doors!

The Fraunhofer Center for Coatings and Laser Applications hosted a successful Open House on November 14^th, at its Coating Division in East Lansing.  A presentation was given by Center Director, Jes Asmussen, explaining Fraunhofer’s special role in bridging the gap between university research and industry applications and highlighting Fraunhofer’s MEDC 21^st Century Award, which focuses on the commercialization of its carbon-based technology in the state of Michigan.  Visitors, who included representatives from local government, business organizations and industry, had the opportunity to see the Fraunhofer CCL facility first hand.  During the laboratory demonstrations, key technologies were showcased such as lab grown CVD diamond, superhard diamond -like coatings used to improve performance of advanced engine components and even biocompatible thin-films developed to elongate the life of orthopedic implants in the human body. 

“Fraunhofer plays a special role in the process of transferring innovation to industry by maintaining close ties with both university researchers and industry” says Fraunhofer CCL Center Director Jes Asmussen and University Distinguished Professor and The Richard M. Hong Chaired Professor at MSU. “Fraunhofer CCL brings a unique industrially focused perspective in the field of carbon-based materials processing so that MSU faculty work alongside Fraunhofer engineers to offer a truly integrated service to our customers.”

Fraunhofer USA is a non-profit corporation and subsidiary of Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, a leading international research organization which has 12,500 employees worldwide. As one of the world's largest applied research and development operations, Fraunhofer conducts cutting-edge research for industry and government, generating over $1.7 billion annually in research revenues.

For more information see www.ccl.fraunhofer.org or contact:

Claire Rosser

Tel: (517) 432-8711

Email:

Date:  September 24, 2007

College Park, MD

Fraunhofer Center Receives NASA Award

The Fraunhofer Center for Experimental Software Engineering, Maryland (CESE) has recently been awarded a $450,000 research contract by the NASA Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Center to develop automated tools for validating complex software systems.

During the project, which is funded through NASA’s Software Assurance Research Program, CESE will develop new tools and techniques for detecting deviations between the planned system architecture developed by system designers and the actual architecture implemented by programmers.  Such deviations are a major source of glitches in large software systems at both NASA and other governmental and private-sector organizations.

The CESE work builds on that organization’s Software Architecture Visualization and Evaluation (SAVE) tool. SAVE is already in use in NASA and has been employed to detect design / implementation discrepancies in software controlling large space-ground communication systems.

“Our early success with SAVE in NASA’s technology-infusion program set the stage for this award,” said Dr. Mikael Lindvall, Division Director for Software Architecture and Embedded Systems at CESE.  “We are delighted that NASA is willing to support the ongoing development of our technology.”

“The potential for SAVE is very exciting,” said Prof. Rance Cleaveland, Executive Director of CESE and Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland College Park, “and NASA’s funding will allow a significant extension of the technology’s capabilities.”

The work will be conducted in collaboration with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Johns-Hopkins University/Applied Physics Lab (JHU/APL) in Laurel, MD.  The Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering in Kaiserslautern, Germany will also participate.

September 7, 2007

"Alliance for Medical Devices, Instrumentation and Diagnostics" formed between Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation and Boston University.

The primary objective of the Alliance is to improve patient care by accelerating the delivery of biomedical advances to the marketplace.

To celebrate the Alliance, a symposium was held at Boston University on Friday, September 7th with noted speakers from industry, government, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and the Presidents of both Boston University and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft.

The alliance will take advantage of the two institutions' respective strengths.  Advanced biomedical research is being conducted throughout BU's College of Engineering, College of Arts and Sciences, and Medical School, resulting in many potential medical innovations.  Fraunhofer hopes to take these innovations and convert them into working medical devices and instruments that can be licensed to existing companies or created by new, spin-off ventures.  The Alliance will leverage the most promising research innovations in labs through Boston University, particularly in its College of Engineering, with the goal of making a significant impact on the way clinical medicine is practiced.

Fraunhofer Gesellschaft is very active in biomedical research.  Current activities include plant-based vaccine development, medical imaging, array-based diagnostics, surgical micro-tools development, and other novel devices and instrumentation.

The Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation was established at Boston University in 1995.  Working with BU faculty, students and international interns, the engineers at the Center scale-up basic research into advanced technologies that meet the needs of client companies both locally and globally.  The focus of the Center is on the development of next-generation instruments and high precision automation systems for the biotech/biomedical, photonics, and semiconductor industries.

Boston University Professor Andre Sharon, who is also Executive Director of the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation stated, "The alliance will leverage the most promising research innovations in labs throughout Boston University, particularly in its College of Engineering."

BU College of Engineering Dean Kenneth R. Lutchen stated "This initiative will further accelerate our most promising research in this area so improved medical care can be delivered to patients as soon as possible."

Date:  May 14, 2007

Fraunhofer USA Digital Media Technologies opens San Jose Office

The new Audio and Multimedia Division of Fraunhofer USA, Inc. will promote state-of-the-art audio coding and multimedia real-time system technologies.

San Jose, CA, May 14, 2007.  In close collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Erlangen, Germany, the Audio and Multimedia Division of Fraunhofer USA Digital Media Technologies will offer Fraunhofer’s technologies to Silicon Valley firms as well as other American customers.

In an opening ceremony on May 16, the Bavarian State Minister for Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technologies, Erwin Huber;  Dr. William Hartman, Vice President of Fraunhofer USA, Inc.;  and representatives of the City of San Jose, will jointly inaugurate the new office at 100 Century Center Court, Suite 504, in San Jose.

Robert Bleidt, Audio and Multimedia Division General Manager says: “Silicon Valley-based technology leaders such as Cisco, Harmonic, and Palm have used Fraunhofer-developed technologies, such as MP3, AAC, and H.264, for years.  With the opening of this office, we will be able to engage with and support our American customers in a more direct manner and expand our market knowledge and relationships.”

Harald Popp, head of the Multimedia-Realtime Systems department of Fraunhofer IIS adds: “We have been successfully performing audio coding research, development, standardization, and world-wide marketing of real-time multimedia technologies for more than 20 years. Through the collaboration with Fraunhofer USA’s new branch, we’ll be able to quickly introduce our latest technologies such as MPEG Surround, mp3 Surround, AAC Low Delay and Mobile-TV solutions to the American market.”

The Fraunhofer USA Audio and Multimedia Division will be led by Robert Bleidt, Division General Manager, who has over two decades of industry experience in developing new media technologies and businesses.  He holds MSEE and MBA degrees and has been with Fraunhofer since 2004.  Jan Nordmann is the Division’s Director of Marketing and Business Development and will also be the media contact. He holds a Master of Applied Media Science degree and has been with Fraunhofer since 2003.

To learn more about Fraunhofer USA, Inc., please visit www.fraunhofer.org.  For further details on Fraunhofer audio and multimedia products and technologies, see www.iis.fraunhofer.de/amm.

Fraunhofer USA

Digital Media Technologies

Audio and Multimedia Division

100 Century Center Court, Suite 504

San Jose, CA 95112

Contact:  Jan Nordmann

Tel: 408 390-6698

press@dmt.fraunhofer.org

Fraunhofer USA Receives German American Business Award

Fraunhofer USA Inc., the American subsidiary of Germany’s largest research and development organization, will receive the Merlin Excellence-in-Business Award 2007, which is presented by the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest. The award is given for exceptional achievements in German-American business, especially innovative service or breakthrough technology, exemplary international business practices and consistent creative management. Fraunhofer USA’s notable achievements in 2006 included receipt of grants from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The MEDC grants will support the development of low-cost diode lasers for applications in automotive manufacturing and in homeland security;  laser processing technologies for the packaging and assembly of alternative energy sources; laser joining of dissimilar materials for application in the fields of telecommunication and medical implant/device industries; and technology transfer of carbon-based-materials coating technology. The research will be performed by the Fraunhofer Center for Laser Technology in Plymouth, Michigan, and the Fraunhofer Center for Coatings and Laser Applications located on the campus of Michigan State University.

The Fraunhofer Center for Molecular Biotechnology, located in Newark, Delaware, received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a novel vaccine technology that could enable scalable, time efficient and cost-effective production of influenza vaccines; and a second award for developing transmission-blocking vaccines against malaria. 

“Being a non-profit corporation, Fraunhofer USA takes special pride in this honor. It recognizes the practical relevance of the applied research performed by our centers, and the importance of the support from their partners, sponsors, and industrial customers”, said Vice President, Dr. William Hartman.

The award ceremony took place on Friday, May 4^th in Chicago.

New Technologies from our German Institutes

To find out more about the spectrum of services provided by Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, please click here:   www.fraunhofer.de/fhg/EN/press/index.jsp