Fraunhofer USA
Fraunhofer USA

State Alliance Program

Fraunhofer USA State Alliance Program

Fraunhofer USA launched the Fraunhofer USA State Alliance Program to offer state governments, economic development agencies and academic institutions the opportunity to develop technical assistance programs based on the Alliance template and tailored to states’ specific needs and interests.

The Alliance model can vary in makeup but its foundation is a partnership of the state agency that oversees economic development, university research arms, the business community and organizations focused on technology promotion and innovation

 

South Carolina Fraunhofer USA Alliance Program

In October 2018, the State of South Carolina’s Department of Commerce and Fraunhofer USA signed a MOU establishing the South Carolina Fraunhofer USA Alliance (SCFA). The SCFA was formed to assist the State’s business community with the challenges and opportunities presented by rapid technological change in manufacturing processes, product development and service delivery.

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The South Carolina Fraunhofer USA Alliance (SCFUSA) is a collaborative effort between The South Carolina Council on Competitiveness, the South Carolina Department of Commerce, and Fraunhofer USA. The alliance was created to advance applied research across the state of South Carolina with the Fraunhofer USA network and South Carolina research institutions.  Examples of research foci include artificial intelligence, Industry 4.0, machine learning, wearables and other advanced digital technologies.  The work of the alliance and the research it supports give South Carolina a competitive edge in advancing applied research and increasing the competitiveness of South Carolina based organizations.

The SC Fraunhofer USA Alliance (the Alliance) is designed to solve real-world challenges with measurable business impact, and to date, the Alliance has provided more than $7 million in applied research funding for South Carolina firms. In 2025, the Alliance interviewed a sample of companies that have completed or are currently engaged in Alliance projects. Based on projected and verified savings reported by these companies, those projects are expected to generate more than $10.6 million in cumulative cost savings within five years of project completion. These outcomes demonstrate how access to applied research expertise and Alliance co-funding can help South Carolina companies diversify, improve processes, incorporate new technologies, reduce costs and address complex technical challenges, thereby creating value that continues well beyond the life of an individual project.  

Why Applied Research Matters: Turning Industry Opportunities & Challenges into Competitive Advantage

By Kelly Baird, Director of the South Carolina Fraunhofer USA Alliance at SC Competes

Read Full Article HERE

.......The Alliance is a collaborative initiative managed by SC Competes, matching research funding from the SC Department of Commerce with R&D expertise from South Carolina’s colleges and universities alongside the Fraunhofer USA global network of institutes to make applied research more accessible and more affordable for SC industry.

Applied research differs from basic research, which is conducted primarily to expand scientific knowledge. Applied research begins with a specific, real-world problem and focuses on developing practical, achievable solutions.  

For an advanced manufacturer, that challenge might involve developing novel technology to improve automation and worker safety, evaluate a new material, increase product quality, reduce waste, or find a more efficient production process.

For a life sciences company, it could involve developing or validating a new technology, conducting pre-clinical research, improving the bench-to-bedside process, solving a technical bottleneck, or accessing specialized scientific expertise that does not exist internally.

Across all industries, companies are confronting increasingly-sophisticated technical questions. New materials, automation, digital technologies, energy requirements, and rapidly evolving scientific capabilities are changing how products are developed and how facilities operate.

These are important challenges, but they may not fit neatly into a company’s normal operations. Internal engineering or R&D teams have immediate priorities. Hiring specialized expertise for a single problem may not make sense, and investing in new technology before understanding whether it will work can introduce significant cost and risk.

The Alliance has created an alternative path.

The Alliance gives SC companies the ability to work with both local and global researchers and technical experts to solve a challenge, test an idea, develop an innovation, diversify their operation, or move promising solutions closer to implementation. With the help of Alliance project funding and expertise, companies have a dedicated team of R&D experts working on their behalf, at approximately half the cost.....

Read Full Article HERE

SC Fraunhofer USA Alliance Spotlight

Time Bikes CEO, Tony Karklins, shares his experience with the SC Fraunhofer USA Alliance.

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Time Bicycles

The SC Fraunhofer USA Alliance is one of the main reasons we located in SC.” – Tony Karklins, CEO of Time Bikes

Fraunhofer USA State Alliance FAQ's

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  • The Alliance model can vary in makeup but its foundation is a partnership of the state agency that oversees economic development, university research arms, the business community and organizations focused on technology promotion and innovation. This consortium works with Fraunhofer USA to design and deploy a technical assistance program, spanning basic research to problem definition and conceptualization, to prototyping to commercialization. The program allows state-based businesses to tap Fraunhofer and university resources for solutions to complex issues associated with technology innovation for improvement of production processes, product development, service delivery and a host of other challenges facing today’s businesses. A specific focus on solving competitiveness and innovation issues facing the state’s manufacturing community is often deemed as a priority.

  • Every state, regional and local government agency responsible for economic development is concerned about maintaining economic vitality, encouraging technological innovation, and ensuring the workforce is trained, ready and able to meet the needs of a globalized and dynamic world economy. Creating an ecosystem that spurs technology innovation can prove challenging if large parts of the business community are unable to adopt and afford those technologies key to their long-term vitality. Given Fraunhofer’s capacities to transform cutting edge research into real world solutions for industry, the State Alliance Program serves as a springboard for state governments to engage Fraunhofer researchers for long term cooperation. By bringing together state officials, academic researchers, Fraunhofer experts, and businesses to understand and overcome those barriers. With reducing costs, boosting quality and efficiency, developing new products and services, the state is more likely to maintain a healthy and competitive business ecosystem.

    Additionally, Fraunhofer USA staff have experience working for and with state and local economic development programs. We understand the challenges and responsibilities of government officials charged with job creation and retention, workforce development, business creation and preservation, fostering business environments conducive to growth and innovation, as well as helping to bolster the state’s strategy to attract out-of-state and international businesses looking for expansion opportunities.

  • Over the last 15 years, the State’s leadership and economic developers have scored major wins encouraging multinational companies to establish large-scale manufacturing operations in the State. Major investments by Boeing, Samsung, Continental Tire, BMW are just a few in a long list of new production facilities. These investments help drive the State economy through increased employment, tax revenues and they present great opportunities for local businesses to join these firms’ supply chains. Yet there remains concern that the State’s small and mid-sized businesses struggle to keep up with the demands that multinationals place on all local suppliers to be as technologically advanced as they are in production quality, response time, data usage, logistics – in short, leveraging the latest technologies available for maximum efficiency and innovation. The SCFA was designed to help State businesses adapt and adopt new technologies to ensure a more complete supplier pipeline by building a robust, advanced industrial ecosystem and workforce. State economic developers can also point to the program as an asset when attracting new investments into the state from around the country or abroad.

  • The Alliance Program team has worked with companies involved in aircraft subsystems, bicycle manufacturing, thermoplastics, appliances, shipping and logistics, telemedicine, auto assembly, among others. Projects have focused on reducing defects in assembly operations, image analysis, workforce training and onboarding process improvements, capturing data and integration of data sets for better insights into operations, and automation of manual production tasks to allow workers to focus on higher value add tasks. The variety of industries and challenges addressed speaks to the Alliance Program's team’s capacity and capability to take on tough issues facing companies large and small, and delivering success where off the shelf solutions do not exist. There’s no reason to believe the Alliance model cannot be replicated to deliver similar results and successes across the country.

  • Yes! As the program grows and is offered to other states, the Alliance program will be adapted to each state’s unique needs and interests. That could include focusing the program on a specific industry or region, or focusing on a large-scale project, for example, examining an industry supply chain for robustness or vulnerabilities.

    The basic tenet of the Alliance concept however will remain constant: Sound applied research provided by teams of in-state and Fraunhofer experts across a wide span of technology disciplines for the benefit of industry. Please contact us to discuss how the Alliance Program could work for you. 

  • Clients should expect to invest financial resources and devote executive and technical talent to work with the Alliance team members to maximize the chance of success, in return for the technical assistance and matching funds that the program provides (projects typically run for 6 to 12-month terms). In addition, though state government underwrites a portion of the program, this is not a typical grant program; the use of Alliance funding comes with restrictions on usage, and progress/closeout reporting are required.

  • We launched a comprehensive education and outreach initiative to inform states across the U.S. about this unique opportunity. 

    Through the Alliance model, our goal is to establish Fraunhofer USA as a recognized and trusted name among government, academia, and the U.S. business community. At the same time, we are ensuring that every Fraunhofer USA Center and Fraunhofer Institute in Germany can engage in the programs and projects we identify.