Fundamental vs. Applied Research Preface

Fundamental vs. Applied Research – Interview with theFraunhofer-Gesellschaft

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is one of Germany’s most important research associ-ations with its main emphasis on applied research. It was founded in 1949 and itgoes back to Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787 – 1826). He was famous for his way ofaccurate conduct of science combined with a sense for entrepreneurship, which iswhy he became the role model for the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. We have talked toProf. Dr. Michael Maskos1 and Beate Koch2. Prof. Dr. Michael Maskos is the di-rector of Fraunhofer ICT – IMM in Mainz, which focuses among others on the syn-thesis and characterization of nanoparticles for different applications. Beate Kochis head of internal and external communications of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

1email: Michael.Maskos@imm.fraunhofer.de2email: beate.koch@zv.fraunhofer.de

JUnQ: Could you briefly tell us about the tasks and visionof the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft?

Fraunhofer: Research of practical utility lies at the heartof all activities pursued by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.Founded in 1949 and based in Munich, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is a non-profit research organization that un-dertakes applied research and development (R&D) in areasof the natural and engineering sciences that are of impor-tance to Germany’s economic competitiveness. It currentlyoperates 67 Fraunhofer-Institutes and Research Institutionsacross Germany, whose mission is to develop innovative so-lutions of direct benefit to industry and society as a whole.Fraunhofer’s research portfolio covers a broad spectrum oftopical areas, which are also featured in the German gov-ernment’s latest High-Tech Strategy, including resource-efficient manufacturing, transportation and mobility, energyand housing, information and communication technologies(ICT), protection and security, as well as healthcare, nutri-tion and the environment.

JUnQ: Could you please tell us a little about the historicbackground of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft?

Fraunhofer: The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft was founded inMunich on March 26 1949, as part of a program to reor-ganize and expand Germany’s research infrastructure. Theorganization takes its name from Joseph von Fraunhofer(1787 – 1826), the successful Munich researcher, inventorand entrepreneur. In its early years, the main function of thisnon-profit organization was predominantly administrative:to raise funds through government bodies, donations andassociation members for distribution to research projectsof relevance to industry. Initial activities primarily focusedon industry in Bavaria. This being the early post-war pe-riod, there was particular need for research in the fields ofmining, the iron and steel industry and mechanical engi-neering. These activities developed into a wide range of

application-oriented research with a focus on key technolo-gies of relevance to the future.

JUnQ: What is the organizational structure of theFraunhofer-Gesellschaft?

Fraunhofer: Fraunhofer profits from a decentralized or-ganizational model. Today, Fraunhofer means 67 institutesin Germany working in different fields yet under one legalframework and strong brand: Fraunhofer. This comes alongwith the close alignment of every Fraunhofer-Institute toone affiliated German university. This special relationshipis reflected by the fact that every Institute’s director at thesame time holds a chair at the affiliated university institute.

JUnQ: How many different Fraunhofer-Institutes are therecurrently in Germany and what is their main emphasis re-spectively?

Fraunhofer: Currently there are 67 Fraunhofer-Institutesin Germany. Their fields of research center around:

• Health and Environment: In addition to medical care,two key factors that also affect people’s health arenutrition and the environment. Current Fraunhoferresearch in the area of environmental and life sci-ences derives its key goals from these three factors.

• Security and Protection: The objective of safety re-searchers is to provide people and the environmentwith the best possible protection from threats. Theyadopt a long-term approach in order to gain controlof all the different phases that occur in a disaster,focusing on early detection, prevention, direct pro-tection and quickly overcoming the consequences ofa disastrous event.

• Mobility and Transport: The mobility of goods and

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Preface Fundamental vs. Applied Research

passengers has become an indispensable factor forindustry and society, and continually poses new chal-lenges for the scientific community: from vehicledevelopment to traffic management, from new safetyrequirements to efficient transport logistics. Fraun-hofer researchers are working on ways to make mo-bility safer, more efficient and more economical.

• Production and Supply of Services: A scarcity ofraw materials, a shortage of qualified workers, com-petitive pressure – these are only a few of the chal-lenges manufacturers face. Researchers are workingon energy- and resource-efficient processes for to-morrow’s manufacturing.

• Communication and Knowledge: Information andcommunication technology is an overlapping areathat covers almost all other research fields and sec-tors, from medicine and the media industry throughto the manufacturing sector. Digital technologiesopen up many new ways to communicate. Personal-ized, interactive and mobile learning methods help usto prepare for the work environment of the future.

• Energy and Resources: If we want heated homes,hot water for showers, and electricity to power ourovens, appliances and computers, we need energy.Until now it’s been mainly oil, coal and gas that havedriven the economy and supplied our home comforts.The problem is that, slowly but surely, these finiteresources are running out. It is imperative that weuse raw materials more efficiently – and that includesusing energy more efficiently, finding reliable waysto store it and redoubling efforts to tap renewables.

The main emphasis of the individual institutes is indicatedby their names. You can find a list here: http://www.fraunhofer.de/en/institutes-research-establishments.html

JUnQ: What is your main way of funding?

Fraunhofer: An important step for Fraunhofer towardsbeing a decisive column in the German innovation systemwas the introduction of the so-called Fraunhofer modelof financing - a performance-related system of financialmanagement. The underlying model of allocating and dis-tributing public funding to Fraunhofer and subsequentlywithin Fraunhofer to specific research groups (institutes) isone of the success factors of Fraunhofer. About 70 percentof the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s contract research revenueis derived from contracts with industry and from publiclyfinanced research projects. Around 30 percent of Fraun-hofer’s contract research budget is accounted for by basefunding provided by the German Federal Ministry of Edu-cation and Research (BMBF) and the state governments ina ratio of 90:10 for the internal use of the organization at its

own discretion. This enables the institutes to work aheadon solutions to problems that will not become acutely rele-vant to industry and society until five or ten years from now.

JUnQ: The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is known to promoteprimarily applied research. What are the reasons for that?Is fundamental research a topic at all?

Fraunhofer: With its clearly defined mission of applicationoriented research and its focus on key technologies of rel-evance to the future, Fraunhofer plays a prominent role inthe German and European innovation process. Applied re-search has a knock-on effect that extends beyond the directbenefits perceived by the customer. Through their researchand development work, the Fraunhofer-Institutes help toreinforce the competitive strength of the economy in theirlocal region, and throughout Germany and Europe.

They do so by promoting innovation, strengthening thetechnological base, improving the acceptance of new tech-nologies, and helping to train the urgently needed fu-ture generation of scientists and engineers. In addition,Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft carries out publicly funded pre-competitive research. This forms the basis of the contractresearch projects conducted for customers.

JUnQ: In this context, do you think that a differentiationbetween fundamental and applied research makes sense orisn’t it rather becoming more and more difficult to clearlydistinguish between the two?

Fraunhofer: Although the two are interlinked on manylevels, there is still an essential difference: Fundamen-tal research provides answers to basic scientific questionsbringing forward science itself. Applied science on theother hand provides solutions for practical problems; theresearch results are technologies that can be put into practi-cal use.

JUnQ: Do you put special emphasis on technology trans-fer? How important are cooperations with industry (alsowith respect to funding)?

Fraunhofer: Fraunhofer’s mission cannot be fulfilled byexcellent research alone, but has to be complemented bythe transfer of this research into real-life applications – inother words: innovations. Fraunhofer has various mecha-nisms for transferring knowledge to business and industry:

• Direct bilateral contract research: A Fraunhofer-Institute is contracted to perform work for a companyand invoices that work accordingly. The results to bedelivered and the price are fixed in a contract. Ne-gotiations on the use of intellectual property rightsare often a critical step because for Fraunhofer it isessential to be allowed to use generated knowledgefor further applications without compromising theinterests of the original client. Fraunhofer takes carenot to depend on a few individual companies for large

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portions of its contract work, so as not to be exposedto financial risk if and when such customers discon-tinue the relationship.

• Spin-offs: Companies founded by former Fraunhoferstaff. They often retain close ties to Fraunhofer be-cause their business is normally based on patentedFraunhofer inventions. In some cases, Fraunhofermay take on the role of a minority shareholder ofthe spin-off company, on condition that its shares aresold by the latest after 8 years.

• Licenses: Some Fraunhofer technologies or intellec-tual properties are licensed to customers without anyfurther contract research.

• Transfer of skilled minds: Every year, several hun-dred scientists leave the Fraunhofer-Institutes in or-der to take up a position in industry. They are highlyqualified and put to new use the know-how theygained at Fraunhofer.

• Strategic cooperation with companies on their ownpremises or at a Fraunhofer laboratory: For com-panies requiring long-term cooperation and ongo-ing support, Fraunhofer sometimes establishes smallproject groups on the company’s premises whereresearchers from both parties work together. Analternative option for companies is to lease labora-tory space on the premises of a Fraunhofer-Institute,where they can conduct their own R&D with the as-sistance of Fraunhofer researchers.

• Innovation clusters: Given the increasing complexityof innovations and the need to assemble teams com-posed of specialists in different fields, Fraunhofer hasadopted the concept of “innovation clusters”. Dif-ferent companies representing all links in the valuechain are brought together in order to develop com-mon standards and system solutions (for examplea group of 18 partners was formed to develop the“intelligent home”); Fraunhofer takes on the role ofcoordinator or prime contractor.

• Fraunhofer Academy: Fraunhofer organizes its ac-tivities in training and human resources development

as a separate business unit. As part of lifelong learn-ing, specialists and managers from business and in-dustry can acquire additional skills at Fraunhofer.Knowledge from the research conducted by the vari-ous institutes is transferred directly to companies byseminars and complete courses provided in coopera-tion with major universities.

JUnQ: Do companies contact you as an external scientificconsultant?

Fraunhofer: Companies rather contact Fraunhofer lookingfor expertise in R&D. One of many practical examples fromFraunhofer ICT-IMM is related to the expert’s knowledgeof nanoparticle technology: the internationally renownedresearch in nanoparticle synthesis and characterization is atypical door opener for industrial requests.

JUnQ: Additionally, it appears as if a lot of your institutesare dedicated towards studying social trends. Is that avenuea fallout of the entrepreneurial mindset of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft? Does this kind of monitoring help to priori-tize, which research areas to focus on primarily?

Fraunhofer: Social trends are actually only a rathermarginal subject of Fraunhofer research – but they do playan important role when doing research on solutions for real-life problems: Research in electro mobility, for instance,ties in with general developments in society’s mobility, re-search in solutions for energy supply cannot be conductedwithout keeping in mind the society’s energy needs, re-search in IT security will always have to consider society’suse of IT.

JUnQ: In your opinion, what sets the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft apart from other scientific societies like MaxPlanck or Helmholtz?

Fraunhofer: The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is the only re-search organization of these three specializing in appliedsciences. Our research always results in technologies thatprovide solutions for practical problems. Fraunhofer’s fo-cus lies on the transfer of research results to the markets.

JUnQ: Thank you very much for this interview.

—Kristina Klinker

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