Press Releases 2015

In the foresight process of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research Fraunhofer ISI and the VDI Technology Center have linked the societal change of the future with technological perspectives. The publication “Zukunft verstehen, Zukunft gestalten – Deutschland 2030: Ergebnisse des zweiten Foresight Zyklus“ summarises the most significant outcomes.

Germany is shortening the gap to Switzerland, which is still the international leader in innovation. The leading group is drawing closer together, while France and China are being left behind. In spite of many Hidden Champions in Germany, small and medium-sized enterprises only play a subordinate role in the national innovation system. They need better access to support programs, skilled workers from abroad and digital eco-systems according to the principle “Easy Access”.

In-house production is worth it, outsourcing harbors risks. So concludes the study, “The value of value added” by the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences and the Fraunhofer ISI. A major result of the study is the significantly positive influence that in-house value creation has on profit and productivity.

The world’s largest and fastest growing economies can help limit global warming to 2 degrees centigrade and save 2.8 trillion dollars at the same time – if they give high priority to energy efficiency. This is the result of the study “How energy efficiency cuts costs for a 2-degree future“ recently published by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI. The results will be presented on 4 December in Paris, where international climate negotiations currently take place.

The EU project Res-AGorA intends to develop a strategic governance frame for Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) – i.e. for research and innovation, which is orientated more than previously towards societal needs and values. Workshops with about 80 stakeholders identified barriers and developed possible solutions.

The EU’s 2011 White Paper on the future of transport set the objective that the majority of European passenger and freight transport over medium and long distances should take place using the environmentally-friendly transport modes of rail and waterways by 2050. At the same time, greenhouse gas emissions from transport should be reduced by 60 percent compared to 2005. Together with project partners representing policymaking, administration, industry, railway companies and academia, the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI examined under which conditions these goals can be achieved.

A total of 14 innovative and sustainable projects in five categories have been nominated for the German Innovation Prize for Climate and the Environment (IKU). The Federation of German Industry e.V (BDI) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Buildings and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) will award the German Innovation Prize for Climate and the Environment (IKU) for the fifth time on 20 January 2016.

Global markets, joint action, local solutions and different ways of dealing with crises and challenges: The European Research Area can develop into different directions; the project VERA reveals four possible futures. Under the leadership of the Fraunhofer ISI ten research institutions developed scenarios which show what this research area could look like.

In a new study, the Fraunhofer ISI has forecast the development of final consumption in Germany for the period from 2016 to 2020. The study also analyzed the surcharges set in the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) to refinance the expansion of renewable energies. The key finding is that final consumption will drop to about 460 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2016. As a result, the EEG surcharge increases to 6.354 cent per kilowatt hour for 2016.

Within the “MindER”, project – which stands for “Minderung des Eintrags von Röntgenkontrastmitteln in die Umwelt” (Reducing the emission of x-ray contrast agents to the environment), the Fraunhofer ISI is conducting studies over several weeks of the acceptance and feasibility of specific measures at the University Hospital of Ulm, the military hospital in Ulm and in participating radiology centers.