Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWSAccording to a survey by “FOCUS Business”, the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS is one of the 315 most innovative companies and institutions based in Germany. The institute in Halle (Saale), which specializes in application-oriented materials research, achieved the second-best score in the “Research / Development / Science” sector.
Creative minds are indispensable for shaping our future and for the progress of our society. Courageous and far-sighted solutions are just as important for the growth and competitiveness of companies. Together with the research institute FactField, the magazine “FOCUS Business” has determined which companies and institutions in Germany can be considered particularly innovative. The Fraunhofer IMWS is one of the eleven award winners in the “Research / Development / Science” sector. A total of 315 companies and institutions in 29 sectors were recognized as “Innovation Champions 2025”.
“In a rapidly changing world, the ability to innovate is essential. We make our expertise, our equipment and our network available to support companies in this. I am therefore delighted to receive the Innovation Champion award for our institute,” says Prof. Dr. Erica Lilleodden, Director of the Fraunhofer IMWS. “Our goal is to work with our customers to implement improved productivity, optimized resource utilization and new business opportunities through pioneering technologies. This enables them to consolidate their market position and assert themselves against disruptive changes. Especially in times of crisis, I believe that the ability to innovate is crucial, not only for the success of individual companies, but also for the prosperity of our society. I am very happy that we can make an effective contribution here with our research.”
The Fraunhofer IMWS has been an independent institute of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft since 2016 and supports its clients with diagnostics and technology development for materials, components and systems. The institute's core competencies lie in microstructure analysis and microstructure-based material design. Around 300 employees research the functionality, reliability and service life of materials in sectors such as electronics, plastics technology, photovoltaics, medical technology, optics and hydrogen technologies. The institute thus makes a decisive contribution to material efficiency and resource conservation and supports companies in the implementation of their innovation ideas.
Following a web-based pre-selection process, more than 20,000 companies were contacted and surveyed on the five subject areas of “Strategy and innovation culture”, “Products and services”, “Processes”, “Business model” and “Organization”. The results were supplemented by publicly available information, such as press coverage, awards or the number of registered patents. The data was then evaluated in a multi-stage process and converted into a points system. The institutions and companies with the best overall score were then included in the list of “Innovation Champions”. The Fraunhofer IMWS achieved the top score of “excellent” in the categories “Strategy and innovation culture”, “Products and services” and “Processes”, and the score of “very good” in the categories “Business model” and “Organization”, making it the second-highest overall score of the award-winning institutions in the “Research / Development / Science” sector.
(October 24, 2024)