Fraunhofer and the Uni­ver­sity of Freiburg col­lab­or­ate for future-ori­ented research

On July 22, about 90 guests from gov­ern­ment, aca­demia and industry gathered for the ground­break­ing cere­mony of the Engin­eer­ing Cen­ter for Sus­tain­ab­il­ity (IZN) on the air­port cam­pus. The Fraunhofer-Gesell­schaft will ded­ic­ate the new build­ing to closer col­lab­or­a­tion between Fraunhofer and the Uni­ver­sity of Freiburg as part of their joint Depart­ment of Sus­tain­able Sys­tems Engin­eer­ing (INAT­ECH).

Span­ning around 2,700 square meters, the IZN’s three-story-build­ing will fea­ture state-of-the-art tech­nic­al infra­struc­ture, a mod­ern work­ing envir­on­ment and sus­tain­able archi­tec­tur­al design. Loc­ated in close prox­im­ity to the Fac­ulty of Engin­eer­ing, the Freiburg Innov­a­tion Cen­ter (FRIZ), the Fraunhofer Insti­tute for Phys­ic­al Meas­ure­ment Tech­niques IPM and the new Hahn-Schick­ard-Gesell­schaft build­ing, the planned con­struc­tion con­sol­id­ates research activ­it­ies on sus­tain­ab­il­ity on the air­port cam­pus in one place. The 36-mil­lion-euro invest­ment is fin­anced by the Fraunhofer-Gesell­schaft, with funds from the Ger­man fed­er­al gov­ern­ment and the Land of Baden-Württemberg.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hol­ger Hanselka, Pres­id­ent of the Fraunhofer-Gesell­schaft, Prof. Dr. Ker­stin Krieglstein, Rect­or of the Uni­ver­sity of Freiburg, Michael Klein­er, Min­is­teri­al Dir­ect­or at the Min­istry of Eco­nom­ic Affairs, Labor, and Tour­ism of Baden-Württem­berg, Mar­tin Horn, Lord May­or of the city of Freiburg, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Balle, Dean of the Fac­ulty of Engin­eer­ing, as well as the man­aging dir­ect­ors of all five Fraunhofer insti­tutes of Freiburg atten­ded the festivity.

Loc­al innov­a­tion for more glob­al sustainability

Sev­en pro­fess­ors jointly appoin­ted by the Uni­ver­sity of Freiburg and the Fraunhofer-Gesell­schaft will be work­ing at the new IZN build­ing. The goal is to devel­op tech­nic­al innov­a­tions that con­trib­ute to sus­tain­ab­il­ity goals and cre­ate eco­nom­ic oppor­tun­it­ies. Examples include the more effi­cient use of sol­ar energy, meas­ure­ment tech­no­logy for resource-sav­ing pro­duc­tion and cost-effi­cient infra­struc­ture main­ten­ance as well as energy-effi­cient elec­tron­ics and high-tech mater­i­als. Anoth­er uni­ver­sity facil­ity to house INAT­ECH pro­fess­or­ships nearby is already in the plan­ning stages. ​“The new IZN build­ing rep­res­ents our com­mit­ment to bring research out of the aca­dem­ic sphere into the cen­ter of soci­ety as a driver of innov­a­tion for sus­tain­able devel­op­ment, eco­nom­ic strength, and the respons­ible shap­ing of the future. With this new build­ing, we are show­ing that as a soci­ety, we are ready to invest in a sus­tain­able future, trust the power of sci­ence, and acknow­ledge that pro­gress and respons­ib­il­ity go hand in hand,” said Michael Kleiner.

More tech­no­lo­gic­al break­throughs from Freiburg

“With today’s ground­break­ing cere­mony for the Engin­eer­ing Cen­ter for Sus­tain­ab­il­ity (IZN), we are tak­ing an import­ant step toward a sus­tain­able future,” stated Prof. Hol­ger Hanselka, Pres­id­ent of the Fraunhofer Soci­ety. ​“The IZN will not only intensi­fy cooper­a­tion between the Fraunhofer insti­tutes in Freiburg and the Uni­ver­sity of Freiburg but also con­trib­ute as an incub­at­or for tech­nic­al innov­a­tions to achieve glob­al sus­tain­ab­il­ity goals – from renew­able ener­gies to resource-effi­cient pro­duc­tion. This is how we can shape the future of research and tech­no­logy in Freiburg together.”

Trans­fer for a key future field

By estab­lish­ing the IZN, the Uni­ver­sity of Freiburg and the Fraunhofer Soci­ety are expand­ing their part­ner­ship in a key future field, strength­en­ing Freiburg as a research cen­ter. ​“Our col­lab­or­a­tion with the Fraunhofer Insti­tutes with­in the frame­work of INAT­ECH allows us to shape the entire pro­cess, from basic research to applic­a­tion, togeth­er. This enables us to gain new sci­entif­ic insights and con­trib­ute to genu­ine innov­a­tions in the future-ori­ented field of sus­tain­able tech­nic­al sys­tems – a core top­ic of our research focus ​‘Path­ways to Sus­tain­ab­il­ity.’ The IZN thus becomes an import­ant build­ing block on our way to a vibrant, net­worked, and innov­at­ive trans­fer eco­sys­tem,” explained Rect­or Prof. Dr. Ker­stin Krieglstein.