Vol. 19, No. 36

July 20, 2000

German R&D group relocates site to park

Fraunhofer USA Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of one of the world's largest, nonprofit research and development organizations and which has an affiliation with the University of Delaware, held its annual meeting in Newark July 17-18. During that meeting, the board of directors agreed to move its Newark operation, the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing and Advanced Materials, to the Delaware Technology Park at Marrows and Wyoming roads. Fraunhofer is currently located in the UD's Institute of Energy Conversion off Wyoming Road. What's more, the Fraunhofer USA board agreed to open a biotechnology center in the United States. The Delaware Technology Park is currently the organization's first choice for its proposed biotechnology institute. The technology park, which is a partnership among academia, industry and the state, will become the home of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute when its $14 million building is completed in November. If Delaware is chosen as the location for Fraunhofer's U.S. biotechnology center, it will be a significant step forward for the state. The non-profit Fraunhofer, which conducts cutting-edge research and development on a contract basis for government and private industry, is the American subsidiary of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft of Munich, Germany. It employs 9,000 people in 49 research institutes and has annual revenues of approximately $1 billion. The 50-year-old organization, founded in 1949 to help stimulate Germany's devastated economy, is now Europe's largest and most renowned organization for application-oriented research and development. It is named for the German inventor and entrepreneur Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787-1826). Hans-Juergen Warnecke, president of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and chairman of Fraunhofer USA, was in Delaware for the annual meeting. Gov. Thomas R. Carper attended the event, along with UD faculty members from the Physics, Material Science and Mechanical Engineering departments. Representatives from private industry also were in attendance. Fraunhofer currently has six centers in the United States, including the four-year-old Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing and Advanced Materials, which is an Advanced Technology Center started as part of the state's technology initiative. The Fraunhofer organization likes to locate near universities to avail itself of academic resources and talent, Harald H. Eifert, executive director of Fraunhofer's Delaware operation, said. The Newark center has employed 34 students in the past four years, as well as serving as a research center for doctoral candidates at the University. Fraunhofer also collaborates with University professors on certain projects. "We use the expertise of the University faculty in several research fields," Eifert said. "By cooperating with University scientists on research and development projects we have with companies, we take advantage of both worlds – academia and private industry." Currently, Fraunhofer doesn't have biotechnology centers in the United States, although it has four institutes in Germany that are dedicated to developing products and technologies to improve the quality of life worldwide. "We are planning and evaluating a U.S. center in the same way we are setting up institutes in Germany," Eifert said. — Maureen Milford