High-Performance Centers

High-performance centers organize the collaboration of university and non-university research with industry and are characterized by binding, consistent roadmaps of the partners involved in the performance dimensions of research and teaching, promotion of young researchers, infrastructure, innovation and transfer. They are an offer to politicians to prioritize the development of scientific excellence with social benefits.

The further development of the scientific landscape in Germany will take place through competition between locations for excellence and innovative strength. In the future, the science regions that succeed in developing integrated location concepts of a new quality and implementing them sustainably together with science, industry and politics will win.

As a high-profile applied research institution at the interface between science and industry, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft plays a key role in shaping innovation in Germany. In strategic cooperation with its partner universities, it is offering to further strengthen its commitment to the sustainable development of science locations into regional centers of excellence.

• They have an impressive thematic profile with a unique position at national and European level.
• They combine excellent research and teaching, education and training, transfer and economic activities to form a powerful innovation system with regional, national and European impact and international appeal.
• They involve the relevant players from science (universities, universities of applied sciences and non-university research institutes), business (SMEs, companies and associations) and politics and commit them to a joint roadmap.
• They have an efficient university as their regional anchor and core.
• They are primarily concentrated at one location, but also allow a transregional structure with networked locations for specific topics.
• They promote interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary and cross-industry cooperation.
• They strengthen the innovative power of small and medium-sized enterprises in particular.

The Fraunhofer strategy for sustainable location development does not primarily focus on new formats and instruments, but on new quality and commitment in performance and impact. The basis is the existing intensive cooperation with the universities and the regional networking with industry.

This is based on the excellence and leading-edge clusters, collaborative research centers, innovation alliances and the new instrument of the research campus, which the Fraunhofer Institutes and their scientists have played a key role in shaping. The Fraunhofer Innovation Clusters, which were introduced by Fraunhofer as part of the Pact for Research and Innovation, also form the basis for this. These clusters bundle the innovation-oriented research of Fraunhofer Institutes, their partner universities and regional industry into profile-generating regional focus areas. The new strategy is based on these elements.

Stage 1: Further development of locations into centers of excellence

The Fraunhofer strategy for sustainable location development has two main thrusts. The first stage involves the regional development of existing locations into centers of excellence. It is based on a topic-centered, strategic master plan that is developed by the participating Fraunhofer Institutes in close cooperation with the universities and involves other local science partners and the regional economy. The aim in each case is to effectively promote the location's profile within the framework of a roadmap through coordinated appointment policies, joint initiatives in research and teaching, education and training, transfer and utilization as well as coordinated investment initiatives in construction and equipment.

Stage 2: Transregional networking of Fraunhofer locations

The second stage focuses on the transregional networking of Fraunhofer locations. Thanks to the nationwide presence of its institutes at all major scientific locations, its intensive cooperation with local scientific partners and its professional ability to form cross-institute collaborations and systems research, Fraunhofer is in a position like no other institution to network locations into powerful research task forces that take the lead in relevant fields and deliver results in an excellence- and innovation-oriented manner.