Bangalore, October 30, 2012: The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft -- leading organization for applied research in Europe -- has opened a branch in Bangalore. The office expects to commence its endeavors on January 1, 2013. Fraunhofer’s researchers intend to work jointly with their Indian colleagues to advance ecological and economical automotive production. Over the next few years, they will be developing a simulator for electric vehicles, a software standard for compact cars, an automated 3-D inspection system as well as new joining technology that facilitates improvements to the joining of aluminum and synthetics to car bodies and engines. 
These subjects represent just one of four planned projects that comprise a cooperation agreement between Fraunhofer and the Coregroup of Automotive Research CAR, one of the initiatives associated with India’s Prime Minster. The cooperation agreement includes a corpus of Euro 675,000 , and among the participants are the Fraunhofer Institutes for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU, for Material and Beam Technology IWS, for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM and for Non-Destructive Testing IZFP.
In another project, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST are supporting the India-based company Asahi Glass in putting a glass coating system into operation. They presented onsite employee training sessions, proposed surface systems, delivered prototypes, assessed the production samples and continue to provide related assistance.

The executive management position at the Fraunhofer office in Bangalore will be held by Anandi Iyer, who is also Honorary Chairwoman of the European Business Group in Bangalore. Fraunhofer already works with 30 of the 50 leading companies in India and, last year, Indian companies outsourced 1.3 million euros worth of research projects to various Fraunhofer institutes.

2nd FIT conference: To mark the Bangalore opening, the 2nd Fraunhofer Innovation and Technology (FIT) Platform, was held in the city focussing on "Sustainable Technologies for the City of the Future” and highlighting some of the challenges posed by India’s rapid urbanization. (the first  FIT platform was held in Guargaon in February this year)

Speaking at the opening plenary, Prof. Hans Jorg Bullinger, Immediate Past President Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, spoke about the need to view each city as an “overall system”. “Carrying out isolated interventions and executing separate plans cannot offer an adequate solution to the challenges that lie ahead,” he said

Anandi Iyer, India Representative and Senior Advisor at Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, said: “Many countries globally have benefitted from the cutting-edge research into sustainable technologies undertaken by Fraunhofer and it is heartening to see India-based organizations, taking concrete steps to ensuring sustainability is embedded into their future growth plans.”
Other speakers at the day-long conference were Chetan Maini, Founder and Chief of Strategy and Technology, Mahindra Reva; Subu Gopuraju, Head-Infosys Labs and Products R&D; V. Sriram, Chief Operating Officer, ICRA Management Consulting Services Limited IMaCS; K. Jairaj, Chairman, Indian Institute of Sustainable Enterprises and Dr. Arvind Vadiraj, Advance Engineering Center, Ashok Leyland who shared the India-perspective on sustainability technologies and solutions.

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s research activities are conducted by 60 Fraunhofer Institutes at over 40 different locations throughout Germany. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft employs a staff of around 20,000, who work with an annual research budget totalling 1,8 billion euros. Roughly two thirds of this sum is generated through contract research on behalf of industry and publicly funded research projects. Branches in the USA and Asia serve to promote international cooperation.