Fraunhofer Society

The Fraunhofer Society (German: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e. V. — “Fraunhofer Society for the advancement of applied research”, ) is a German research organization with 60 institutes spread throughout Germany, each focusing on different fields of applied science (as opposed to the Max Planck Society, which works primarily on basic science.) It employs around 18,000 people, mainly scientists and engineers, with an annual research budget of about €1.65 billion. Some basic funding for the Fraunhofer Society is provided by the state (the German public, through federal government together with the German Länder, “owns” the Fraunhofer Society), but more than 70% of the funding is earned through contract work, either for government sponsored projects or from industry.

It is named after Joseph von Fraunhofer who, as a scientist, an engineer, and an entrepreneur, is said to have superbly exemplified the goals of the society.

The organization has seven centers in the United States, under the name “Fraunhofer USA”, and three in Asia. In October 2010, Fraunhofer announced that it would open its first research center in South America.