About Fraunhofer FOKUS
Fraunhofer FOKUS – Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems
Institute
The Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems, Fraunhofer FOKUS for short, is a Berlin-based research facility devoted to studying and developing communication and information technologies. In particular, it specializes in multi-domain networks and interoperable, user-centered solutions. With more than 20 years experience, Fraunhofer FOKUS is an important IT research partner for the telecommunications sector, the automobile industry, media services, and public administrations. It frequently cooperates with governmental agencies and software companies to create need-oriented eGovernment solutions and is a leading collaborator in projects funded by the European Union as well as by national-level sponsors such as BMBF and BMWi.
International Cooperations
In fiscal year 2009, the operating budget for FOKUS totaled 17 million euros, 65 percent of which was generated from contract research. Its most important partners are Microsoft, NTT Corporation Tokyo, IBM, Huwai und Samsung. As of the beginning of 2009, FOKUS employed 259 individuals from 22 countries. Fraunhofer FOKUS works closely together with research facilities nationwide, teams up with partner from industry and academia in projects funded by the European Union, and cooperates with universities in Germany and Europe, such as Technische Universtität Berlin, Waterford Institute of Technology in Dublin, Universitatea Politehnica Din Bucuresti or Univesitat Politecnica De Catalunya in Barcelona.
Competence Center Future Applications and Media (FAME)
Be it on your mobile device, TV set or car - FOKUS Competence Center for Future Media and Applications (FAME) develops future web technologies to offer intelligent services and applications. Our team of visionaries combines creativity and innovation with their technical expertise for the creation of interactive media. These technologies enable smart personalization and support future web functionalities on various platform from diverse domains. The experts rigorously focus on web-based technologies and strategically use their open standards. In the FOKUS Hybrid TV Lab our experts develop future IPTV technologies compliant to current standards with emphasis on advanced functionality, convergence and interoperability.
The FOKUS Open IPTV Ecosystem offers one of the first solutions for standardized IPTV services and core components of the OIPF standards. Among key technologies are Media Web Runtime, Non-Linear Video, IPTV, Connected TV, Rich Media Entertainment as well as Mobile Web and Service Mash-ups. The portfolio is complemented by efficient Recommendation Systems and Social Network Management. The algorithms allow for an intelligent filtering of media content and thereby an exact adjustment of the applications to the personal interests of the user. All technical solutions that are developed at the Competence Center comply with applicable international standards.
Fraunhofer FOKUS is represented in European standardization committees like ETSI TISPAN, the Open IPTV Forum, W3C and WAC and thus decisively contributes to the definition of standards and their worldwide implementation. FOKUS has participated in multiple national and international research projects addressing the aforementioned research challenges in media technology, interactive and personalized TV services as well as IPTV applications and infrastructures.