The digitalization of the public administration is in full swing. To ensure that employees are also qualified for digitized work, the IT Planning Council has launched the Qualifica Digitalis research project.

The European Commission has been working for more than ten years to standardize mobile chargers on the European market. For a legislative proposal, the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs has commissioned a study on the technical options regarding the standardization. Fraunhofer FOKUS was also involved in the recent publication, in addition to IPSOS and Trinomics under the leadership of the Italian consultancy Economisti Associati.

In the “Ride4All” project, a model route for barrier-free public transport will be established over the next two years. Users will travel from Soest to Paradiese station in automated minibuses accompanied by an inclusive app with barrier-free operation. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure with 2.3 million euros.

Fraunhofer FOKUS supports the new research project “Shuttles & Co - Digital Test Field Urban Traffic” in the Reinickendorf disctrict of Berlin with self-updating, open road maps and the direct exchange of sensor data of different road users.

The latest publication of our Competence Center Public IT (ÖFIT) entitled “(Un)fathomable? Artificial Intelligence as a source of order” ((Un-)ergründlich? Künstliche Intelligenz als Ordnungsstifterin) examines perspectives and challenges of this key technology.

The newly founded Berlin Institute for the Foundation of Learning and Data (BIFOLD) pools AI expertise in the capital. In addition to the three large Berlin universities TU Berlin, FU Berlin and HU Berlin, BIFOLD also includes the Charité and the universities in Potsdam and Braunschweig.

An always up-to-date, highly accurate digital map is essential for automated, connected driving. In the project “Safari: Digital Test Field Urban Traffic”, Fraunhofer FOKUS and its partners have been developing software over the last two and a half years that detects changes, such as missing signs or new road works, on the road to enable a self-updating, open map of Berlin.

The Executive Board of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has decided to appoint Dr. Tom Ritter as Deputy Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems FOKUS. The computer scientist took over his position in November 2019 and will support the managing director of the institute, Prof. Dr. Manfred Hauswirth, in his various tasks.