The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, based in Germany, is one of the world’s leading applied research organizations. It plays a crucial role in the innovation process by prioritizing research in key future technologies and transferring its research findings to industry in order to strengthen Germany as a hub of industrial activity as well as for the benefit of society.

Founded in 1949, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft currently operates 76 institutes and research units throughout Germany. Its nearly 32,000 employees, predominantly scientists and engineers, work with an annual business volume of 3.4 billion euros; 3.0 billion euros of this stems from contract research, which is divided into three funding pillars. Fraunhofer generates a share of this from industry and license-fee revenue, totaling 836 million euros. This high proportion of industrial revenue is Fraunhofer's unique selling point in the German research landscape. Another share of contract research revenue comes from publicly funded research projects. The final share is base funding supplied by the German federal and state governments and enables our institutes to develop solutions now that will become relevant to the private sector and society in a few years.

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is a recognized non-profit organization that takes its name from Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787–1826), the illustrious Munich researcher, inventor and entrepreneur. 

Figures are from April 2024.