Fraunhofer in India

Fraunhofer signs MoUs with Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises and HMT Limited.  

Partnering at Indo-German Summit "Digitising Tomorrow Together"

Bangalore: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has signed several Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with Ministry of Heavy Industries Government of India and HMT Limited on 05th October 2015 in the presence of the two dignitaries, Hon’ble Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, and Hon’ble Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India in Delhi. The MoUs signed throw light on the Indo-German trade that spans over 500 years and strengthen the basis for strong business and economic ties between the two countries.

Brief details on the above mentioned MoUs:

• Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Government of India and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft wish to collaborate in the field of manufacturing and have announced Fraunhofer as their Technology Resource Partner for the same. The objective is to support and augment the "Make in India" programme through increasing the innovation and technology prowess of Indian industry. The activities include creating a roadmap for technological development for Indian industry, identifying and plugging technology gaps, implementation of identified projects in manufacturing, working with various stakeholders in Government, Industry & Academia for increasing cooperation in applied research.
  
  
• HMT Limited and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft wish to focus on the Development of new features in existing products, new product development, analysis of design for Improvement and new technology development. HMT seeks to engage in an exercise to focus on its core competencies and upgrade its technology.
  
  After signing the MoUs, Mr. Frank Treppe, Director Corporate Strategy and International Affairs and Associated Member of the Board of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, said: "By signing various MoUs today, Fraunhofer has won important partners in India. The cooperation will provide valuable insights into the Indian production sector to Fraunhofer and will certainly help our Indian partners to implement fast-track innovation processes".
  
  

Fraunhofer has been active in India for many years through its individual institutes. The brand Fraunhofer came to India in the middle of 2008. Fraunhofer works with 30 of the 50 leading companies in India and in the last five years, contracts worth nearly 8 Million Euros were signed. Fraunhofer makes innovative technologies accessible to Indian clients and establishes strategic partnerships with Indian Industry and Research Organisations. In India, Fraunhofer has received tremendous response and encouragement from the industry across sectors such as Production Technologies, Renewable Energy, Materials, Automobile, Textile, Aerospace and many more. Fraunhofer has engaged with its peers strongly, not only to support the local ecosystem but to also gain valuable insights into the Indian R&D scenario.

As one of the most dynamic markets in Asia and worldwide, India offers various very interesting cooperation perspectives for Fraunhofer – through unique and regionally specific demands as well as an intensive Indo-German industry relation in international value chains. Fraunhofer cooperates for example with Indian suppliers of German automotive manufacturers and thus helps them reach the requisite quality standards.

 

Industry event "Digitising Tomorrow Together – An Indo-German Summit" deepens partnership

The two dignitaries will also be addressing at an event organised by Fraunhofer India and NASSCOM "Digitising Tomorrow Together – An Indo-German Summit" in Bangalore on Tuesday, 06^th October 2015. With promoting Industrie 4.0 being one of the agenda at the event, Professor Boris Otto from Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow & Logistics in Dortmund, Germany, will be speaking at the event highlighting the significance of Industrie 4.0. Other than Ms. Anandi Iyer, Director Fraunhofer India, Mr. Frank Treppe, Director Corporate Strategy and International Affairs, Associated Member of the Board, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft will also be present at the event.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Frank Treppe from Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft said, "When it comes to Smart Manufacturing, India and Germany are natural partners. Whereas mechanical engineering has been for a long time a key competency of German industry and academia, India has been for decades very strong in information technology. I believe that an enhanced cooperation of our countries in smart manufacturing will provide valuable insights for shaping a digital future in manufacturing".

Ms. Anandi Iyer, Director, Fraunhofer India, "It has been an exciting journey for Fraunhofer in India. In the last five years we have gained a number of very interesting clients from Industry and Government. While our main activities in India have been to provide contract research services to our clients and help them to leapfrog in new technologies and innovations, we are also deeply involved to strengthen the Industry-Academia collaboration in India as well as to contribute to skill building. The MoUs will help us to understand the India Story even better and make a valuable contribution to the Innovation and R&D capability in India".