M a y 4 – 6 , 2 0 2 3 Exhibition »Down to Earth Space Technology« Come by! There will be a science trail, an open lab, a science café and exciting presentations (suitable for ages 12 and up) Fraunhofer-Forum Berlin Anna-Louisa-Karsch-Strasse 2 10178 Berlin, Germany

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Contents 38 Title The penicillin of our day Artificial intelligence can detect diseases at an earlier stage, improve treatments and reduce the strain on medical personnel. In spite of this, it is barely used in hospitals. 03 Editorial 06 Brief report, Editorial notes 24 Out of the danger zone Virtual reality is helping children gain a better understanding of dangerous road traffic situations 28 Fly larvae pig out for mother nature The larvae of the black soldier fly contain saturated fatty acids that could replace palm oil 30 Breathe in — and breathe easy! Keeping up with the viruses: RNA- based medications are the new up-and-coming contender in the fight against diseases like influenza 2035: the hard stop for combustion engines What drives the car of tomorrow? Fraunhofer researchers are working flat out to improve battery lifespans and increase their energy density — and it’s all to improve the range of electric vehicles. 10 Sustainable, self-sufficient vehicles E-cars are only genuinely environmentally friendly when they are powered by renew- able energy. And capturing solar energy via car roofs is already more than just a nice idea. Learn how researchers are developing pow- erful batteries and helping Europe achieve greater technological independence 17 Making autonomous vehicles safer Researchers at Fraunhofer EMI are develop- ing a filter that can specifically identify critical scenarios in road traffic environments 18 Biomass beats gas! Converting sewage sludge into sustainable fuel 22 A voice from the business world CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer Polestar Thomas Ingenlath 50 “An artificial intelligence ecosystem” Judith Gerlach, Bavaria’s 37-year-old minister for digital affairs, is the current chair of the D16 board of German ministers with responsibility for the digital domain. In this interview, she discusses her goals — and “The Little Witch.” 4 10

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Brief report “Roberta — Learning with Robots” celebrates its 20th birthday Some 20 years ago, the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS launched the educational initiative Roberta to raise interest in technology, computer science, and science subjects among young girls — and it’s become a true success story. “Robots offer children and teenagers an appealing way to access computer science,” says Beate Jost, technical manager of the Roberta initiative and project manager at Fraunhofer IAIS. To date, Roberta coaches from Fraunhofer IAIS have trained more than 3,500 teachers in robotics and programming, thereby reaching over 650,000 schoolchildren. With the sup- port of Google.org, Fraunhofer IAIS has developed the open graphic programming platform Open Roberta to bring the robots to life. Participants can have fun using the drag-and-drop function to create programs for various microcontrollers and robots. Since 2014, this free service has succeeded in reaching children and teenagers in more than 120 countries. Roberta has just welcomed its ten millionth user — coinciding with its 20th birthday. Join in here: https://lab.open-roberta.org More years of service than Angela Merkel: the robots of the Roberta initiative. Nao the robot was programmed by Berlin schoolchildren under the guidance of Beate Jost, project manager at Fraunhofer IAIS (right). Rheumatoid arthritis, a common condition: Even severely bent fingers can get optimal treatment using this joint implant. More mobility with AI The FingerKIt consortium, which rep- resents the combined forces of five Fraunhofer institutes, is using artificial intelligence (AI) to produce 3D-printed finger joint implants. To this end, the scientists developed AI-based software that can use 2D X-ray images to generate 3D models of the finger bones and cor- rect any malpositioning. Following this, the researchers derived the individual implant design from the finger model and sent it for 3D printing. Because the design is modeled on the original joint, it has the advantage of achieving far higher levels of mobility than conven- tional implants. The 3D printing process also allows the surface of the shaft to be structured in such a precise way that it can achieve more effective growth into the bone. 6

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Forklifts travel at 6 to 7 kilometers per hour and may have an unladen weight of over 500 kilograms. Greater safety in warehouse logistics In the future, custom-developed optical sensors for vehicles like pallet trucks and forklifts could provide warehouse staff with better protection in their day-to- day work. “Our system is designed to protect users from crush injuries, especially in the area around the feet,” explains Prof. Peter Hartmann, director of the Fraunhofer Application Center for Optical Metrology and Surface Technologies AZOM. An innovative proximity sensor detects whether the operator has come too close to the hazardous area in front of the vehicle and automatically applies the brakes. “This technology can be used in just about any transportation vehicle. It’s a particularly intriguing prospect for autonomous vehicles,” says Dr. Christopher Taudt, Surface Metrology group manager at Fraunhofer AZOM. He and his team aim to further optimize the technology behind the safety mechanisms. “Currently, we’re working on the idea of integrating the sensors into a kind of retrofittable sensor strip rather than making them a fixed part of the vehicle. That would allow them to be added to vehicles of any type from a whole range of manufacturers,” he explains. According to statistics from the German Social Acci- dent Insurance (DGUV) association, the most common injuries caused by pallet trucks and forklifts, known collectively as floor handling equipment, are bruising, crushing and fractures. As it stands, these vehicles do not feature any safety technology for preventing accidents in the area around the feet. 8 Getting a feel for individuals with autism In research projects, the participation of the target group is crucial. As part of the UFO project, which uses VR-based neurofeedback training to support the inclusion of indi- viduals with autism in the workplace, employees from Fraunhofer IAO took part in an autism awareness session run by its consortium partner auticon, which allowed participants to experience the confusion that can arise from a lack of understanding. Individuals with autism are often accused of lacking emotion, and some imply that autism is a disease you can contract. Such preconceptions can crush an autistic per- son’s career plans. Some 5 to 15 percent of people have difficulty regu- lating their emotions or identifying with others — and this occurs 40 to 65 percent more frequently among individuals with autism. That is not to say that this is always the case with autistic people, nor is it exclusive to them. The double empathy problem, as it is known, has become a matter of much research: Where knowledge about differences is lacking, the deficit of empathy for individuals with autism actually lies with neurotypical people. They confuse a factual communicative style with a lack of feeling. Here, UFO aims to create further added value by involving the target group, represented by auti- con, in the development process. To find out more about the UFO project see the Fraunhofer IAO blog: https://s.fhg.de/ufo Love Depression Shame Researchers in Finland have investigated the areas of the body where different emotions are felt. They believe that physical changes are the root of conscious perceptions of emotion.

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Mobility of the future Mobility that’s fit for the future: Dr. Martin Heinrich of Fraunhofer ISE is hoping to give the mobility transition a jump-start by using the car body to capture solar energy. 10

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 M obility of the future equals electromobility: a simple equation, and to see the proof, you need only cast your eye out to the street. In fact, global sales figures for electric vehi- cles — i.e., battery-powered and hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrids and vehicles with fuel cells — increased more than tenfold between 2010 and 2021, from just about 838,000 to more than 9,345,000 vehicles. Germany was well at the head of this trend: although less than 6,000 electric vehi- cles were sold nationwide in 2010, the figure had jumped to 750,000 by 2021. The pioneering field of e-mobility faces a big challenge in the form of batteries; every stage brings up issues to resolve, from manufacturing to disposal. Researchers at institutes and developers at automotive manufacturers are working hard to increase the energy density of the batteries — which would, in turn, increase the vehicles’ range — through novel material combina- tions and new cell designs, improving the batteries’ safety and lifespan and reducing production costs. Photovoltaics in the mobility sector? E-cars are only genuinely environmentally friendly when they are powered by electricity from renewable sources. As such, the ideal solution would be to generate energy at the point where it is needed, while the car is on the move. And capturing solar energy on car rooftops has already become more than just a nice idea. “We are working with a number of vehicle manufacturers to integrate solar cells into the car body,” confirms Dr. Martin Heinrich. A group manager at the largest solar research institu- tion in Europe, the 1,400-employee-strong Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, he has made it his mission to “produce as much of the required energy as possible on the vehicle itself, independently of any other source.” As part of the “3D” project, the researchers set out to manufacture curved solar modules — this shape would make it possible to integrate them inconspicuously into car rooftops. The greatest challenge here was the lamination process required to make the photovoltaic modules wind and weather proof. The question was, how can manufacturers work with the bent modules while still guaranteeing the required uniform temperature and homogeneous pressure across the entire surface? This problem has been solved, at least for some specific vehicles. For example, the automotive manufacturer Mercedes has already integrated the project’s solar roof into its EQXX show car — invisibly, of course. The car’s 117 solar cells supply a 12 volt battery, which then powers the full-dashboard display, among other things. This appreciably reduces the load on the high-voltage battery — the solar energy from the roof contributes a total of 25 kilometers to the car’s 1,000 kilometer range. But car rooftops have space for even more cells: “If you were to integrate 366 invisible solar cells onto a car roof, they would generate 2,000 kilometers of range in the course of a year, according to initial rough estimates — on a good summer’s day, you could get as much as 10 kilometers,” Dr. Heinrich suggests. The overall potential is enormous: if you were to take the rooftop space of all the vehicles in Germany, you would have a surface area for generating solar power that’s double the size of Liechtenstein. The exact amount of energy generated depends on how much sunlight hits the modules during journeys and parking time, so Dr. Heinrich’s colleagues are researching how much sunshine falls on Germany’s roads. As part of the project PV2Go, researchers have developed sensors used by more than 60 volunteers across Germany on their roofs of their cars — they have been driving around the country since the start of 2022. If the car starts moving, the sensor collects data that is accurate to the nearest second, sending it to the server via a wireless connection. “We are using this data to develop and validate a model that predicts solar irradiation on a particular driving route, “Our goal is to produce as much of the required energy as possible on the vehicle itself, independently of any other source.” Dr. Martin Heinrich, Fraunhofer ISE 12

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Lasting as long as possible: Dr. Luciana Pitta Bauermann, a project manager at Fraunhofer ISE, wants to increase the lifespan of battery cells. 14

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 gas and can cause fires or even explosions. In addition to mechanical characterization, the team is also testing the thermal runaway process itself, along with the related internal cell safety mechanisms. To test the reliability of these safety mechanisms in the event of a breakdown, the researchers have developed a high-speed X-ray device — a novel piece of equipment that is unrivaled on the mar- ket. There were more challenges to overcome than just the high frame rate, although at 1,000 to 10,000 frames per second, the rate required for capturing high-speed processes is by no means negligible. To protect the X-ray device from explosions and damage, the team developed a robust protection chamber that the X-rays could pen- etrate, which was then used to house the battery cells during testing. At the module level, the researchers are concentrating on questions such as whether thermal insulation can prevent cell-to-cell propagation of thermal runaway. They have also recently expanded their portfo- lio to include crash testing for entire battery packs with capacities of up to 50 kilowatt hours. The new building where the researchers can conduct these tests by smash- ing impactors and batteries together was only opened in December 2022. “In the neighboring department, the Crash Center, we have learned what stresses affect the batteries during accidents. However, the center cannot be used to carry out tests with charged batteries, as the facility is not set up for that,” Dr. Schopferer points out. “This means we have to extract the stresses that affect the batteries from the overall vehicle crash tests, and then reproduce these stresses with our own equipment.” European battery cell manufacturing? It’s time to make the idea a reality! At present, most battery cells are manufactured in China — and as we have seen in recent years, these kinds of dependencies can be quite problematic. That means that increasing industry resilience needs to be a top pri- ority. But how is the European battery cell manufacturing scene doing? Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI are collecting the data needed to answer this question in BEMA2020 II, a project initiated by the German Federal Ministry of Edu- cation and Research (BMBF). “The European market for battery cells is experiencing a lot of momentum,” reveals Dr. Lukas Weymann. “Many battery cell manufacturers have reported significant growth, while start-ups and established automotive manufacturers are also getting involved in mass production of battery cells.” In 2022, European manufacturers could produce a maximum battery cell capacity of a little over 100 gigawatt hours; however, by 2030, this figure is set to reach 1,700 gigawatt hours. “The challenge does not lie in getting more stake- holders involved in constructing battery cell factories in Europe in the coming years. In fact, the critical question is, how can we make the existing plans for mass produc- tion in Europe a reality in the near future and with suffi- cient quality levels?” asks Dr. Weymann of Fraunhofer ISI. Research on the road to gigafactories “When it comes to battery cell design and new materials for the batteries, Germany and Europe are very well-po- sitioned; however, we are lagging behind in the area of large-scale production,” confirms Dr. Thomas Paulsen, a group manager at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production FFB. Fraunhofer FFB has set out to tackle precisely this challenge, by acting as an open research platform for scaling product and process inno- vations. Asia is leading the pack in terms of battery cell production and it has no interest in sharing its knowledge with Europeans. “We want to build up experience in the mass production of battery cells and — most impor- tantly — act as an open research platform for exchanging these learnings,” explains Dr. Paulsen. Fraunhofer FFB was launched in 2019 as part of the FoFeBat project on researching battery cell production, which is funded by the BMBF. If all goes to plan, then the Münster-based Fraunhofer facility will become an institute in 2024. The first two battery production steps (out of a total of 19) are already underway. These involve preparing the anode slurry, a battery mixture that may consist of graphite, binding agents, conductive additives and aqueous sol- vents, and coating and drying the electrodes. Construction is also nearly complete for the FFB PreFab, a building with 3,000 square meters of research space that could theoretically achieve production capac- ities of up to 200 megawatt hours per year. Why “theoret- ically”? Because, to reach these figures, all the equipment would have to work faultlessly around the clock. And that is not the goal of the FFB. Instead, the aim is to research production processes and environments with a view to making production cheaper, quicker and more environ- mentally friendly. The process of drying the electrodes is a good example here. At the moment, the process functions much like a pizza oven, meaning that it is incredibly energy intensive. This is why the researchers are working on an alternative drying process based on infrared beams, which are a far more energy-efficient option. Lasers could also be used for the drying procedure. “We know that this method works at a small scale, but not whether it could be scale up for a gigafactory. In FoFeBat, we are filling the gap that currently exists in Germany between the proto- type stage and the gigafactory. We are also breaking new ground, in that we are consciously entering very high technology readiness levels,” enthuses Dr. Paulsen. 16

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Biomass beats gas! Drivers have bewailed the record highs in gas and diesel prices over the past year. However, the EU proj- ect To-Syn-Fuel could pave the way forward here, as researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Environ- mental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT are developing a new method of producing fuel, which they have already implemented at a pilot scale. “We manufacture fuels from waste biomass such as sew- age sludge, which results in sustainable fuels without any conflict with food production or use of plants that should serve as foodstuffs or animal fodder. This fuel delivers a carbon footprint reduction of over 85 percent per kilometer driven when compared to fossil fuels,” says Dr. Robert Daschner, head of department at Fraunhofer UMSICHT. The development is based on the well-established pyrolysis process, whereby biomass is heated to tem- peratures of up 600 degrees Celsius in the absence of oxygen until it is converted into oil. Dr. Daschner goes on to explain what makes the TCR® process developed by Fraunhofer UMSICHT so special: “We significantly improved the quality of the resulting oil, to the point that it’s comparable with crude oil. This oil can then be processed via conventional refinery methods to convert it into fuels that meet the most important standard requirements for gas and diesel — meaning that they can be used with- out any need for engine alterations or impact on performance.” The researchers achieved this quality hike by adding a second step to the procedure, so that the usual pyrolysis process is followed by a ther- mocatalytic reforming step. The team uses the car- bon material produced in the pyrolysis as a catalyst in order to purify the synthesis steam even more and extract high-quality oil from it. The process is already running at a demonstration plant that has so far extracted more than 50,000 li- ters of biogenic crude oil from 500 tons of sewage sludge. In other words, the facility can convert 10 tons of biomass into 1 ton of crude oil every day. The demonstrator plant was also used to refine some of the crude oil to produce fuel, which then powered a test vehicle through a 2,000 kilometer round trip across Europe. A German refineryis al- ready planning to utilize sewage sludge on a large scale, with a bigger plant set to commence opera- tions in 2023 and commercial operations set to start between 2024 and 2025. The mobility transition is in full swing. 18 Driving without gas or diesel? Dr. Robert Daschner of Fraunhofer UMSICHT is getting there — with sewage sludge. “We manufacture fuels from waste biomass, which results in sustainable fuels without any conflict with food production or use of plants that should serve as foodstuffs or animal fodder.” Dr. Robert Daschner, Fraunhofer UMSICHT

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 “Our only chance of catching up with Asian countries’ head start in terms of battery cell production lies in digitalizing, and thus also optimizing production.” Joachim Montnacher, Fraunhofer IPA Battery cell production meets the digital transformation Asian countries have gained a head start in battery cell production — so how can Germany and Europe catch up? “Solid mechanical engineering is not going to be enough there,” asserts Joachim Montnacher, head of the Energy business unit at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufac- turing Engineering and Automation IPA. “The digital transformation is our only chance of regaining the ground we have lost,” he adds. “In specific terms, by digitalizing, and thus also optimizing production.” The key issues are the economic viability of the manufacturing process and the quality of the resulting cells. This is because the more cells roll off a factory’s production line, the higher the reject pile grows. “If a gigafactory were to produce a billion cells per year and 10 percent of those goods were defective, you would be rejecting 100 million cells — that would be an enormous waste of materials,” explains Prof. Kai Peter Birke, head of the Center for Digitalized Battery Cell Manufacturing ZDB at Fraunhofer IPA. The researchers hope to improve these figures by digitalizing the entire value chain, in projects such as a DigiBattPro 4.0. “We can validate our approaches on a large production line with mass-scale capabilities in a live operational setting with the help of our industry partner VARTA,” reports Florian Maier of Fraunhofer IPA. “We can even rent out the entire production line in order to conduct our own experiments over the course of a full production shift. This means we can use a real-world setting to prove that our digitaliza- tion approach is suitable for the industry sector.” The aim here is to use the data to predict the quality of the finished battery during earlier production steps, in what is known as a predictive quality process. This will facilitate immediate removal of low-quality cells. “That is the top of the pyramid that we are trying to climb,” explains Mr. Maier. “However, we must first lay the foun- dations, that is, automatic data collection. After all, no human being could manually enter the data for the tens of thousands of cells that would be manufactured every hour.” The researchers hope to optimize the repeatability of the production process using cloud systems, real-time data processing and, in the long term, even digital twins — and to make German and European battery cell produc- tion competitive in the process. “The train hasn’t left the station,” affirms Prof. Birke. “We still have a chance to regain technology leadership in the next generations of battery cells. However, the next decade will be focused on production, not new cell technologies.” The alternative option: fuel cells Fuel-cell-powered vehicles constitute another contender amid the ranks of electric vehicles — and thus also a beacon of hope for the mobility of tomorrow. These cars combine hydrogen fuel with air to form water and electrical energy, which then powers the electric engine. However, they must overcome much the same challenges as battery-powered vehicles. The sector is facing enor- mous pressure in terms of costs, which means that fuel cells have to become cheaper. The installation space is also limited, in trucks as much as regular cars — so the modules have to be as small as possible. And if they are to be deployed in trucks, then their lifespan must be increased even further. In project SinterGDL, researchers at Fraunhofer IFAM in Dresden are working to reduce the costs of fuel cells for trucks, while also delivering a more compact cell design. The goal of the project is to develop a novel PEM stack unit that is both cheap and compact. The core element of the unit is the gas diffusion layer (GDL), which facilitates the supply of equal amounts of hydrogen and air over the entire surface area — which can be as big as a letter-size sheet of paper — and the removal of heat, water and elec- 20

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 A voice from the business world A former car designer for the Volkswagen Group, Thomas Ingenlath has been CEO of Polestar, a Swedish e-car specialist, since 2017. 22 Turning a corner Electrification is just the beginning: Even if the automotive industry transitioned to selling entirely electric cars tomorrow, its emissions would still be far above its total CO2 “budget.” At this crucial juncture in history, all the stakeholders in the sector must realize that it’s time to work together. So says Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of the Swedish electric car manufacturer Polestar.

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Focusing on safety: Nowadays, VR headsets can change young people’s perspectives in important ways. Out of the danger zone Rethinking traffic education: Persuading teenagers to think ahead on the road and prioritize their own safety, using smart data and virtual reality. By Beate Strobel Focusing on correct behavior: In the 1960s, children practiced crossing the road at driving schools. 24

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Important analysis: What caused the accident — and what can we learn from it? anonymous accident reports together with their geographical references. As they pore over the reports, the seventh-grade stu- dents realize the roads that feature time and again — Nordstraße, Karl-Marx-Straße, Straße des Friedens — are the ones they use every day. Reports such as that of a child who was fatally struck by a truck turning right onto a road as they were crossing — a road that the students pass each day — cause a chilled silence in the classroom. Mr. Preller asks the class: “How can you avoid this happening to you?” “Be more careful?” comes one uncertain reply. “Think ahead and stay on the defensive,” says Mr. Preller more precisely. He repeats this key point once more, to drill it in: “Think ahead! And stay on the defensive!” However, the young people are only able to see things from a cyclist’s or pedestrian’s point of view; they have difficulty anticipating the reactions of other road users. What does a driver see when they pull out of a parking space? And when a truck driver wants to turn right, are they even able to see the person on the cycle path, who also has a green light but wants to move straight ahead? Mr. Preller hands out tablets to the students — the display shows a stylized representation of an intersection. Using their fingers, the teenagers can place var- ious types of road users on the road, from truck drivers and motorists to cyclists and pedestrians. A second window displays what the motorist, truck driver or cyclist is actually seeing. When a cyclist is placed to the right of a truck, the teenagers try pushing him further and further forward — finally, he appears as a tiny figure in the truck driver’s field of vision. “That far forward?” says one girl, surprised. “But that’s basically at the intersection!” “VR gives us the chance to experience all the emotions of an accident, without risking life and limb.” Nora Strauzenberg, traffic psychologist at Fraunhofer IVI The young people are far more capti- vated by their task on the tablets than by evaluating graphs on paper. The research- ers at Fraunhofer IVI want to go a step further and allow students to virtually experience typical accident scenarios using VR headsets. As with FAPS, the follow-up project PAPS-XR (Public Accident Prevention School with eXtended Reality) also involves Wildstyle Network GmbH and other partners from the digital economy. Rather than using the acronym PAPS-XR, however, co-CEO Steve Nitzschner prefers to call it Collision Zero, meaning that there should never be another child involved in a road traffic accident. His vision is a little unrealistic, but that doesn’t bother Mr. Nitzschner: “I’d rather aim too high than too low,” he says. When it comes to the safety of our children and young people, it’s alright to be “a bit big for your boots,” he says. A prototype has already been produced for the VR headsets. Put them on, and you’ll find yourself looking at the very same intersection displayed on the tablet. Using a joystick, you can choose whether you want to travel by car, truck or bicycle. Do you want to squeeze your bike past the right side of a truck, and then make a turn? Not a good idea. Suddenly, you see the truck appear on your left. The resulting crash will only take place in the virtual realm, but you’ll feel as if you are falling to the ground with your bike. As the truck driv- er, on the other hand, when you look to your right and behind you — just as you are meant to do — you won’t see a thing. But once you turn right, the vehicle will 26

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Fly larvae pig out for mother nature The fruit of the oil palm tree is an ingredient in many products, but it does not enjoy a particularly good reputation. Black soldier fly larvae could serve as an alternative source of fat. Researchers at the Fraunhofer campus in Stuttgart-Vaihingen are whether the possibility might fly. By Kerstin Beckert P alm oil evokes visions of sun, sand and tropical ambiance. However, this plant-based raw material has more to do with big business than vacation vibes — and business is booming. According to the German Federal Statistical Office, Germany imported and processed almost 667,000 tons of vegetable fat in 2021, along with an additional 124,000 tons of palm oil. Both types of fat are found in products like animal feed and chocolate, detergents and instant soups, shampoos and cookies. The problems caused by con- suming high volumes of these substances are well-known: the destruction of rain forests, monoculture farming and species extinction. So how can we reduce our dependence on palm oil products going forward? The larvae of the black soldier fly, or hermetia illucens, could be the answer. The larvae contain not only water and protein, but also saturated fatty acids with similar characteristics to palm oil and its relative, coconut fat. With the aim of finding a way to har- vest hermetia larvae as effectively as possible, researchers at the Fraunhofer campus in Stuttgart-Vaihingen are build- ing a pilot version of an insect biorefinery (InBiRa). Measuring some 200 square meters, the plant has been under construc- tion since October 2021. Susanne Zibek is the coordinator of the nationwide research team. In addition to holding a doctorate in engineering, she is a project manager at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB. Biorefinery for insect larvae The fly larvae are voracious eaters, con- stantly hungry and not too fussy about their food choices. It just has to be of or- ganic origin. That’s what makes them so interesting to Ms. Zibek and her team. In Germany, quite a lot of organic and food waste accumulates in places like the prem- ises of food retailers or canteens. This can even include coffee grounds and fruit skins from the organic waste collection bin. The research team is planning to enlist the fly larvae’s help to “upgrade” this or- ganic waste, transforming it into higher-val- ue materials — organic upcycling, if you will. Some 30 to 50 percent of food waste could be a suitable raw material for this process. To begin with, the scientists are concentrating on expired fruit, vegetables, baked goods and dairy products that can no longer be distributed through organi- zations like food banks. They get this excess stock from discount supermarkets. Thanks to a special exemption, they are also per- mitted to use food waste from college restaurants and other canteens, since it is for research purposes. Canteen waste 28 The goal is to produce “higher-quality follow-on products from food waste.”

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Influenza viruses (red) infecting human lung tissue (turquoise). The confocal laser scanning microscope can even pick up individual cell movements. Breathe in — and breathe easy! Could getting rid of your cough, cold or fever be as simple as inhaling a spray? With RNA-based antiviral drugs, the answer could soon be yes. By Dr. Sonja Endres V iruses are constantly changing. After all, that’s their whole survival strategy. It’s how they can outsmart the immune system time and again, reproducing themselves undetect- ed in the body of their host. Drugs and vaccines must constantly strive to keep up with these masters of dis- guise — meaning that effective antiviral agents are hard to come by, and vaccines against pathogens like influ- enza and the coronavirus must be constantly adapted to counter new variants. RNA technology makes it possible to achieve this more easily and at a faster pace — and it’s even a cause for hope when it comes to medications. “RNA-based medications could be adapted to new virus variants in a matter of weeks,” says Prof. Armin Braun, the head of the Preclinical Pharmacology and Toxicology division of the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM in Hannover. Prof. Braun and his team are working closely with Prof. Axel Scham- 30

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Sustainably snug Heating with fossil fuels? In the long term, Germany will need to say goodbye to natural gas, oil and wood as raw materials for heating. The government is pushing heat pumps as the sustainable alternative — even in historic buildings and apartment blocks. By Monika Offenberger 32 k c o t S e b o d A / c e n u Ž k i r E : o t o h P

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 or planned infrastructure for heat distribution, heat transfer and hot water is far more complicated than the pump itself. Installing the pumps in existing buildings is a particularly difficult challenge. As Dr. Miara has been a member of the relevant Association of German Engineers (VDI) standardization commit- tee for many years, he has a say in the specifications that become part of the standards. “Based on the results of our studies, we are trying to propose suitable stan- dards and guidelines for making heat pump installa- tion simpler and more uniform for all countries, in- cluding Germany,” the engineer explains. These guidelines formed the basis for developing calculation methods, installation instructions and training pro- grams — although these are not yet compulsory. The Fraunhofer team is also making an important contribution toward decreasing the ecological foot- print of heat pumps — by using climate-friendly refrigerants. Conventional models primarily rely on synthetic F-gas refrigerants, the use of which is set to be heavily restricted by an EU regulation in the future. This is why researchers at Fraunhofer ISE have been looking into alternatives. In 2017, they began work on a model that uses propane, a gas with a global warming potential around 500 times lower than that of conventional refrigerants. Crucially, the refrigerant cycle can function on only 150 grams of propane. This extremely low quantity minimizes the safety risk and means that even though the gas is highly flammable, the heat pumps can be used indoors. “We built our prototype to show that this works. Since then, we have engaged in open dialog with nine European heat pump manufacturers to continue developing the sys- tem,” explains Dr. Lena Schnabel, head of the Heating and Cooling Technologies department at Fraunhofer ISE. “Now we have three good refrigerant cycles that can achieve an output of 8 to 12 kilowatts with 150 grams of propane, depending on the different cycle variants and component configurations used. That’s enough to heat an apartment or a single-family house — and its efficiency rating meets the require- ments for the German Federal Funding for Efficient Buildings subsidy,” says the engineer. As part of a follow-up project, her team is once again collaborating with leading European heat pump manufacturers as well as stakeholders in the housing sector. The goal of the project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, is to make the new propane refriger- ation cycles fit for installation in existing buildings. The team is focusing on three problems: How can gas boilers be replaced in apartments? How can oil and gas burners be replaced in the boiler rooms of single- and multi-family homes? And given the significant- ly reduced amount of refrigerant used, to what extent is it possible to make powerful air source heat pumps even more compact so that they can be installed outdoors in greater quantities, even in densely built- up cities? Ms. Schnabel stresses that their primary concern is to find quick solutions that will continue to be viable in the long term. “This is an area where we can use our expertise to support the industry sector and society as a whole.” Although the demand for air source heat pumps is increasing exponentially geothermal heat pump installations have been lagging behind. There are currently around 400,000 geothermal heat pumps installed in Germany, and over 20,000 new systems are put in every year. “The barriers blocking market success aren’t so much on the technical side — instead, it comes down to grant guidelines, approval process- es, a lack of willingness to invest and a shortage of skilled workers,” explains Prof. Rolf Bracke, director of the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Systems IEG. With the support from the German Geothermal Association, Bundesverband Wärmepumpe e. V. and Erdwärme Gemeinschaft Bayern e. V., Prof. Bracke analyzed the regulatory and financial barriers that are preventing widespread use of geothermal heat pumps in Ger- many. The end result of this analysis was a road map with recommendations for action for the various stake- holders. The purpose of the map is to help leverage the unexploited potential of geothermal heat pumps to a greater extent and speed up the energy transition. The recommendations range from collecting geological data across Germany, to tax incentives and simplified approval processes, through to providing training for workers in the plumbing, heating and air-condi- tioning trades. The road map also calls for targeted information campaigns to help increase society’s acceptance of heat pumps. Because the higher initial investment costs continue to deter property owners and prevent them from seeing that the long-term operating costs are low, much to Prof. Bracke’s dis- tress — but he is also optimistic: “In the medium term, we can achieve the long-overdue transformation of the heating market through targeted adjustment of subsidization conditions and options. Because the advantages of heat pumps, particularly when powered by shallow geothermal energy, are clear.” 34 “In the medium term, we can achieve the long-overdue transforma- tion of the heating market through targeted adjustment of subsidization conditions and options.” Prof. Rolf Bracke, Fraunhofer IEG

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 or planned infrastructure for heat distribution, heat transfer and hot water is far more complicated than the pump itself. Installing the pumps in existing buildings is a particularly difficult challenge. As Dr. Miara has been a member of the relevant Association of German Engineers (VDI) standardization commit- tee for many years, he has a say in the specifications that become part of the standards. “Based on the results of our studies, we are trying to propose suitable stan- dards and guidelines for making heat pump installa- tion simpler and more uniform for all countries, in- cluding Germany,” the engineer explains. These guidelines formed the basis for developing calculation methods, installation instructions and training pro- grams — although these are not yet compulsory. The Fraunhofer team is also making an important contribution toward decreasing the ecological foot- print of heat pumps — by using climate-friendly refrigerants. Conventional models primarily rely on synthetic F-gas refrigerants, the use of which is set to be heavily restricted by an EU regulation in the future. This is why researchers at Fraunhofer ISE have been looking into alternatives. In 2017, they began work on a model that uses propane, a gas with a global warming potential around 500 times lower than that of conventional refrigerants. Crucially, the refrigerant cycle can function on only 150 grams of propane. This extremely low quantity minimizes the safety risk and means that even though the gas is highly flammable, the heat pumps can be used indoors. “We built our prototype to show that this works. Since then, we have engaged in open dialog with nine European heat pump manufacturers to continue developing the sys- tem,” explains Dr. Lena Schnabel, head of the Heating and Cooling Technologies department at Fraunhofer ISE. “Now we have three good refrigerant cycles that can achieve an output of 8 to 12 kilowatts with 150 grams of propane, depending on the different cycle variants and component configurations used. That’s enough to heat an apartment or a single-family house — and its efficiency rating meets the require- ments for the German Federal Funding for Efficient Buildings subsidy,” says the engineer. As part of a follow-up project, her team is once again collaborating with leading European heat pump manufacturers as well as stakeholders in the housing sector. The goal of the project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, is to make the new propane refriger- ation cycles fit for installation in existing buildings. The team is focusing on three problems: How can gas boilers be replaced in apartments? How can oil and gas burners be replaced in the boiler rooms of single- and multi-family homes? And given the significant- ly reduced amount of refrigerant used, to what extent is it possible to make powerful air source heat pumps even more compact so that they can be installed outdoors in greater quantities, even in densely built- up cities? Ms. Schnabel stresses that their primary concern is to find quick solutions that will continue to be viable in the long term. “This is an area where we can use our expertise to support the industry sector and society as a whole.” Although the demand for air source heat pumps is increasing exponentially geothermal heat pump installations have been lagging behind. There are currently around 400,000 geothermal heat pumps installed in Germany, and over 20,000 new systems are put in every year. “The barriers blocking market success aren’t so much on the technical side — instead, it comes down to grant guidelines, approval process- es, a lack of willingness to invest and a shortage of skilled workers,” explains Prof. Rolf Bracke, director of the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Systems IEG. With the support from the German Geothermal Association, Bundesverband Wärmepumpe e. V. and Erdwärme Gemeinschaft Bayern e. V., Prof. Bracke analyzed the regulatory and financial barriers that are preventing widespread use of geothermal heat pumps in Ger- many. The end result of this analysis was a road map with recommendations for action for the various stake- holders. The purpose of the map is to help leverage the unexploited potential of geothermal heat pumps to a greater extent and speed up the energy transition. The recommendations range from collecting geological data across Germany, to tax incentives and simplified approval processes, through to providing training for workers in the plumbing, heating and air-condi- tioning trades. The road map also calls for targeted information campaigns to help increase society’s acceptance of heat pumps. Because the higher initial investment costs continue to deter property owners and prevent them from seeing that the long-term operating costs are low, much to Prof. Bracke’s dis- tress — but he is also optimistic: “In the medium term, we can achieve the long-overdue transformation of the heating market through targeted adjustment of subsidization conditions and options. Because the advantages of heat pumps, particularly when powered by shallow geothermal energy, are clear.” 34 “In the medium term, we can achieve the long-overdue transforma- tion of the heating market through targeted adjustment of subsidization conditions and options.” Prof. Rolf Bracke, Fraunhofer IEG

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Knowledge relay, episode 7 Prof. Wilhelm Bauer, how will the concept of New Work look in the field of scientific research? Series: Knowledge relay The times we live in have raised many questions — questions Fraunhofer researchers are working hard to answer. A specialist answers a question, then poses a question of their own for the next expert to answer — it’s a “knowledge relay.” In this edition, Prof. Wilhelm Bauer, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO, answers a question posed by Prof. Michael Waidner, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology SIT. 36 A s a country with little to draw on in terms of natural resources, Germany’s ability to innovate is a vital factor for its future industrial success in an environment worth living in. Scientific work plays a key role here. The success of this relies on the expertise, motivation, dedication and working condi- tions of those involved. As such, we must do everything we can to optimize the peripheral conditions in which this work is performed, i.e., the buildings, laboratories and technical infrastructures. We must also strive to make the general working conditions for scientific research as modern and advantageous as pos- sible, for example, by giving employees inde- pendence regarding their working hours and locations, providing opportunities for par- ticipation and development, for networking and creative dialogue, as well as safe, healthy working conditions. This is a challenge that affects the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft as much as all other companies and organizations. However, its status as a top-performing research organization also opens up some unique opportunities for the Fraunhofer-Ge- sellschaft in terms of shaping work in research organizations and, therefore, in competing for talent. Hybrid working models could be key to recruiting the most highly talented staff

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 38

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 E very minute counts when caring for severe- ly injured persons. They are treated in the trauma room, which is located right at the heart of the emergency department and equipped with cutting-edge technology, respirators and powerful full-body CT scanners. The trauma room team need to determine any possible fractures or injuries to the brain or spinal cord as quickly as possible. Did the patient fall from a height of more than 3 meters? Were they in a bicycle crash? Are they diabetic? Every single detail affects crucial decisions, from the specialists should be brought in to help to the treatment steps taken — the also determine the order in which these actions are taken. This information sometimes makes the difference between life and death, but as it stands, it is only passed on orally by emergency service personnel. It is almost never recorded in any structured manner, creat- ing a huge risk of information going missing. 54 percent of doctors do not use AI in their hospitals, but would be in favor of it. cate? Where is data generated and how is it used?” Next, the data scientists developed more than 40 use cases for deploying AI in such as way as to reduce the workload on medical staff at hospitals and improve the quality of treatment. “Patients are getting older and older, and more and more numerous, and the personnel shortage is be- coming more serious. In the future, hospitals simply won’t be able to get by without AI,” Mr. Antweiler asserts. Saving precious time with AI Artificial intelligence holds enormous potential for hospi- tals. AI-driven systems could establish statistical correla- tions based on hundreds of thousands of previous cases, allowing them to predict pos- sible complications and risks at an early stage, for example. When combined with doctors’ experiences, this information could be used to adjust treat- ment strategies accordingly, and improve the patients’ chances of survival. AI can also help estimate the risks of a surgery in a more accurate way. Doctors could use “liter- ature mining” to quickly find up-to-date information about the best treatment options — which would be a particular advantage in the complex, interdisciplinary, time-sensi- tive process of treating the severely injured. In literature mining, the AI analyzes large quantities of specialist medical literature, which is automatically updated on a regular basis. Not only is this process far quicker than searching online databases in the conventional way, but it’s also much more accurate. AI can run semantic searches, meaning that rather than just searching for specific terms, it also searches for related content — and it can filter and classify the results, ensuring that a critical care unit is shown different articles from a regular unit, for example. “These days, AI is very good at extracting information from texts, which is something the health- care sector desperately needs. Almost all information is in text form, from diagnostic findings and doctors’ letters to documentation. Producing, reading and analyzing these texts takes up incredible amounts of time,” explains Mr. Antweiler. However, clinicians simply do not have the time to study documents like a thick patient file con- Smart assistance for decision-making Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Anal- ysis and Information Systems IAIS are working to change this alongside their partners in the TraumAInterfaces proj- ect. They want to build an AI-driven speech recognition system that will automatically record, analyze and structure the information exchanged during the hando- ver of severely injured patients. “Our AI does not make any decisions,” emphasizes Dario Antweiler, head of the Healthcare Analytics business unit at Fraunhofer IAIS. Its sole purpose is to support the trauma room team’s decision-making processes as effectively as possible. A structured record of all the necessary information and the course of treatment is also valuable for documenting the case at later stages. “Producing this documentation wastes a lot of valuable time that doctors could be spending on patients instead,” Mr. Antweiler points out. He and his team spent days and days visiting various different hospital departments, observing work and ad- ministrative procedures, interviewing doctors and talking to hospital experts. “What we focused on above all was, what IT systems are they using? How do they communi- 40

1 | 23 42 “It uses the sample data we feed it to learn and even formulate rules independently. The more data we give it, the better the results.” Sabine Kugler, data scientist at Fraunhofer IAIS

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Unravelling the complex interaction of possible disease factors But the Fraunhofer researchers are going even further. They also want to use large quantities of data to improve the processes of diagnosing and treating psoriatic arthri- tis (PsA). Since July 2021, they and 26 partners from Eu- rope, the USA and Canada have been working on project 67 percent of doctors think the health sector needs to pick up the pace when it comes to the digital transformation. HIPPOCRATES, an initiative aimed at using data analysis to gain a deeper understanding of the complex interplay of a range of different factors involved in the emergence of PsA. After all, the inconsistent symptoms and the high- ly varied progression associated with PsA are precisely what make it so difficult to recognize and treat at an early stage. The condition often involves inflammation of the synovial membrane on the patient’s hands and feet, but their tendons, eyes or intestines may also be affected. “This huge variation in the clinical symptoms means that the illness is diagnosed too late in most cases, which then significantly reduces the chance of the patient receiving effective treatment. This is why we need diagnostic tools that will allow us to make reliable diagnoses in practice,” explains Dr. Michaela Köhm, a rheumatologist and leader of a research group at the Frankfurt-based Fraunhofer ITMP’s Clinical Research division that collaborates closely with the university hospital. 44

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 “We are looking for machine learning methods that deal well with missing values.” Sina Mackay, data scientist at Fraunhofer IAIS 46

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 A brave new world for hospitals How can digitalizing medicine transform patients’ experiences? A (tentative) glimpse into the future. By Beate Strobel and Dr. Sonja Endres D ario Antweiler, head of the Healthcare Analytics business unit at the Fraun- hofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS, dreams of a digitally optimized hospital — and he has some pretty solid ideas about what patients could expect in the future. For example, patients may not be required to register on site, using paper and a pen. Instead, they would use digital patient portals where they can upload all the required documents and data from their electronic patient file. During their stay in the hospital, all the examination results and findings pertaining to them, as well as transcripts of their conversations with doctors, would be automatically added to this file. A decisive step toward keeping patients informed: “Using the patient portal, they would have insight into everything that’s happening at all times,” explains Mr. Antweiler. “There would be apps or even chatbots available to explain the doctors’ findings to them in detail, as well as possible treatment steps. After all, a lot of what goes on in hospitals is incomprehensible to the people affected.” In the patient’s room, he con- tinues, “patients wouldn’t have to call a nurse just to order a chamomile tea — they could conveniently do it themselves with an app.” At the end of their stay, hospital guests would not only be immediately provided with a digital discharge letter via the portal, but would also be offered recommendations for aftercare, options for rehabilitation, prescriptions for treatments and remedies and tips on nutrition and exercise. Mr. Antweiler’s vision is still far removed from the reality of hospitals today. As he explains it, he and his team have “only just tipped the Lego bricks out onto the floor. Now, we have to assemble them.” And, 48 as anyone with experience in assembling Lego kits could tell you, that can be quite a Herculean task. The future of hospital rooms However, they’ve made a start: Since 2016, as part of the KARMIN collaboration project, TU Braunsch- weig’s institute for structural design, industry and healthcare construction (Institut für Konstruktives Entwerfen, Industrie und Gesundheitsbau, IKE) has been working with the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST to research the hospital room of the future. What role do archi- tectural details, equipment, materials and surfaces play in working and hygiene process — and thus also in healing? Since 2022, a demonstrator of this futuristic hos- pital room has been available for research purposes at the Braunschweig municipal hospital (Städtisches Klinikum Braunschweig). A bedside terminal not only allows patients to access their usual entertainment program, but also to view information on their stay and their treatment plan. To avoid cross-contamina- tion and infections transmitted by contact, the beds are not placed next to each other, but rather across from each other; each patient has a private bathroom on their own side of the room. Six disinfectant dis- pensers are distributed along the nurses’ usual routes — and anyone that uses them is rewarded with a smiley face. The light in the room can be individually adjusted, ranging in intensity from soft, ambient lighting to bright examination lights. After all, even in a digitally optimized clinic, the actual well-being of patients and their path to recovery must naturally remain the main focus.

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Interview “An artificial intelligence ecosystem” Judith Gerlach is Bavaria’s youngest minister — and Germany’s first dedicated minister for digital affairs. At the start of the year, the 37-year- old took over as chair of the D16 board, which brings together those German state government ministers, senators and state secretaries with responsibility for digitali zation. Her goal: “Germany must achieve a leadership position in the digital world.” Interview: Josef Oskar Seitz The journey begins: Judith Gerlach, 37, at the Bavarian state parliament 50

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 1987: “Girl, don’t drive yourself crazy!” It runs in the family: Ms. Gerlach’s grandfather Paul was a CSU Bundes - tag member. He gave his granddaughter Judith a little political advice: “Girl, don’t drive yourself crazy, and fight with your heart and mind!” 2018: Germany’s first digital minister Bavaria’s minister- president Markus Söder hands Judith Gerlach her letter of appointment. 2019: Soundbites in Bayreuth Judith Gerlach and her husband Tobias Nitsch before a Wagner performance at the Bayreuth Festival. 2019: An (almost) unpolitical ascent On the climbing wall Judith Gerlach proves her sporting talent. Her Instagram comment: “We’re aiming high in the digital world!” 52 At D16, we are all striving energetically to achieve a common goal. Germany must achieve a leadership position in the digital world. A modern state is a service-oriented state. We want to ensure that the services available to citizens, companies and organizations are fit for the fu- ture, and that they can be used in a secure way. A year ago in summer, Bavaria passed Germany’s first digital law. Has it paid off? The Bavarian Digital Law (Bayerisches Dig- italgesetz, BayDiG) laid down the first legal foundation of its kind in Germany, and by European standards, it’s quite progressive. It sets out the first legal framework conditions that ensure that everyone can benefit from the digital transformation. It is the foundation of the modern digital state. While we’re on the subject of laws: the results across Germany are pretty poor. The German Online Access Act (Onlinezugangs- gesetz, OZG) stipulated that all administrative services were to be available to citizens in digital form by the end of 2022. The National Regulatory Control Council, the German feder- al government’s independent advisory body, now calculates that of 575 government ser- vices, only 33 have been digitalized. Even the figure for the German Federal Ministry of the Interior has barely made it over 100. Why is it proving so difficult to digitalize public services? In Bavaria, we have done our homework as thoroughly as possible and completed digita- lization of over 98 percent of state services. As previously mentioned, we rank highest among Germany’s federal states. But we still have a long way to go overall. Many services for citi- zens are not provided by individual states nor the federal government, but rather are largely the responsibility of the municipalities. We have offered incentives in this area, with some success. More and more districts are partici- pating in our financial support initiative, the “Digitales Rathaus Bayern” (digital town hall Bavaria) program. Our state makes centralized online services available through what we call the BayernStore. The municipalities can simply subscribe to these online services for free and make them available to their citizens. We also motivate our municipalities by awarding them the “Digitales Amt” (digital office) label. You are also approaching this from the other angle. Digital information centers are due to be set up in 30 Bavarian cities and municipalities. The application deadline falls in mid-March. Is there much interest? We’ve had a huge number of responses! To me, this shows that advice desks are catching on and creating real added value, especially for those who aren’t quite so digitally literate yet. My goal as digital minister is for everybody to benefit from digital progress — regardless of age, gender, income level or background. We often see you visiting schools to read aloud to children. Isn’t that a somewhat outdated activity for a digital minister? No, absolutely not! Reading and text compre- hension are basic prerequisites for confidently negotiating the digital world. The AI software ChatGPT is currently providing a particularly compelling example of why we should be ex- amining digitally sourced content much more critically. We have to start that process right from childhood. Reading aloud is the best form of training for the little ones. “The Little King” was one of your reading choices. I’m not quite familiar with it: Is it about Markus Söder? That must have been a while back. The most recent one I read was “The Little Witch.” And no, that one wasn’t about me. To return to the chalkface: We’ve just spent the pandemic period calling for in- creased digitalization in schools. Now we’re debating whether ChatGPT is yet another indicator of the decline of the Western world. What form of education is right for the future? I don’t agree with using prohibitions and horror scenarios when it comes to innovation. The service won’t disappear just because we ban it from classrooms. We have to learn to deal with it in a reasonable manner. But our education system must never cease to develop further. It’s conceivable that in the future, traditional homework will take a back seat to oral exams, where AI can’t be used as an aid to cheating. In my circle of colleagues, without naming names, some say schoolchildren have long been using artificial intelligence to do their homework for them. You are, of course, not just digital minister, but also the mother of two children: How dangerous is this trend in reality? In the future, we will need to use alternative assessment criteria in schools. If AI can pass

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Harvesting ambient energy Can we generate electricity from slight differences in temperature or barely perceptible vibrations and use it for energy-self-sufficient operation of sensors or small devices in the internet of things? It’s time to consider energy harvesting. By Mandy Bartel B y 2030, the internet of things (IoT for short) could potentially bring up to 13 trillion US dollars in added value to the global economy. According to ana- lysts from McKinsey, by far the greatest potential lies in using smart networks of devices and machines in production environments. Here, large-scale networks could deliver greater productivity, fewer breakdowns and a higher level of transparency. The 5G mobile communications standard introduced in 2020, which enabled data transmission rates of up to 10 gigabits per second, will enable countless wireless sensors — the most important part of the IoT — to communicate, exchange and process data in near real time. Applica- tions of this technology include condition monitoring and predictive maintenance for machinery, buildings and bridges, as well as smart meters. However, these new opportunities also require new methods of supplying energy. After all, increas- ing numbers of sensors and devices mean an increased amount of effort for replacing batteries and installing or performing maintenance on a wired supply. Ana- 54

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Scavenger cells from the reactor They can detect viruses, bacteria, harmful substances and drugs at lightning speed — and fight them, too. Without immune cells, humans would barely survive a week. They’re also in high demand for medical and pharmaceutical research, where scientists hope to use the precious cells to develop new therapeutic agents and more efficient methods of animal-free testing. Now, for the first time, they can be scalably manufactured on a custom-made basis. By Mandy Bartel Designer immune cells can also be used in quality control processes for vaccines. 56

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Jump start for passion projects For the first time in its history, the Fraunhofer Future Foundation put the spotlight on researchers’ personal passion projects and gave the general public a say in which of the projects should receive funding. As part of the ScienceForGood crowdfunding competition, six Fraunhofer institutes received the familiar call: “On your marks, research, go!” By Beate Strobel W hich research project will win the public’s heart? That was the decision facing the Fraunhofer Future Foundation — and they tackled it by putting out a call in this mag- azine, among other things. The 2022 ScienceForGood crowdfunding competition saw six projects go up for selection. As part of the project “Müllberge ade!” (No more mountains of trash!), researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU went on the hunt for an environmentally friendly method of dealing with hospital waste. Meanwhile, an interdisci- plinary team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU examined how infor- mation on the sustainability of goods transportation can be communicated to consumers. The Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB is con- sidering methods of filtering phosphate out of polluted water to help make it usable again, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI has set out to develop an innovative safety system for bicyclists as part of their YES! project. Another contender, project 2detect, has seen a research team from the Fraun- hofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME demonstrate a cost-effective testing method for influ- enza and COVID-19. Finally, in project Learn AlfES, sci- entists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS are focusing on webinars that can serve as a channel for sharing knowledge on using the open-source AI software framework AlfES. Using the website www.startnext.de as a platform, the researchers had 55 days to win as many people as possible over to their idea and gain their support as donors. Ultimately, the three projects described on the right made it through. The Fraunhofer Future Foundation supplied financing many times as high as the public donations with their total co-funding budget of 120,000 euros. In addition, they awarded prize money to the three teams that attracted the largest crowd of supporters. Now, in 2023, the teams will put their project into practice with the help of the donations and funding. Supporters are kept up to date via project websites and blogs — after all, it’s their project, too. “Crowdfunding is not just a way of co-financing a project, it’s an important communications tool as well — and an initial means of testing the market.” So says Alexandra Goßner, the project manager of ScienceForGood. What is the best way for researchers to present their per- sonal enthusiasm, and how can they make their idea reach people? Ms. Goßner adds that engaging in dialogue with public on the crowdfunding platform and answering their questions proved especially valuable. The researchers took part in a coaching program, which supported them in communicating about their projects. One of the valuable lessons they learned here was that you don’t have to be a showman. “Even people with introverted personalities can use their passion to win people over to their project,” says Ms. Goßner. 58

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 From residual to raw material Industrial wastewater can contain nitrogen, phosphorus, valuable metals and more — so why throw it out? Fraunhofer researchers are working on recovering these valuable substances. By Mehmet Toprak I s wastewater really just waste- water? As happened previously with other forms of waste, opin- ions are changing here — after all, there can be a lot of value in waste- water. More than 9,000 public wastewater treatment plants in Germany treat, filter and purify 10 billion cubic meters of wastewater each year. In the past, the sole objective was to purify the water; now, the focus has turned to extracting useful raw materials from industrial process water. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS are working on the technologies and systems required to do this. Process water refers to wastewater that has been contaminated with chemicals or residues from industrial production processes. Many different types of chem- icals are needed for manufacturing and pretreating products, cleaning materials and carrying out chemical reactions and synthesis processes. Much like product residues, these chemicals often remain in rinsing and cleaning baths. The water in these baths is then considered process water, and is treated as such so as not to harm the environment. Recovering sufficiently pure process chemicals such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) from this wastewater would benefit both the environment and the economy. After all, the compounds extracted from the process water can then be reused for production. Nitrogen and phosphorus are also of inter- est here — these can be extracted from some process waters and used as fertilizers in agriculture. Even metals such as silver and copper could be recovered in met- al-processing plants and returned to the material cycle. “This allows industrial companies to save a considerable amount of raw materials and resources,” explains Dr. Burkhardt Faßauer, head of the Circular Technolo- gies and Water department at Fraunhofer IKTS. He adds: “At a time when the price of raw materials is rising around the world, this is big help when it comes to lowering costs, and marks a huge step toward a circular economy.” The Fraunhofer experts have chosen a very special location to carry out their research work on: the Bitterfeld-Wolfen community sewage treatment plant. One of the largest and most modern sewage treatment plants in central Germany, this facility treats the wastewater from nearly 300 establishments located in a nearby chemical park. The researchers have not established a laboratory in the usual sense of the word, instead setting up several containers that can be fitted with various types of equipment for experiments. “This means we have a flexible technology plat- form that allows us to develop innovative cleaning processes for industrial clients’ specialized needs, and test them right on site,” says Dr. Faßauer. This is crucial, since wastewater treatment is not a matter of using two or three standardized method- ologies. “Often, the process of efficiently purifying water means combining very disparate processes that are individually adapted for the wastewater in question,” Dr. Faßauer explains. In addition to Fraun- hofer IKTS, the Fraunhofer Institutes for Solar Energy Systems ISE, for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME and for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS were involved in setting up the research platform. The researchers at Fraunhofer IKTS are drawing on their many years of exper- tise in membrane technology. By combin- ing advanced ceramic membranes with electrochemical, sonochemical, photocat- alytic and even biological processes, complex industrial process water can be filtered and treated as required. It then no longer poses any threat to bodies of water and groundwater. Moreover, it is often possible to recover some energy and recy- clable materials. The cooperation between sewage treat- ment plants, Fraunhofer and the world of industry also helps to implement a concept that the experts on site refer to as a “materials network.” This involves an exchange of raw and residual materials between manufacturers. In a nutshell, Dr. Faßauer says: “One person’s waste is another person’s raw material.” k c o t S e b o d A / o t o h p k c o t s a u t : o t o h P 60

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 The VR lecture hall An interactive mixed reality application has the power to revolutionize the future of online education. By Yvonne Weiß Thanks to virtual reality, the idea of professors coming to students’ homes is almost within reach. O nce you put your headset on, it’s as if your professor has beamed directly from the lec- ture hall into your dorm. She stands in front of your couch, furrows her brows and shakes her head vehemently. Then, she responds in detail to all the questions that came up during her lecture. It’s a private office hour, so to speak, but no one — neither the student nor the pro- fessor — needs to leave the house. The VoluProf project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Edu- cation and Research, is currently investi- gating how to make this scene a reality for our universities. Led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Hein- rich-Hertz-Institut, HHI, the research team has been working since 2021 to develop a mixed-reality application that can be accessed using a VR headset. It enables students to meet with their professor around the clock in the form of an avatar and talk directly to them. “The basic idea is that you can bring your professor home with you,” explains Dr. Cornelius Hellge, head of the Multimedia Communications group at Fraunhofer HHI, who initiated the project. Crucially, the avatar is not an imagi- nary character — it is entirely photoreal- istic. “We consciously chose to pursue a 1:1 representation of the professor,” explains Dr. Anna Hilsmann, head of the Vision & Imaging Technologies department and manager of the Computer Vision & Graphics group at Fraunhofer HHI. This way, students will feel as though they are talking to their actual professor in an interactive space, creating an entirely different atmosphere to current online teaching methods. To develop the photorealistic avatar, Fraunhofer HHI and project partner Volucap GmbH are recording volumet- ric video footage of a real professor at the University of Rostock. This video format — from which the project takes its name, and which is already being used for oral history interviews — shows the professor in 3D. Later, to make her appearance in the application seem even more realistic, the team equips the avatar with the professor’s own repertoire of gestures and actual movement patterns, and enables her to speak with her own voice. “We consciously chose to pursue a 1:1 representation of the professor.” Dr. Anna Hilsmann, Fraunhofer HHI A module developed by Aristech GmbH, a software manufacturer based in Heidel- berg, first converts the listeners’ questions into text; this is forwarded via a chatbot to an AI module created by the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). Finally, the AI generates the pro- fessor’s answer. This is then sent back to the Aristech module in text form, where it is converted into speech, allowing the avatar in the virtual space to answer ques- tions in the professor’s voice. “The sense of communicating in real time is particularly important here, as the user will find any delays to be disruptive,” says Dr. Hellge. Being able to stream to mobile devices, i.e., cell phones, tablets and VR headsets, is also vital. That is why Fraunhofer HHI is currently working on 62

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 3×3 questions on a three-year pandemic The coronavirus came to Germany on January 27, 2020. On March 11, 2020, the disease was officially declared a pandemic. What role did Fraunhofer institutes play in the fight against the virus? And what can we learn from the three years of the pandemic? Three Fraunhofer experts weigh in. 1 Personally, what was the most important thing that you have learned during the three years of the pandemic? Probably the fact that we can act quickly and flexibly when we need to, even in Germany, without getting too tangled up in red tape. This is something we need to build on. In the scientific community, we must take a critical look at ourselves and ask why we did not manage to coordinate and combine our efforts more in a more effective way, particularly at the start of the pandemic. 2 Let’s try and look ahead a little. The SARS- CoV-2 virus has long been researchers’ enemy number one: will they soon be able to defeat it, or at least drive it into a corner? SARS-CoV-2 has led to many insights in the field of virolog- ical research. The virus will probably continue to exist as an endemic pathogen, but scientists’ efforts in researching vaccines, diagnostics, preventative measures and treatment have led them to discover and test many new techniques and approaches. That will definitely stand us in good stead when it comes to other diseases. As new variants have dwindled, SARS-CoV-2 has lost the terror it once held. 3 Considering all the knowledge we have gained over the last three years, what insight could prove to be the decisive factor in avoiding or mitigating the severity of future pandemics? We have seen for the first time how mRNA technology allows vaccines to be rapidly manufactured and deployed worldwide; this could prove very important in the event of future outbreaks. We have also seen that providing adequate protective equipment and disinfectants and en- suring social distancing can be effective ways to bridge the gap in the period before vaccines and therapeutic agents are available. The pandemic also underscored the need to maintain greater therapeutic and diagnostic reserves. 64 Fraunhofer ITMP in the fight against the pandemic Various pathogen models have been pro- cessed in a modular system to enable the rapid development and supply of diagnostic and therapeutic tools in the event of an outbreak. The institute is also establishing a global net- work with the aim of supporting the interna- tional community in coordinating a rapid re- sponse in the event of a viral outbreak. Prof. Michael Hölscher, head of the Penzberg/ Munich branch of the Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology ITMP h c a b t l A V O - D P S , i k s w o r e z c n a B r t o P / r e f o h n u a r F i , F I Z D , o t o h p k c o t s i / n a g n i v o r e m i : s o t o h P

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 “Harnessing collective human intelligence is vital” Uncertainty has become a constant feature of a world that once seemed well-planned and consistent. Dr. Philine Warnke from the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI shares her vision for the future and how we can come to a better understanding with each other in society. Interview: Mandy Bartel 66 The world at a glance: the GAIA installation project, by British artist Luke Jerram, at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Fraunhofer worldwide EUROPE Green logistics for inland ports With their connections to other trans- portation routes by water, rail and road, inland ports offer optimal condi- tions for flexible transportation solu- tions. As part of the EU-led MulitRE- LOAD project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML is working with a group of 21 partners from the worlds of port operation, industry, services and research to inves- tigate ways of making freight transpor- tation more sustainable and efficient by integrating European inland ports. The aim of the three-year collaboration, which is led by the Port of Duisburg, is to allow the ports’ capacities, from infrastructure to data, to be shared in the future. Fraunhofer IML is playing a significant role in the development of various prototypes for digitalizing and automating operational processes. One example is an automated system for unloading trains with the help of smart sensors. The researchers are also work- ing on services in the field of logistics that enable computer-generated rec- ommendations for action based on artificial intelligence. The solutions that the researchers develop will be evalu- ated and implemented at ports in Duis- burg, Basel and Vienna. Extending across 40 kilometers of shoreline, the Port of Duisburg is considered to be the largest inland port in the world. 68 Austria Europe Africa South Africa Locations of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Transporting packages by tram instead of by delivery van could reduce CO2 emissions and cut down on urban traffic. AUSTRIA Packages to go Ordering online is a convenient, easy and speedy process — but it is not environmentally friendly. In order to reduce delivery traffic, scientists at Fraunhofer Austria are developing a climate-friendly “last-mile concept” as part of the Öffi-Packerl (Public trans- portation packages) project: Passen- gers on local public transportation can carry small packages from one pack- age box to the next — these are located along the route at busy stops. A feasibility study involving 6,000 respondents found that, in principle, two thirds were willing to transport packages on their route. One of the researchers’ tasks at the moment is to analyze passenger flows in order to identify suitable routes and locations for the package stations, which are self-sufficient in terms of energy. A test phase will begin in 2024 on two tram lines in Vienna and two bus lines in Upper Austria. The aim of this holistic collaboration project is to develop an app that can align the passengers’ transportation capacities with the vol- ume of packages. Making packages available at the bus stops will likely improve the delivery service, too. Researchers are also evaluating the economic, ecological and social effects of this. What they don’t have to worry about is demand: 113 million packages were delivered to residents of Vienna last year.

Fraunhofer magazine Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 1 | 23 Renovating the construction industry The construction industry is facing worker shortages, at a time when hundreds of thousands of homes need to be built. Construction robots could provide a solution. But is the industry ready for them? By Beate Strobel A round the year 1900, illustrators in France drew a series of postcards liter- ally depicting the world in one hundred years’ time. They came up with moving sidewalks, flying firefighters, mobile houses — and a construction site with a robot worker slaving away around the clock. And nowadays? We’ve been taking escalators and fighting fires using aircraft for many years — and traveling in a motor home is huge trend. It’s only on the construction site that very little seems to have happened. Houses are still primarily being built by humans. Why has robotics yet become established in this industry the way it has in sectors such as automotive manufacturing? Thomas Kirmayr, general manager of the Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance, can cite quite a few reasons, like the fact that no construc- tion site is exactly like another, and that they change every day. Construction work takes place out in the elements, rather than in a controlled environment. A multitude of different tradespeople can work at one construction site, and the workflows can be very complex. However, Mr. Kirmayr adds: “If we want to boost productivity and increase the rate of construc- tion, we have no choice but to implement more mech- anization and automation in the construction indus- try. But the industry needs to develop its own methods and solutions, and work on simplifying and system- atizing its processes to begin with.” Robots that just do what humans are doing today are not the solution — we need to rethink the whole construction industry to some extent. “Maybe,” says Mr. Kirmayr, “that’s one reason this vision hasn’t become a reality yet.” 70 k c o t S e b o d A / e i r A : o t o h P Construction sites change every day. How could a robot co-worker find its way around regardless, and move autonomously?

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 “We have to stop thinking of construction robots as always just being a substitute for human labor.” Thomas Kirmayr, general manager of the Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance 72 The construction industry is facing enormous challenges. In order to relieve the strain on the real estate market and make housing affordable again, the coalition of the SPD, the FDP and Alliance 90/ The Greens wants to have 400,000 new apartments built in Germany — every year. At the same time, if we are to achieve our climate targets, the rate of home renovations must be increased from the current figure of around 1 percent to at least 2 to 3 percent. However, manpower is in short supply. In a 2021 survey by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 66 percent of companies in the construction sector complained that they can no longer fill vacant positions — a much higher figure than in industry (53 percent), retail (45 percent) and the service sector (50 percent). How can we increase construction and renovation rates in spite of the worker shortage? “If we want to achieve the targets set out by the government with our limited workforce resources, we need to put an intensive focus on increasing productivity as a matter of urgency,” says Mr. Kirmayr. So robots are going to replace people? No, accord- ing to the researchers of the Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance — a consortium of 14 Fraunhofer institutes. In their position paper on the future of the construction industry, the alliance discussed approach- es for increasing productivity and efficiency in con- struction. The goal should be for robots and humans to work together to master the complexities of con- struction. If this transformation process is to be successful, it must happen gradually. In the short term, technol- ogy can and must support operational processes, especially when it comes to heavy loads and difficult work inside buildings. In order to increase mechani- zation, it is essential that we develop construction systems to reduce complexity and allow for more prefabrication. Where possible, building components would be created in advance in production facilities and on assembly lines; these workspaces eliminate exposure to the elements for humans and machines, and so are far more suitable for robots. Many architects and builders are concerned that modular construction would result in buildings that all look the same. However, Mr. Kirmayr rejects the obvious comparison with prefabricated buildings: “Systematic construction processes and architectur- al diversity are not mutually exclusive,” he empha- sizes. The Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance is calling for a transition toward systematic construc- tion and renovation processes. However, this approach will only succeed if it allows for individuality, even if there is a large amount of prefabrication involved. This is precisely where architects need to use their creativity and come up with solutions for a new kind of construction, using smart design to take the pre- defined elements and transform them into exciting architectural structures. Transitioning to a sustainable circular economy also depends very much on being able to dismantle buildings — and that requires sys- tematic, modular construction. The past ten years have seen an increase in research into construction robotics. Prototypes have been developed for various fields of application. The first specialized robots are now stacking bricks on top of each other and taking on welding tasks. There are high-tech assistants that drill holes in walls, and robot dogs that can walk around and survey construc- tion sites. However, it’s already becoming clear that there is very little actual added value in just transfer- ring humans’ work processes over to robots. How does a robot get vital data on a construction project? With the aim of creating an interface between the Robot Operating System (ROS) and Building Information Modeling (BIM), mechatronics engineer Michael Terzer helped develop a prototype called ROSBIM at Fraunhofer Italia Research. This prototype used the HUSKY, a mobile platform that autonomously moves around construction sites and can transport heavy loads. The interface technology is needed for construction robots to dynamically receive the environmental data they require. Based on their experiences with HUSKY and a disinfection robot called BALTO, researchers at Fraun- hofer Italia Research are now planning the first modular robots for construction sites. These robots will be part of the EU-funded consortium project H2020 Concert (CONfigurable CollaborativE Robot Technol- ogies). By using different superstructures or gripper arms equipped with various attachments, the robots can be adapted to work on specific tasks on the con- struction site, even by non-engineers. According to Mr. Terzer, they are primarily suited to jobs that are “very repetitive, unergonomic or hazardous to people’s health.” However, researchers at Fraunhofer Italia are also looking beyond BIM and toward creating digital twins for buildings. These can be used to map the entire life cycle of a building, from the planning stage through all the construction processes to maintenance, right through to demolition. “If a digital system is to support construction robotics, it must not only ensure the robots can safely, autonomously navigate the construction site, but also answer logistical questions,” says Dr. Dietmar Siegele, head of Process Engineering in Construction. What material does the robot need right now? How much of that material is there, and

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 A bulldog bat goes fishing: Using echolocation, it detects fish at the surface of the water and scoops them out with its clawed toes. 74

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 Friend or foe? A new technology will identify flying objects within milliseconds. 76

Fraunhofer magazine 1 | 23 An in-ear interpreter Less power consumption and completely new functions: The next generation of in-ear headphones can do much more than just play music, thanks to flexible lamellae and electrostatic actuators. By Mehmet Toprak This is where the music happens: 120 bending beams, each barely one millimeter long and 70 microme- ters wide. J ust imagine: wireless in-ear head phones that function as a mini-PC — in addition to play- ing music, they can be used as heart rate monitors and temperature sensors. And in just two or three years, they could be on the market. This technology was de- veloped by Dr. Bert Kaiser and his team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS in Dresden. Dr. Kai- ser, who is head of the Monolithically Integrated Actuator and Sensor Systems business unit, does not rely on mem- branes commonly used in loudspeaker technology, instead using tiny bending beams and flexible lamellae. “Electrostatic forces cause the bending beams to vibrate. The base material is a highly doped — i.e., particularly conduc- tive — silicon. The higher the tone, the faster the beams vibrate,” explains Dr. Kaiser. For example, at a frequency of 3,000 hertz — roughly the pitch of a human voice — the beams oscillate 3,000 times per second. At this frequency, the air also starts to move, which generates the sound. A MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical sys- tems) loudspeaker contains 120 such bending beams, each barely one millime- ter long and 70 micrometers wide, in an area of about ten square millimeters. Several years ago, Dr. Kaiser and his team developed the basic principle behind this little technical marvel. As a result, a suc- cessful Fraunhofer spin-off, Arioso Sys- tems, was founded in 2019; it was taken over by Bosch Sensortec GmbH in 2022. Their current project now sees the Fraunhofer-developed sound transducer technology take another leap forward. One new feature, for example, is the symmet- rical design of the flexible lamellae. This has several advantages. For instance, it extends the range of frequencies that the mini-loudspeaker can produce, which is currently between 10 hertz and 10 kilo- hertz. This not only beneficial for repro- ducing music, but also for noise canceling: the MEMS speakers can cover a wider frequency range when generating counter sound waves, meaning that they can can- cel out ambient noise that has particular- ly low or high frequencies. Another important factor for music fans is distortion, i.e., the portion of electrical energy that lies outside the frequency range determined by the respective music signal. A lower distortion factor means a purer sound. The MEMS loudspeakers from Fraunhofer IPMS currently have a distortion factor of only 1.1 percent. This creates an especially balanced, neutral, clean sound, even at higher volumes. Another advantage is improved effi- ciency. The experts at the Dresden-based Fraunhofer institute were able to reduce the required voltage level from 45 to 15 volts. This, in turn, increases battery life by up to 30 percent at the same volume. The electricity saved while listening to music can be used for other functions — it would be easy to integrate a heart rate monitor, blood oxygen sensor and tem- perature sensor, which are often found in smartwatches these days. The data could be processed inside the in-ear headphones themselves. Experts refer to these head- phones as “hearables.” “When combined with an integrated microphone and a smartphone connected via Bluetooth, it would also be possible to incorporate speech technologies from areas such as the Internet of Voice and speech recognition,” predicts Dr. Kaiser. “This could even enable simultaneous interpretation services.” — Scan here for the podcast: S M P I r e f o h n u a r F : o t o h P 78

“Buried within vast data sets gained from clinical trials and healthcare provision is a store of valuable knowledge for diag- nosing and treating a wide range of diseases. However, in order to detect these critical relationships, it is necessary to establish a close interdisciplinary collaboration between medicine and data science.” Sina Mackay, data scientist at Fraunhofer IAIS