Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST
Christmas time and the turn of the year are approaching fast. Before we begin the coming year and many exciting projects with renewed vigor, I would like to invite you to take a brief look back to the recent past. 2023 was a very dynamic year for the Fraunhofer IST, and brought with it a number of changes and further developments.
Most importantly, I am delighted that Dr. Sabrina Zellmer, Head of the “Process Technology and Production Engineering for Sustainable Energy Storage Systems” department, has been appointed as a professor at the TU Braunschweig and that we have also been able to engage her as Deputy Director of the institute. She thereby succeeds Dr. Lothar Schäfer, who had held various positions at the Fraunhofer IST since its foundation.
Furthermore, sustainability expert Prof. Dr. Stephan Krinke has been working at the Fraunhofer IST since 2023 and is setting up a new “Sustainability Management and Life Cycle Engineering” department. Through this, we want to not only provide a multi-sectoral contribution towards greater sustainability in production, but to also meet the increasing demand in this area.
In 2023, we were also able to further expand our activities regarding batteries and the hydrogen economy in close cooperation with the TU Braunschweig as well as the members of the Fraunhofer Center for Energy Storage and Systems ZESS and the Wasserstoff Campus Salzgitter. A further focus is formed by technologies for a circular economy. With this in mind, we have – in collaboration with the TU Braunschweig and local partners – strategically further developed the Open Hybrid LabFactory in Wolfsburg. The Fraunhofer Center Circular Economy for Mobility CCEM is located there under the leadership of Prof. Michael Thomas from the Fraunhofer IST.
The aforementioned developments and many other exciting projects would simply not be possible without the commitment and expertise of our employees, as well as our partners from politics, industry and science.
On behalf of the entire staff of the Fraunhofer IST, I would therefore like to express my sincere thanks for your trust and the excellent cooperation. I wish you a happy festive season and all the very best for the new year 2024.
With best regards,
Christoph Herrmann