The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is the leading organization for applied research in Europe. Its research efforts are geared entirely to people’s needs: health, security, communication, energy and the environment. As a result, the work undertaken by Fraunhofer’s researchers and developers has a significant impact on people’s lives.
72 institutes and research units at locations throughout Germany conduct the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft’s research activities. It employs a staff of more than 26,600, who work with an annual research budget of 2.6 billion euros. Of this sum, 2.2 billion euros is generated through contract research. Around 70 percent of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s contract research revenue is derived from contracts with industry and from publicly financed research projects. International collaborations with excellent research partners and innovative companies around the world ensure direct access to regions of the greatest importance to present and future scientific progress and economic development.
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Fraunhofer SIT is a leading Federal Institute for research in applied cybersecurity. Fraunhofer SIT supports the German government, security offices and industry with advanced research in applied cybersecurity.
Over 200 highly qualified employees cover all areas of cybersecurity and form a unique ecosystem for deep tech innovation. Fraunhofer SIT collaborates with leading universities worldwide. Its headquarters are in Darmstadt, Germany with branches and research centers in St. Augustin, Berlin and Mittweida in Germany as well as in the US, Israel and Singapore.
Fraunhofer SIT is supporting innovation and young scientists, and operates international programs. The Fraunhofer CyberStar Award is embedded into Fraunhofer SIT's overall strategy to foster applied cybersecurity innovation by strengthening the bonds between Germany and Israel. Other activities include the Fraunhofer Project Center for Cybersecurity at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (FPC_CS@HUJI) and the German Israeli Partnership Accelerator (GIPA).
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The National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity ATHENE is a research center of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft for its two Darmstadt-based institutes SIT and IGD, in cooperation with the Technical University of Darmstadt and the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. This unique and innovative collaboration model of university and non-university research combines the Fraunhofer competencies and strengths with the competencies and strengths of the universities.
It also facilitates cutting-edge research to the benefit of society, business and government, and despite its main focus on computer science and technology it also includes interdisciplinary issues from such fields as legal and business or psychology and ethics sciences. The highly application-oriented profile of ATHENE includes technological transfers and startups as well. With more than 500 employees, ATHENE is the largest cybersecurity research organization in Europe.
ATHENE is located in Darmstadt, the City of Science. Darmstadt won BITKOM’s Germany-wide “Digital City“ competition. According to IW Consult of the German Economic Institute in Cologne, it is also the city with the best future prospects of all of Germany’s cities.
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