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A major success for technology transfer from applied research: At the end of July 2026, Fraunhofer IZM, Fraunhofer ENAS, and WIKA Alexander Wiegand SE & Co. KG signed a comprehensive agreement to commercialize the ASTROSE® overhead line monitoring technology. Under the licensing agreement, WIKA will take over the industrialization, production, and global marketing of the system. At the same time, the partners agreed on a five-year research and development collaboration to jointly advance the technology and open up new international markets.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM, the Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Microsystems and Solid State Technologies EMFT, Kumamoto University, and Yamagata University are pooling their expertise. On September 15, 2026, the four institutions signed a memorandum of understanding in Kumamoto to promote international cooperation in research, education, and workforce development. The partnership focuses on semiconductor packaging, system integration, and printed electronics.

Automated Guided Vehicles that can sense and process their environment in all three dimensions: that is the result of a collaborative project funded by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology, and Space. A radar platform for industrial applications helps improve safety while enabling the flexible distribution of AI workloads across multiple vehicles.

Europe has invested billions in its semiconductor industry. The decisive question now is how the pilot lines established under the EU Chips Act can create industrial value creation. Leading representatives from industry, research, and policymaking will discuss this at FIRST by FMD on September 30 and October 1, 2026, at the EUREF Campus in Berlin.

Working with partners from across Europe, Fraunhofer IZM has helped create highly integrated and flexible brain implants as a new, minimally invasive method for treating neurological disorders like Parkinson’s Disease.Patients can benefit from a more comfortable experience and less invasive surgery.

Fraunhofer IZM and quantum tech company Nomad Atomics are teaming up on QuoGkA, a research project developing a compact atom gravimeter that will, in the future, measure gravitational fields from the air. The goal is to shrink measurement systems that have always been confined to the lab down to a size that fits comfortably on a drone. The breakthrough making this possible is a highly integrated glass bench developed at Fraunhofer IZM, which combines key optical components and a rubidium gas cell into a single unit. The result is precision gravity measurement that can finally leave the lab, opening up new possibilities in mining, environmental monitoring, and research.

In the European research project SUSTRONICS (SUStainable elecTRONICS), researchers from Fraunhofer IZM, together with 45 partners from research and industry and under the coordination of Philips Nederland B.V., are investigating how electronics for the healthcare sector and the automotive industry can be made more resource-efficient across their entire life cycle. The results show that alternative materials, optimized designs, and early-stage life cycle assessments can significantly reduce CO₂ emissions and resource consumption as early as the development phase. With its extensive expertise in life cycle analysis and environmental assessment, Fraunhofer IZM is making a particular contribution to the development of sustainable medical and diagnostic electronics.

Artificial intelligence promises to read and interpret medical data more efficiently and precisely. A sensor system for monitoring cardiological conditions, developed at Fraunhofer IZM, can become a powerful tool in the cardiologist’s arsenal with the power of AI.

How will emerging technologies such as electric mobility, renewable energy and artificial intelligence impact raw material demand? This question is addressed in the new edition of the “Raw Materials for Future Technologies” study which was presented today. In it the Fraunhofer Institutes ISI and IZM analyze the future development of 34 technologies and 14 raw materials on behalf of the German Raw Materials Agency (DERA) at the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR). Early action is required in order to avoid supply bottlenecks and enable a sustainable transformation.

A new way to experience bioelectronics created by the union of applied research and media art: Somatic Circuits is an artwork by media artist Marlot Meyer, Fraunhofer IZM, and the curator Pierre Wolter (Gallery Art Claims Im-pulse) that turns communication via biological signals into a physical and aesthetical experience. The installation is made possible by flexible weara-bles created by the artist using technologies developed by the research group “Technologies for Bioelectronics,” bringing together sound, touch, and bodily perception in a multi-sensory network. The interactive art and science instal-lation will premiere from 2 to 4 July at the Festival of the Future in Munich.