Press Releases

A book of success stories that inspires young women to take up mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology (STEM) with examples from science? That alone would not be enough for the Fraunhofer researchers Manja Mai-Ly Pfaff-Kastner, Esther Packullat, Dr. Isabel Michel, Lisa Martha Kunkel and Prof. Dr. Tanja Manuela Kneiske. »Forscherinnen im Fokus – Wir schaffen Veränderung« (Female Researchers in Focus – We Are Creating Change) wants more: to look at the world of artificial intelligence and simulation through the eyes of extraordinary female scientists and tell exciting, very personal stories in the process. ›Frau N. Hofer‹, as it is known for short, traces a variety of (life) paths in science and, in doing so, »incidentally« draws attention to fascinating opportunities for shaping the future, particularly in applied research.

Daniel Stich is well known to the Fraunhofer ITWM: before his appointment as State Secretary for the Interior, he was responsible for the »Health« focus at the State Ministry of Science and Health. During the peak phases of the coronavirus epidemic, the institute examined the case numbers for the ministry and advised Daniel Stich in his role as state vaccination coordinator in weekly meetings. Even after the epidemic had subsided, the collaboration continued: Fraunhofer ITWM supported the state government's wastewater analysis program by comparing it with the SentiSurv test program. Data was collected until March of this year to improve the ability to predict the course of a similar epidemic in the future and to take appropriate measures.

The new European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is intended to prevent goods marketed in the EU from contributing to the spread of deforestation. When a wood product is brought into the EU market, for example, there must be documentation of which types of wood were used to produce it, along with proof of their legal origin. Depending on the material, even the initial review of the declared type of wood is no easy task. Paper, for example, requires time-consuming examination by specialists. Now, a new AI-based analytical tool for determining wood types is being developed to simplify and accelerate this process. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM are working closely with the Thünen Institute of Wood Research to develop the automated image recognition system for large-scale review of declarations of wood type.

Together with four other Fraunhofer Institutes, the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM will present its current research results live at this year's world's leading trade fair for the maritime industry SMM (Shipbuilding, Machinery and Marine Technology) from September 3 to 6, 2024 in Hamburg. In Hall B6 at Booth 327, the researchers will be presenting their solutions that support shipping companies, shipyards, ports, logistics service providers and the maritime supply industry.

Over the past 13 years, six doctoral students from the Rhineland-Palatinate University of Technology Kaiserslautern-Landau RPTU and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM have already been able to ask themselves this question. They completed part of their doctoral studies in France – at the Centre de Morphologie Mathématique de MINES Paris (CMM) to be precise.

Battery simulation has been a focus of research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM in Kaiserslautern for many years. Quality control has recently been added to this area of research. The focus here is on electrodes and their conductive properties. At the leading trade fair »Battery Show Europe« in Stuttgart, the institute will be presenting its innovations in Hall 9 at Booth B85.

From the automotive sector to production: Simulations and digital twins are crucial to many companies. highly dynamic processes often cannot be satisfactorily mapped with conventional software, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM have developed a new method that works without a rigid computational grid and is able to simulate complex processes with great time savings and thus cost-effectively. Their efforts have earned them the 2024 Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize.

Germany is facing major challenges in providing long-term inpatient care for those who need it. According to Statista, the number of people in need of care will increase by 50 percent by 2030. At the same time, the workforce is expected to decrease further over the next few years. AI-based, digital systems offer a way to tackle this challenge: In the »Care-Integrated Artificial Intelligence in the Professional Care Process« (ViKI pro) project, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM, together with their partners, enable specialists in the care sector to identify individual care needs and plan appropriate measures with the support of AI.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) supports the doctorates of young scientists with Research Training Groups. The University Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM have succeeded in bringing such a Research Training Group to Kaiserslautern! The interdisciplinary program called MIMO – Mathematics of Interdisciplinary Multiobjective Optimization – offers doctoral students the opportunity to combine mathematics and engineering sciences.

The division »High Performance Computing« of the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM, known for its exascale-capable programming tools and the BeeGFS parallel file system, is coming to Hamburg with innovative solutions for the HPC community in the fields of parallel programming and Artificial Intelligence. At the joint booth with ThinkparQ, a Fraunhofer ITWM spin-off, the experts will be presenting various innovations from the institute at ISC High Performance Computing 2024.