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A sustainable society with climate-neutral processes requires significant adjustments in the value chains, which are only possible through innovations. Seven Fraunhofer Institutes are pooling their expertise in the lighthouse project "Waste4Future" to develop new solutions for this goal, from the raw material base to material flows and process engineering right to the end of a product's life cycle. In particular, they want to increase energy and resource efficiency in the use of plastics and thus pave the way for a chemical industry that requires fewer fossil raw materials and produces fewer emissions.

India's cities are growing rapidly and need an efficient infrastructure for supplying water and disposing of wastewater. Many German companies offer innovative solutions in this area, but often struggle to find access to the Indian market. Thanks to its extensive experience with projects in India, the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB can help to bridge the gap between demand and supply. To this end, the institute is now setting up the innovation network "AQUA-Hub" to mediate between German water technology suppliers and the Indian market.

More data, more collaboration, more opportunities for photovoltaics: A new platform for investigating the performance and reliability of solar systems in different environments and climate zones worldwide will provide an important basis for an even broader and more efficient use of solar energy. The Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaic CSP in Halle (Saale) is among the founding members of the recently launched PV CAMPER platform.

Scientists of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS at Dresden in cooperation with partners from research and industry are planning to create a virtual materials expert system. This system will offer interfaces to publicly available know-how such as the latest scientific papers on materials and relevant standards as well as the practical knowledge of experts. The artificial assistant will provide this accumulated expertise to its human colleagues – thus taking work in materials testing and metallography laboratories to a completely new level.

With the new project "RoSiLIB", the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Dresden is making a decisive contribution towards a CO2-neutral energy supply in mobility. To this end, new high-energy anodes for lithium-ion batteries are being developed together with partners from the Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf e. V., E-Lyte Innovations GmbH, NANOVAL GmbH & Co. KG, VON ARDENNE GmbH and Custom Cells Itzehoe GmbH.

Only a few atomic layers determine whether a surface is water-repellent, printable, paintable, adhesive or antibacterial. The surface of many products is therefore specifically modified. Thanks to a new X-ray photoelectron spectrometer, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP can now analyze surfaces even more precisely, which is helpful when developing a process or determing sources of failures. Companies and partners benefit not only from the new analytical capabilities at Fraunhofer IAP, but also from the extensive expertise in material development, which facilitates the interpretation of data and the tuning of a manufacturing process.

By means of an innovative bonding technology, high-performance timber-concrete composite elements can be produced faster and more easily. As a result of the new joining technology, which was developed by researchers in a cooperative project involving the Fraunhofer WKI, the composite elements become more competitive in comparison to pure concrete elements. The utilization of the renewable raw material wood can therefore be increased in the construction industry.

The need for everyday objects with antiviral surfaces is high due to the COVID 19 pandemic. It is known that the material composition of an object has an influence on the viability of viruses on surfaces. This is where the work of the Fraunhofer IFAM comes in: In cross-disciplinary research projects between material science and biology, the effect of functionalized surfaces and treatment processes on the survival time of viruses is evaluated for various materials using real-time PCR tests. The detection system is also of interest to material developers from industry who want to optimize their products with regard to antiviral effectiveness.

To evaluate the compatibility of implants with the human body, researchers at Fraunhofer IKTS have developed a test system that takes the biological examination of implant materials to the next level. By means of the patented “ClicKit-Well”, materials are tested in a comparable way by creating identical test surfaces. In addition, multiple tests are possible on a single test specimen. This saves material and enables more efficient analyses of implant compatibility – a revolution in the growing market of medical implants and a future standard tool in daily laboratory use.

Wearing fixed braces can cause enamel to demineralize more around the edges of the teeth, which can be a source of caries. This effect can be counteracted with a combination of the peptide P11-4 and fluoride, as shown in a study by the Philipps University of Marburg and the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems (IMWS), which demonstrated the efficiency of this combination. The research results were awarded the Oral-B Award for Pediatric Dentistry and Prevention 2020.