Press Release

New algorithms for object recognition and environment perception have been developed at Fraunhofer IPA, enabling sophisticated automation solutions for the service and production sectors. They are a result of the “Knowledge4Retail” research project, in which twelve project partners have developed solutions for future-oriented retail.

Offering companies a clear competitive advantage and making them fit to meet the challenges of the production of the future: this is the performance promise that Fraunhofer IPA will be exhibiting at the automatica trade fair from June 27 to June 30, 2023. Here, visitors will experience applications in robotics, automation, artificial intelligence and cleanroom technologies and gain new insights through regular expert sessions and “Interactive Live“ interviews.

Digital printing is increasingly important in industrial production due to its higher cost-effectiveness, flexibility and speed. However, printing on industrial products poses special challenges for the inks used in the process. In the project "Innovative Printing Inks for Industrial Digital Printing” (InDiPrint) the Fraunhofer IMWS in cooperation with Printing Inks Technology GmbH (PIT GmbH) worked on the development and comprehensive evaluation of high-performance printing inks for industrial digital printing.

In February, the Estonian-based startup New Standard Oil successfully commissioned their first industrial-scale prototype for drying and torrefaction of biogenic feedstock operating with superheated steam at atmospheric pressure. The energy-efficient process was developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart, Germany, and produces valuable raw materials for the chemical and energy industries: basic chemicals, biocoal and water.

It is warm underground. Accessing this energy source on a large scale to heat houses and apartments is the task of the new UrbanGroundHeat research project. Geothermal energy is CO2-free and can be easily tapped in many places in Germany, but has not yet been widely developed for legal and economic reasons. As a result of the energy crisis, conditions have changed. A cooperation of research and industry under the leadership of the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology IEE now intends to facilitate the use of geothermal energy for municipal utilities, cities and communities.