News

Change at the helm of the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology IPK: The Fraunhofer Executive Board has appointed Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Kohl to serve as acting director of the institute effective April 1, 2026.

The oldest Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2026. Founded in the divided city and thriving in the federal capital, we have been reinventing production for half a century. Our mission is to use digital tools and methods to make manufacturing economical, resource-efficient, and human-centered.

From November 18 to 21, 2025, Fraunhofer IPK will be presenting its latest developments in the field of additive manufacturing at Formnext 2025 in Frankfurt. The focus will be on post-processing and the processing of demanding materials. Innovative solutions for electron beam melting (EB-PBF) of materials that are difficult to weld, as well as cold spray processes for coating hard materials and copper are at the center of attention.

Wherever the machine tool music plays, we are there: From September 22 to 26, 2025, Fraunhofer IPK will be presenting solutions at EMO in Hannover together with the IWF of the Technische Universität Berlin. In the Sustainability Area of the VDW – Verein Deutscher Werkzeugmaschinenfabriken e.V. (German Machine Tool Builders' Association), we will be showcasing energy monitoring and digital assistance for production personnel.

Wacken, space, and science – how does that fit together? With Wacken Space Camp! At this year's Wacken Open Air music festival, numerous partners from industry, science, and space organizations came together to provide information about astronomy, space travel, and space technology directly on the festival grounds. Right in the middle of it all: Fraunhofer AVIATION & SPACE and our extended reality expert Kathrin Konkol.

In the KIKERP project, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology IPK are working with partners to develop an AI assistance system that evaluates refrigerators, washing machines and similar appliances that have reached the end of their useful life to determine the most effective next step: Are they suitable for repair and refurbishment, or do they need to be recycled instead? Incorporated into a cloud-based management platform, the system identifies household appliances based on images, helping to determine their quality and price so the used and refurbished products can be sold on e-commerce portals.

The workshop is being organised by Fraunhofer IPK in Berlin in collaboration with Fraunhofer IPMS in Dresden, the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park and the Vietnamese-German University. The aim is to highlight Vietnam's potential as a dynamic and strategically important location for semiconductor production and investment. --- Please note: The workshop will be held in English. ---

In April, Fraunhofer IPK will be presenting solutions for the aviation industry at two trade fairs. Both times we will bring a life-size aircraft interior wall. Meet us from March 31 to April 4 at Hannover Messe and from April 8 to 10 at AIX in Hamburg.

Fraunhofer IPK is opening its doors to all science fans for the Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften on June 22 from 5:00 pm to midnight. Together with IWF of the TU Berlin, we will present an exciting program about our research and development in the "House of Modern Production Technology".

The aerospace industry is striving for a climate-neutral future. Accordingly, the ILA 2024 in Berlin from 5 to 9 June – supported by the European Commission as a strategic partner – will focus on topics such as climate protection, sustainability and digitalization.