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Today marks the start of a new German-funded R&D project, for a European target market but with global outreach. It is designed to develop core data specifications, technical standards and dissemination for the fulfillment of the ‘EU battery passport’. The project, named Battery Pass, will provide the foundations of an interoperable, open standard, scalable data platform, and provide the basis for the rapid development of a battery passport and its market implementation. The Battery Pass will empower Europe to become a leader in the digitalization of the battery supply chain and electromobility, making a unique contribution to climate protection, social responsibility, energy and the circular economy. This will significantly transform the energy sector and increase its resource independence and competitiveness. The project consortium, which also features Fraunhofer IPK as well as German world-class leaders and market drivers from industry and science, will furthermore support the European Union in its ambition to enable digital product passports and drive circular life-cycle management of traction batteries, thus helping to achieve the goals of the EU’s strategy Fit for 55 strategy and the UN Global Goals.

A huge number of used parts end up in the scrap yard for recycling every year. It is far more resource-efficient, however, to remanufacture alternators, starters and the like as part of a recirculation approach. This reduces waste, lowers the CO2 footprint and extends the service life of products. In the EIBA project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology IPK is developing an AI-based assistance system for semi-automated image-based identification of used parts without QR or bar codes. This will assist the worker with the sorting process so that more used components can be sent for remanufacturing.

A drug-coated balloon catheter inserted in minimally invasive cardiac surgery is increasingly serving as a replacement for risky stent treatment of coronary heart disease. In current practice, the balloons are often coated manually. A new device is intended to automate this time-consuming procedure.

How can value chains, companies and entire economies be made crisis-proof? In the white paper »RESYST«, 17 Fraunhofer institutes present factors and conditions for resilience and provide practical recommendations for action. In doing so, they demonstrate that sustainable resilience measures enable organizations to remain innovative and successful even in crisis situations.

With a digital kick-off event on November 29 and 30, 2021, the BMBF-funded INVITE program for vocational training innovations has started. Fraunhofer IPK is contributing a project on AI-supported learning path design.

Guidelines for knowledge management specifically tailored to SMEs − that is the aim of DIN SPEC 91443 "Systematic knowledge management for SMEs − Tools and procedures". Fraunhofer IPK's scientific staff participated in drafting the document.

With an online survey, Fraunhofer IPK would like to capture current challenges in systematic problem solving in manufacturing companies. The focus is on problems of unknown cause that cannot be solved immediately and for which various procedures have been established in practice.

An online survey by Fraunhofer IPK in cooperation with EPIC (Centre of Excellence in Production Informatics and Control) aims to determine the impact of COVID-19 on industrial production. Its focus: »How can digitization help to mitigate these effects?«

Fraunhofer Reinigung conducts a new market and trend analysis of cleaning processes in production.

Last Friday saw the the first broadcast of a virtual salon discussion in a joint new series of the Austrian Embassy and Fraunhofer IPK.