Industry Innovation Days 2025 at Fraunhofer IAF

On November 4 and 5, 2025, the Industry Innovation Days 2025 took place at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF in Freiburg. For two days, the institute focused on key future technologies—from III-V semiconductors to diamond-based quantum technologies. Numerous representatives from companies of all sizes, from start-ups to medium-sized businesses to large industrial corporations, took the opportunity to learn about the latest developments and explore new avenues for collaboration.

Guests received exclusive insights into laboratories and technology areas, experienced live demonstrations of various use cases, and learned about application-ready technologies at the Fraunhofer IAF innovation fair. Expert presentations, strategic technology roadmaps from the business units, and open exchange shaped the event. Many participants also took advantage of the subsequent 1:1 matchmaking session for personal discussions with the institute’s experts.

Dr. Patricie Merkert, Executive Director of Fraunhofer IAF, offered a positive conclusion: “We are very pleased with the strong interest and the engaged contributions from participants. The direct exchange—from spontaneous questions to in-depth scientific discussions—clearly showed how important events like this are for creating joint innovation impulses.”

Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Quay, Executive Director of Fraunhofer IAF, added: “What impressed us most was the openness with which companies shared their technological challenges. This level of transparency enables us to further develop research results in a targeted way and create tailored solutions for industry.”

The Industry Innovation Days were held at Fraunhofer IAF for the first time in 2025 and demonstrated how valuable continuous dialogue between research and industry is—and how insights into seemingly unrelated technologies can spark new ideas and fresh inspiration.

Transferring scientific research results into industrial applications is at the core of Fraunhofer’s mission. Close collaboration between research and industry remains essential to jointly advance future technologies along the entire value chain.