Fraunhofer What? That’s German Pride in Technology
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Many may know that Korea invented the world's first MP3 player, but who knows that it was the Fraunhofer Institute that actually developed music data compression technology that menaced the world's music labels industry?
The Germany-based research giant is little known to ordinary people, but it is Europe's largest research and development institution.
It brought life to dozens of clever inventions ranging from a facial analysis system that detects how regular people respond when they walk past an advertising poster to a soccer monitoring system that requires no referee.
This think tank has now set up an office in Korea, ready to team up with local partners for a next big hit, perhaps like the MP3.
``We want more intensified dialogue with the research community and companies in Korea,'' said Hans-Jorg Bullinger, the president of Fraunhofer Institute.
He explained that the German center has cooperated with firms like Samsung and Hyundai for many years, but it is now time for an upgrade.
One of the key areas that Fraunhofer will take part in is developing renewable energy sources with the Seoul City.
Researchers are developing an energy-efficient demonstration building that will be designed to incorporate the principles of a modern energy-saving technology, and will be heated and cooled using sustainable energy sources. Fraunhofer says that the construction on the new building will begin next year.
Similar technologies will also be used with its corporate partners like Samsung.
Bullinger said the important thing for researchers is to know that a technology should be co-developed with a commercial industry so that it can be ``usable.''
``Transferring money into knowledge and turning that knowledge back into money is the crucial point,'' he said.
Bullinger added that, in that respect, Korea is a great place to be for Fraunhofer because Asia's fourth-largest economy has a powerful research base.
``Samsung and Hyundai are familiar with the newest technologies in their respective industries,'' he said, however, adding that local researchers lack broad knowledge because they focus so much on specific fields like cars and electronics.
The research expert said he is looking forward to Fraunhofer's increased teamwork with Korean schools, research centers and corporations.
``Samsung said they want to increase research outsourcing from 10 to 30 percent,'' said Bullinger. ``That means they need partners to do so, so we're going to try building more ties here to fulfill their needs.''