Press releases 2022

On December 12, Horst Weller, professor of physical chemistry at the University of Hamburg and head of the Center for Applied Nanotechnology (CAN) research division at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP, retired. He is considered one of the world's most influential scientific minds in the field of chemistry. He also made a significant contribution to the University of Hamburg being able to acquire the title of Excellence.

Under the motto "Get into the loop", an international circular economy community will meet for the first time in Munich on February 8 and 9, 2023, at the Fraunhofer CCPE Summit under the leadership of UMSICHT Institute Director Prof. Manfred Renner. It is the starting signal for an international forum that promotes the exchange of solution ideas and innovations for a circular plastics economy. Program details and a registration form can be found on the website of Fraunhofer CCPE. For about four years, six Fraunhofer institutes have been dedicated in the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy CCPE to the question of how the value chain of plastics can be made circular.

Bio-based carbon fibers, flexible OLED displays, rubber for tires with reduced abrasion, artificial corneas and much more - the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP is celebrating 30 years of successful material and process developments. Today, the institute plays a key role in shaping future topics such as bioeconomy, energy transition, mobility and personalized medicine. On September 1, 2022, the institute celebrated its 30th anniversary with a festive colloquium at the Fraunhofer Conference Center in the Potsdam Science Park with renowned guests from politics, business and science.

The Polymer Group has established another subsidiary, SoBiCo GmbH (Solutions in BioCompounds). The focus of activities is on flexible PLA copolymers, a novel class of bioplastics marketed under the name Plactid®. The successful development is the result of several years of collaboration between the Polymer Group and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP, which was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. On July 5, 2022, the commissioning of the first production line in Pferdsfeld was celebrated with 150 guests.

If breast cancer is suspected, doctors carry out a biopsy. However, this is invasive, painful and costly. It also takes several days to get the results. In the future, diagnosis could be made via a liquid biopsy of a patient’s blood — a gentle, cost-effective method that would deliver the results within just a few hours. A team of researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP is working alongside partners on this innovative method.

Synthetic rubber has been produced and constantly optimized since the beginning of the 20th century. Nevertheless, its mechanical properties cannot compete with those of natural rubber. Natural rubber, for example, is characterized by an unprecedented strain-induced crystallization. In the research project "BISYKA", a team of Fraunhofer researchers succeeded in identifying relevant causes and successfully transferring them to synthetic rubber. At the German Rubber Conference in Nuremberg from June 27 to 30, the team will present how they managed to reduce abrasion without the tires losing their grip or low rolling resistance.

With a new office and laboratory building of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP in Wildau, a unique contact point for sustainable and holistic lightweight construction technologies has been created on an area of 2700 square meters. The construction costs amounted to 20.5 million euros. The total funding of 19.4 million euros was financed by 80 percent from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and ten percent each from the federal government and the state of Brandenburg. The new building was officially opened on May 25, 2022.