Fraunhofer IOF Celebrates 30th Anniversary

The Institute celebrated these and many other successes at an anniversary party on July 7th together with its employees and guests. "For 30 years now, the Fraunhofer IOF has been researching innovative optical systems for the central future and Fraunhofer Strategic Research Fields of Quantum Technologies, Intelligent Medicine as well as Resource Efficiency and Climate Technologies," emphasized Professor Dr. Reimund Neugebauer, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, in his welcoming address at the ceremony. "In particular, quantum technologies, which are becoming increasingly important in the Institute's portfolio, make a decisive contribution to securing Germany's and Europe's technological sovereignty and future competitiveness through their disruptive potential, including in imaging and communications security."

With regard to the importance of photonics specifically for the Free State of Thuringia, Thuringia's Minister-President Bodo Ramelow added: "Thuringia and photonics embody a success story of which we can be proud. More than 16,000 skilled workers, more than 180 companies and numerous research institutions in the field of optics and photonics are key witnesses of this impressive 30-year development. Fraunhofer IOF has thus also made a decisive contribution to making Thuringia attractive for the establishment of further future technologies."

420 employees and seventeen spin-offs

To this day, the Research Institute has experienced steady growth. In its founding year, the Institute started out with fewer than 60 employees. Today, there are about 420 employees who are passionate about making light a versatile tool. Many of them also have an international background. In addition, seventeen start-ups have so far spun off from the Institute and have successfully established themselves on the market as independent companies.

"In order to develop new ideas, there needs to be a culture of freedom - a culture that questions the past and seeks new challenges", commented director of the Institute Andreas Tünnermann. "This culture characterizes our Insitute and the way our employees work. We want to understand what our partners in science and industry expect from us and what solutions they need from us - maybe even in the future to come. That's exactly where our work starts."

Topping-out ceremony for new research building

New and groundbreaking questions for the future are to be expected, especially in the field of quantum technologies. That is why the Institute is currently expanding with a new research building. On an area of more than 2,000 m², new laboratories and offices will soon be available to the Insitute to provide new space, especially for quantum research.

500 guests celebrated the topping-out ceremony of the third extension building of Fraunhofer IOF together with the 30th anniversary. "I am firmly convinced that Fraunhofer and the Jena Institute will succeed in further strengthening innovative abilities in the key technologies of optics and photonics and setting new standards with even more space for new ideas", commented President Professor Neugebauer at the ceremony.

After its foundation in 1992, the Institute was initially located in Jena's city center, in the so-called "Eule" (English: Owl). For capacity reasons, it moved to a new building on the Beutenberg Campus in 2002. In 2011, the first extension building was added there. In 2017, the fiber technology center with a fiber drawing tower directly integrated into the building complex was opened. Completion of the latest research building is planned for 2023.