Our projects: research for key topics of the future

When houses, streets and squares cover a large portion of the available area, heavy rain quickly becomes a hazard. Insufficient infiltration capacity poses a risk of overloading sewer systems, flooding and damage to buildings and infrastructure. To prevent this, sufficient water retention systems are needed. However, space and financial resources are often lacking. Holger Wack’s team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT has developed a solution in the vertical water sponge.

Implants effectively stabilize injured bones or replace bone segments. However, painful infections can occur, complicating or even preventing healing. The risk is higher in heavily contaminated wounds, which are especially common in war zones where many bone injuries need treatment. Currently, clinics in Ukraine are struggling with numerous poorly healing bone injuries that can lead to permanent damage. This is an issue that researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Bremen aim to address with a novel technology.

Water-conserving crop cultivation and climate-friendly energy supply combined – the NexusHub project achieves this. This smart, practical combination of multiple robust technologies unlocks development prospects for less-developed regions in the Global South.

Green hydrogen is considered a key component of the energy transition and the shift to a CO₂-neutral industry. However, many countries can only produce their own hydrogen to a limited extent or at high cost, and are therefore dependent on imports. One way to store and transport hydrogen is by converting it into ammonia (NH₃). However, ammonia is toxic and poses a risk to the marine environment when transported by ship. Furthermore, the use of hydrogen, for example for energy production or as a fuel, requires a significant amount of water.

Concrete is the most commonly used material worldwide. However, cement production generates carbon dioxide (approximately 700 kg of CO2 per metric ton of cement), and builder’s sand suitable for use as a raw material is in increasingly short supply. In some areas of the world, mafia-like structures are already forming, illegally extracting sand from coastlines and riverbeds. Each year, some 40 billion metric tons of sand and gravel are used to produce concrete. That’s enough sand to build a wall with a width and height of 27 meters, stretching around the entire Equator.

For the first time ever, CycloPlasma technology has made it possible to sustainably remove carcinogenic wood preservatives from buildings without leaving any residue behind. This method has opened up new prospects for preservation of historical buildings in particular.

Following natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes, there is tremendous time pressure to distribute aid materials in disaster-stricken regions so they reach victims there in time. The EDDA project is intended to accelerate the process of providing humanitarian assistance while also ensuring that the aid gets to where it is needed most with the help of Software supported by artificial intelligence (AI). This Software assembles and analyzes the images of drones automatically and in real time, even without internet access.

A self-sufficient power supply, modular equipment, and high robustness make the mobile care platform »PreCare« an adaptable solution for primary healthcare in remote regions of Africa. This makes it suitable not only for comprehensive healthcare provision, but also for the early detection of epidemics and for use in disaster situations.

The internet is the communication network of our world. A stable internet connection is a prerequisite for the successful operation of companies, hospitals and public administrations. However, 4 billion people around the world still do not have access to the internet. They are offline and, therefore, excluded from digital participation.

Voice assistants like Alexa and Siri make daily life easier for millions of people. We use voice commands to navigate, stream our favorite songs, or have the latest news read to us. These smart assistance features have become integral elements of many areas of our lives. However, they face increasing criticism for collecting and processing sensitive user data at the same time. For data protection and privacy reasons, many companies and organizations are turning away from »external« voice assistance software although the technology would offer tremendous potential.