Zwickau celebrates ten years of the Fraunhofer Application Center for Innovation!

Zwickau celebrates ten years of the Fraunhofer Application Center for Innovation!

The Fraunhofer Application Center for Optical Measurement Technology (AZOM) in Zwickau recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. To celebrate the day, over 100 guests from administration, industry, science and politics gathered at the Keplerstrasse location. The event not only offered space for looking back, but also for looking into the future, because the AZOM has established itself as an important institution for practical research and tailor-made solutions for companies.

From an initial four employees, the team has now grown to over 40 people. This expansion demonstrates the ongoing need and demand for high-quality research services, especially for small and medium-sized companies. Every year, the application center oversees projects worth more than three million euros. The AZOM thus plays a central role in technology transfer and supports companies that do not have their own research department. This is done in close collaboration with the West Saxon University of Zwickau in order to better link science and industry. The technology transfer is therefore not only promoted, but also further expanded in order to strengthen the regional research location Zwickau, as Zwickau.de reports.

Research with practical relevance

AZOM's focus is on surface analysis and the development of technologies that help companies solve their challenges. What makes the application center unique in East Germany are the special offers that enable small and medium-sized companies in particular to use valuable expertise in areas in which they cannot research themselves.

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, to which AZOM also belongs, pursues a clear mission: to bring technological innovations to business and society. The transfer of research findings into new products and services plays a crucial role. Direct collaboration as well as targeted training and further education are the cornerstones of this strategy in order to adequately address key challenges facing society such as digitalization and sustainability issues. Successful projects have already been initiated, for example in tumor detection using artificial intelligence or the development of autonomous trucks.

With over 480 spin-offs founded since 2000, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has proven how important the exchange between research and business is. These spin-offs act as bridge builders between the two areas and make a significant contribution to the creation of new leaps in innovation, which Fraunhofer.de impressively illustrates.

Overall, the AZOM anniversary celebration shows that there is not only a celebration here, but also that research and work will continue in the future with a good hand and a lot of commitment in order to promote the Zwickau region as a location for innovation.