Reuters names Fraunhofer among the top 3 of the publicly funded R&D institutions. Among the top three Fraunhofer is the institution that provides evidence for the strongest commercial impact due to its unique working model.
When it comes to the publicly funded organizations most likely to change the world, Fraunhofer comes on the top of the list. On its Top 25 Global Innovators list, Reuters identified and ranked the 25 publicly funded institutions doing the most to advance science and technology. Besides being on the top of the list for developing technology that can help fuel private industry, Fraunhofer also stands out for its commercial impact, evidencing the influence of basic research on commercial R&D activity.
The results were obtained by analysing the number of patents and published research papers from the past eight years.
The globally operating Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, with its headquarters in Germany, is Europe's largest applied R&D institution, represented in Portugal also with its Research Center for Assistive Information and Communication Solutions (Fraunhofer AICOS).
The “Fraunhofer Operational Model”, also followed by Fraunhofer AICOS for eight years, consists of achieving a well-balanced project mix, with one third of revenues from direct industry contracts, and one third of national/international R&D Programs.
With a team of close to 100 people, distributed between the Porto and Lisboa offices, Fraunhofer AICOS is focused on Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) and Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D), offering innovative solutions for industry clients in Portugal and on an international level.
Fraunhofer AICOS’ goal is to develop Remarkable Technology, Easy to Use, therefore contributing to the population’s quality of life.