Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI

After almost five years of research, the project partners and the advisory board came together once again for a final event and project advisory board meeting. Various presentations and demonstrations took them on a journey through the project´s highlights and gave a glimpse into the future.

“SteigtUm” started in Dezember 2019 and was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with the goal of transforming the city of Freiberg into a living lab, overcoming the challenges of urban mobility. The project focused on the development of small electric vehicles, suitable for everyday use. Combined with an autonomous rental and charging infrastructure with a universal user interface, those vehicles can become a great public benefit. This way, problems caused by the increasing urbanization, such as pollution and bad parking situations, can be solved with the help of cost-effective and user-friendly alternatives. The project will now be successfully completed in May 2024.

As the project coordinator, the Institute of Electrical Engineering of TU Freiberg welcomed all participants within its own premises to celebrate the successful completion. Among them were scientists from TU Freiberg, TU Chemnitz, TU Braunschweig, Projektionisten GmbH from Hannover, apromace data systems GmbH from Freiberg and Fraunhofer IVI.

Prof. Ralph Bartholomäus, Uwe Schneider and Ernst-Eckart Schulze presented two solutions developed and designed at the IVI. With “CityTrunk”, an electric cargo trailer was introduced that is able to increase transport capacities for commercial users, while avoiding problems conventional transportation vehicles face within urban areas. In addition, the “CityBox”, an automatic rental and charging station for the “CityBike” developed by TU Freiberg was created to further optimize micromobility within the city. 

Once again, committed researchers had the opportunity to present their projects at the Fraunhofer Headquarters in Munich at the final event of the exclusive continuing education program to become a “Fraunhofer Research Manager”. The program aims to professionalize research management within strategic areas of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. With this year’s topic “business model innovation”, six teams of colleagues from various institutes developed innovative solutions for a more modern, sustainable, and efficient economy.

We are particularly pleased to celebrate our new Research Manager Henri Meeß, group manager “Highly Automated Flying” at the Fraunhofer Application Center “Connected Mobility and Infrastructure” in Ingolstadt. In cooperation with colleagues from Fraunhofer IML and Fraunhofer IIS, he worked on the homogenization of Fraunhofer -wide data, a process much needed to develop AI systems. This contribution helps to easier fulfill future industrial requirements through a more effective utilization of datasets.

Impressed by the participants’ presentations, Fraunhofer President Prof. Dr. Holger Hanselka congratulated the new generation of Research Managers, stating that the program´s aims were met successfully. New employees were able to achieve results that make a direct contribution to ongoing research, by exchanging experiences and transferring ideas into applications. In addition, they improved their own competencies in entrepreneurial and cross-institutional collaboration and will now be giving change-inducing impulses themselves within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

We congratulate all graduates and wish them all the best for their future carriers.