As part of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's »Young Research Class« funding program, Martin Schreiber, a doctoral student at the Fraunhofer IGCV in Augsburg, is researching new sustainable concepts for the cell-inspired factory of the future.

»Biological transformation« is the central theme of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's two-year »Young Research Class funding program, launched in 2018. As part of the overall project Biological Attempts Concerning Circular Economy, Production and Technology BioACCEPT, Martin Schreiber from the Fraunhofer IGCV is developing the project idea of the future-oriented, cell-inspired factory FabrikZ in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institutes IWU and IPA.

The central research topics of the FabrikZ project are the transfer of biological aspects to the structural design, process planning, and information transfer, as well as plant control in the factory. The knowledge gained will be used to design future-oriented, cell-inspired, and adaptable factories from planning to control.

In addition to FabrikZ, the BioACCEPT project consists of three further sub-projects. The BioCoinect project deals with the development of incentive systems to strengthen the recycling economy. Within the INSIBIO project, processes for accelerating the production of biological agents are being developed, and in the U-tec project, a physical and communication-capable interface between biology and technology is being realized. All subprojects are united by the goal of developing new ideas and technologies for sustainable production and the use of limited resources. In this way, excellent research results and products secure Germany's innovation leadership in international competition in the long term.
 

In the »Young Research Class«, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft brings together scientists from various Fraunhofer Institutes to help shape strategic research topics, develop original research ideas, and network across hierarchies and disciplines. In September 2018, the first concepts and ideas of the YRC concerning the overall project and the sub-projects were presented to the President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Reimund Neugebauer and the think tank of the Fraunhofer Headquarters. Project work began on March 1, 2018, extensive studies, simulations, and physical demonstrators have been set up. The results were first presented at the »Fraunhofer Symposium Netzwerk 2020« of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft on February 18 and 19, 2020, in Munich.