News and Media

Functional tissue models are gaining importance in drug development, toxicology, and regenerative medicine. Cryopreservation, however, remains labor-intensive, error-prone, and difficult to scale. The Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS, together with other Fraunhofer institutes, has developed an automated platform that standardizes vitrification and delivers reproducible results. The “COLDIMPACT” project, part of the Fraunhofer preliminary research program Prepare, creates industry-oriented processes that replace manual, case-by-case work and pave the way for transfer into application and production.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS strengthens its international position in advanced manufacturing. To this end, Prof. Christoph Leyens signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with RMIT University and Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. Both agreements build on existing technical collaborations and create a framework for the targeted transfer of research results, system engineering, and industrial applications into international markets.

In this interview, Dr. Holger Althues and Dr. Benjamin Schumm discuss key questions about the future of battery development, such as: What challenges is research on new battery technologies currently facing? How does the DRYtraec process contribute to sustainable battery production? Which new materials and technologies are currently being explored at Fraunhofer IWS?

Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS officially inaugurated DRYplatform on November 3, 2025, during the Dry Coating Forum. Guests witnessed the ceremonial ribbon-cutting, while nearly 200 experts, about 80 percent from industry, had already explored the potential and industrial perspectives of dry electrode coating at the preceding forum. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, today BMFTR) funded the facility with €3.7 million as a flagship project.