Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS
From 2007 through 2010 the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development funded the LiFt Initiative, which had won the Innovation Competition “Industry meets Science”. The goal of the initiative was and still is to support Saxony’s competitiveness and potential in the field of machine manufacturing and plant construction through laser technology. Additional innovative technologies were continued to be developed after the initial funding phase had ended.
The Fraunhofer IWS cooperates within LiFt with the University of Mittweida and the Institute for Innovative Technologies, Technology Transfer, Education and Continuing Education e. V. (ITW) in Chemnitz. The cooperation advances the transfer of developed laser materials processing technologies toward industrial applications.
The network’s goals are to show potentials, to offer services and to demonstrate the advantages to machine builders and plant makers. Such advantages could be:
- time and cost savings through shortening of process chains,
- higher efficiencies of manufacturing processes and products,
- high quality, market capability of the products,
- unique selling proposition at the highest technology level.
As a technology developer and knowledge provider, the LiFt project partners support small and medium sized companies in Saxony but also in other regions.
There is an increasing demand for laser solutions. Primary 2011 network activities were consulting services at the Fraunhofer IWS and onsite at interested partners, which meets a core objective of the project. Jointly with industry partners we also work on strengthening European contacts.