High-ranking representatives from industry and science reviewed Fraunhofer Application Center for Optical Metrology and Surface Technologies AZOM’s research results up to now and recommend the continuing operation of the application center. In its early years, the research facility received funding from the Free State of Saxony. The visible successes in numerous publicly funded and industrial research projects as well as the firm anchoring in the Zwickau region ensure that the application center can finance itself further from its own resources and become firmly established. The evaluators were particularly pleased with the commitment and dedication of the research team, which more than exceeded the set targets. 

“Institutions and companies from research and development play an important role, especially for our industrially dominated region,” emphasized Zwickau's mayor Constance Arndt. “Fraunhofer AZOM has quickly found its place, and it has long been a recognized partner for institutions and companies, thus enriching the local location.” Prof Christoph Leyens, director of parent institute Fraunhofer IWS in Dresden, is delighted about the center’s positive development: “AZOM’s topics ideally complement our research portfolio, so that it has established itself as an integral part of the IWS. We have succeeded in establishing a stable connection between Dresden and Zwickau and in setting a research anchor in southwest Saxony. The task now is to further consolidate this.”

Research projects in the automotive industry and medical technology

Meanwhile, the AZOM is closely cooperating with the German automotive industry. The development of optical measurement technology for technical surfaces plays a significant role in the automotive production of vehicles. It is also involved in international research projects with the latest surface modification and characterization methods for the semiconductor industry. “We also see great potential in new areas of medical technology,” explains the head of the application center, Prof Peter Hartmann. Current research is focusing on the development of optical measurement technology and processes, for example, for the detection of cell changes or image transmission by means of a single optical fiber. This has the potential to reduce the diameter of endoscopes to the size of a hair.

Thanks to its close cooperation with WHZ, Fraunhofer AZOM contributes significantly to practice-oriented engineering education at the university. Around sixty students have so far completed their bachelor's and master’s theses at the application center. Others also benefit from the opportunity to enter research as interns or as research assistants, or are now working in science at the Zwickau application center. Scientific presentations at international conferences and worldwide cooperation with universities and colleges not only provide AZOM’s students and scientists with important practical experience, but also help them to establish new interesting contacts for future projects. In this way, for example, it was possible to win an American postdoc for five years as a research associate at the Fraunhofer application center and as an English-speaking lecturer at WHZ. “For research and teaching at our university of applied sciences with a high level of practical relevance, AZOM is a great benefit and shows the large potential of the cooperation with Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft,” emphasizes the WHZ rector, Prof Dr Stephan Kassel. (Source: Fh. IWS)