The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft opened an office in Bangalore, India, on October 30th. The office will officially commence with its endeavors on January 1, 2013. By then Indian officials are expected to grant the full authorization permit.

Beside cooperation with partners of scientific excellence, Fraunhofer’s focus lies on following their German and European customers to India. With the representative office they plan to establish contacts with leading partners from industry and science and to bundle the activities of the Fraunhofer institutes. In 2011, eleven Fraunhofer institutes had been actively working in India and earnings last year reached their highest level yet, at 1.3 million euro.

The executive management position at the new Fraunhofer office is held by Ms. Anandi Iyer. She has provided consulting services to Fraunhofer and has been involved with the German federal ministry for education and research BMBF, the GTZ (now known as GIZ, or the German Agency for International Cooperation), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and the International Technology Cooperation Network (INTEC).

• Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, Munich, Germany