Fraunhofer IPA
German applied research institute specialising in manufacturing engineering and automation, founded in 1959 and based in Stuttgart.
Fraunhofer IPA – Institute Profile (official site)Fraunhofer IPA (Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation) is one of the largest institutes within Germany's Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft applied-research network. Founded in 1959 and headquartered in Stuttgart, the institute employs over 1,200 people and operates with an annual budget of approximately €95 million.
Research and development activities cover organisational and technological challenges across the full production chain — from individual processes and components to complete machines and systems. Work is structured across 11 research areas and 11 business units, serving sectors including automotive, mechanical and plant engineering, electronics and microsystems, energy, medical engineering, biotechnology, and the process industry.
Fraunhofer IPA is a co-founder of the Robotics Institute Germany (RIG) and is active in emerging fields such as biological transformation, which draws on principles refined through billions of years of evolution to inform industrial value creation via biotechnology and IT.
The institute occupies a leading position in Europe for technology transfer through research spin-offs. Beyond its core research mission, it runs a dedicated start-up support team that systematically helps new ventures emerge from its research outputs, making it a notable hub for deep-tech entrepreneurship in manufacturing and automation.