Business Location Dresden

New materials, nanotechnology and photovoltaics are three high tech fields in which Dresden maintains a leading position.

An innovation-oriented environment promotes interdisciplinary and productive cooperation among the participants and enables top performance.

Nanotechnology in Dresden – A High Tech Region Initiates Global Impulses

Some 100 of Germany's 1,000 nanotechnological enterprises are located in the Dresden region. Apart from Berlin, Dresden thus has the highest rate of new establishments among all German regions. A study has currently shown that approximately 20 start-ups were founded here in the past few years. Besides the very high concentration of not university-related research institutions, tight links and communication between research and industry in numerous subject-specific networks contribute to an extraordinarily innovative climate.

The production of thin films and film systems is the primary focus of nanotechnology in the region. The application stretches from nanoelectronics over optics to new photovoltaic technologies. In the field of nano analytics, Dresden has also demonstrated particular competence in comparison to European standards for many years. Since Summer 2009, eight institutes of the Fraunhofer Society Dresden and three faculties of TU Dresden combine their know-how in the Fraunhofer Cluster Nano Analytics and provide the industry with an attractive center of expertise of applied research and development.

Since 2002, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology and the City of Dresden in cooperation with other partners have organized the Nanofair - an international nanotechnology symposium and leading event of DRESDEN-concept.

New materials

The development of new products is decisively influenced by the development of new materials. In Dresden, there are already more than 1,000 materials researchers who contribute their expertise to this process.

For the Fraunhofer Society, Dresden has long since turned into a focal point of materials research. Ten of the twelve Fraunhofer institutes located here conduct research in the fields of new materials and materials technologies for various applications.

Three institutes of the Max Planck Society, two institutes of the Leibniz Association and the Helmoltz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf with its unique big science devices conduct basic research in materials.

Materials research in Dresden focuses primarily on the fields of nanotechnology, biomaterials, polymers, ceramic materials, high-temperature superconductors, magneto-fluid dynamics, and lightweight construction. Specifically, nanotechnology is a platform for new materials and products from which all high tech fields benefit.

Numerous new and re-establishments as well as cooperation with established enterprises testify the successful transfer in the use of products.

Photovoltaics: Dresden - Lighthouse of Technology in the Solar Valley Central Germany

»Solar technology from Saxony energizes the world« stated the Handelsblatt at the end of May 2009. There are several reasons: The Dresden-Freiberg region has a unique combination of photovoltaics suppliers, producers and research.

Thus, the photovoltaics industry of the region provides the complete value creation chain of both crystalline silicon and thin film photovoltaics. As the largest microelectronic cluster in Europe, the region has an outstanding silicon competence. Four of the top ten plant construction businesses for photovoltaics worldwide are active in Dresden.

Of all the region's research centers, 19 are involved in photovoltaics projects. As a result, the spectrum of photovoltaics technology in Dresden is unique in breadth and quality. Photovoltaics technologies of the future, i.e. thin film and organic photovoltaic, are Dresden's specialty.

The current project is the establishment of a Fraunhofer Center of resource-friendly energy technologies - the Fraunhofer-RESET. It is initiated by three institutes of the Fraunhofer Society Dresden. One of the central topics are photovoltaics. In close cooperation with local enterprises and plant construction businesses, Dresden's technologic lead is to be further increased.

Companies and research institutes in Dresden are generally outward looking: They are known for their excellent cooperation in industry networks and high in demand as partners for national cooperation schemes. In this way, regional players are, among other things, actively involved in the Spitzencluster project Solar Valley Central Germany.

Learn more about Dresdens key sector Nanotchnology/New Materials/Photovoltaics:

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