About us

enabling. digital. spaces.

As a partner for digitization, Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT has been developing IT solutions tailored to people and seamlessly integrated into business processes for 40 years. As a driving force of innovation, FIT not only provides guidance, but also shapes the digital transformation in business, the environment and society.

FIT’s interdisciplinary R&D teams are drawn from our staff of around 350 scientists from computer science, social science, business administration, economics, psychology, and engineering. They bring their expertise in designing and implementing information technology systems to bear on problems and needs from different areas of life.

Our specific strength is our holistic approach to system development – from concept validation to implementation. We strategically evolve our expertise in IT, specific application fields, and our scientific excellence with the aim to be ahead of the market for our customers from industry and administration. We focus on four application domains: Digital Energy, Digital Health, Digital Sustainability and Digital Business – each of outstanding importance for Europe’s future.

Each of FIT's informatics departments is built around one of our five core competencies:

  • Human-Centered Engineering & Design will pursue the institute's renowned research in this field to support companies in developing user-friendly interactive systems;
  • Data Science & Artificial Intelligence drives the digital transformation by processing, organizing and analyzing data and knowledge more systematically and flexibly than before. Our senior scientists have internationally renowned expertise in process mining and semantic data integration;
  • Cooperation Systems focuses on a research field that has been a mainstay of Fraunhofer FIT: Collaboration and the cooperative use of distributed data or services on different levels – for example, using Mixed Reality or Blockchain technology;
  • Microsimulation & Econometric Data Analysis will continue to provide the German federal government with evidence-based predictions on the impact of political decisions, such as tax revenue forecasts that take demographic change into account;
  • Information Systems Engineering explores the use of digital technologies in business organizations via software and hardware demonstrators, assists with the selection and implementation of complex enterprise software, and develops concepts for management issues in the IT environment.

Interdepartmental units

Fraunhofer Center Digital Energy

The Rhenish coal mining region is facing major challenges as a result of the coal phase-out. This is especially true for the energy sector and energy-intensive industries. To help manage this change, the federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia are funding efforts to establish the Fraunhofer Center for Digital Energy. Its mission is to lay the foundations for reliable, secure, and economically attractive digitalized energy infrastructures and to transfer them into routine operation. The center is being set up by Fraunhofer FIT and Fraunhofer FKIE in cooperation with the energy technology institutes IAEW and E.ON ACS at RWTH Aachen University. By combining innovative cutting-edge research, qualified specialists, and immediate transfer of research results into practical applications, the Fraunhofer Center for Digital Energy offers the region a significant location advantage. More

Generative AI Lab

The Generative AI Lab is dedicated to the exploration, design, and advancement of intelligent systems rooted in generative AI, with the goal of harnessing its full potential for both businesses and society.

Blockchain Labs

FIT established the Fraunhofer Blockchain Lab, with offices at Sankt Augustin, Augsburg and Bayreuth. The lab helps companies in identifying innovations and potential efficiency improvements through applications of blockchain technology, and supports their implementation.

In Hürth, a coordinating office for the Blockchain-Reallabor Rheinisches Revier is being set up. The project, which is headed by Fraunhofer FIT, will promote information and technology transfer regarding digitization and blockchain applications. Main tasks are to build a demonstration center, to develop a regional network of companies and to initiate and support blockchain application projects. The aim is to establish the Rhenish mining region as a model and center of attraction for disruptive digital innovations.

Center for Process Intelligence (CPI)

The Center for Process Intelligence (CPI) is a cross-departmental unit in Fraunhofer FIT. It combines economic perspectives with an outstanding process mining expertise and is thus able to take a holistic view of data-driven process management. As a result, the CPI can support companies from an initial application of process mining through a broader roll-out to its company-wide use. More

Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Body

The Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Body, affiliated to Fraunhofer FIT, provides the institutes of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft with the organizational and personnel resources to develop and administer high-quality examinations and certifications for professional training courses. It certifies the graduates' acquired qualifications in accordance with DIN EN ISO 17024. More

Fraunhofer Application Center SYMILA

The region around Hamm is in the midst of a structural change from coal mining and steel making to new industries. The Fraunhofer Application Center SYMILA in Hamm, in cooperation with Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences, is supporting this renewal by providing direct access to extensive expertise in application-oriented research and development to businesses in the region.