Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. /
Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems

The FRAUNHOFER Society is one of the leading organisations of applied research and development in
Europe. One of the main goals of the FRAUNHOFER Society is to link scientific work with industrial
demands.
Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (Fraunhofer FOKUS), based in Berlin, Germany,
develops solutions for the communication infrastructure of the future. The research institute explores how
information and communication will contribute to a more secure and convenient living. Thus, the institute
addresses important challenges in the society and the smart cities of the future, including access to
information, economic and sustainable use of resources, smart mobility and a modern governmental
administration. In its projects, Fraunhofer FOKUS establishes useful ties between industry, governmental
administration, users and the people. The institute has a well-known reputation in national and international
research programs as well as in standardisation bodies such as DIN, ISO, ETSI, or OMG. For companies and
governmental administration, FOKUS is a competent companion in realizing IT projects. Independent from
specific manufacturers, products and technologies, the institute provides a neutral platform. With more than
25 years of experience, FOKUS is one of the most important actors in the ICT research landscape both
nationally and worldwide. Fraunhofer FOKUS exploits its experience and IPR gathered in publicly funded
projects to conduct high quality, cutting-edge research and development for its clients. Besides that,
knowledge is distributed and multiplied via lessons held by Fraunhofer FOKUS employees at several
universities.
The competence centre for Digital Public Services (DPS) at the Fraunhofer-Institute FOKUS bundles all
activities around the areas of e-government and public IT. Under Digital Public Services we recognize
networks, infrastructures and platforms as well as applications and business processes, as services in the
public administration and generated for it (e-government). The Business Unit supports government,
administration and industry in the strategic implementation of interoperable and secure information and
communication solutions in the public space and in public administration.
Fraunhofer FOKUS will contribute the following expertise to the project:
● Strong Networking with European cloud research community established among others in OCEAN and AppHub European support action projects coordinated by Fraunhofer FOKUS
● Experience in policy and policy impacts modelling and analyses (Policy Compass, Big Policy
Canvas and IMPACT FP7 projects)
● Experience in Open Data and data harvesting. Fraunhofer FOKUS is one of the technological leaders
in the European Open Data movement with a rich portfolio developed solutions for Berlin,
Hamburg, Germany and Europe (the European Data Portal). In all these projects one of the key tasks
was the harvesting and harmonisation of data from heterogeneous sources
● Experience in software development including the definition of software architectures, quality
management processes, testing, and interoperability.
● Experience in big data analytics
● Strong Open Source background
● Research work in data protection issues in collaboration with the German Ministry for Internal
Affairs.