The last word … today goes to Dr. Michael Galetzka from the FMD

© Fraunhofer IIS / Karoline Glasow
Dr. Michael Galetzka.
© MEV Verlag
In his free time, Dr. Michael Galetzka likes to listen to classical music, such as Brahms in Dresden’s Frauenkirche.

Dr. Galetzka, you are the Head of Technology Park “Design, Test and Reliability” within the Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD). What does your role entail?

Within this technology park, the institutes are using a wide range of sophisticated technologies to develop electronic systems in such a way that they quickly reach product maturity while also functioning reliably and robustly. With the increasing complexity of the systems, this is a great challenge. It is my task to organize cooperation on these research topics efficiently and to ensure that cooperation continues to develop as we would wish.

The FMD has now existed for almost a year. What lessons have you already learned from this new type of cooperation?

I have been able to visit all 13 institutes within my technology park. I am very impressed as to the exciting topics they pursue with both great dedication and great expertise. And, wherever I’ve gone, I have perceived a striking sense of openness about trying out this new type of cooperation together.

What specific projects are you currently working on?

One important topic for everyone within the FMD is the strategic and organizational direction that the research fab should take. For me, one particularly exciting question is how we can gradually change the overall conditions that our partners work within in order to make this new type of cooperation more future-proof.

Let’s look into the future. What would you like to have achieved in five years’ time?

In five years’ time, the FMD will have become a model of success for modern cooperation within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and beyond – and I will have contributed to achieving this in these critical early days.

Which of the projects being worked on by your colleagues in other Fraunhofer institutes interests you in particular?

I am still bowled over by the sheer variety of exciting research work being done at all the institutes I have just visited. I cannot and do not want to choose just one.

What invention would you not like to do without in daily life?

My smartphone. It means that, given the regular train delays on my way home from Berlin to Dresden, I don’t have to stand around in a cold station for too long.

What do you wish you had more time for?

Together with my wife, I wish I had more time to take advantage of the great range of concerts on offer in Dresden.

What kind of music moves you?

At the end of November, I attended Brahms’ Requiem at Dresden’s Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), which really moved me. Aside from that, I can almost always listen to Johann Sebastian Bach, no matter what my mood.

What song belongs to the “soundtrack” of your life?

There are a few, but one of them would have to be “Get Lucky” by Mark Knopfler.

Last, but not least: can you tell us what motto you live by?

I have never really thought about a life motto – but since you ask, two lines from a Leonard Cohen song do occur to me: “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light comes in.”

 

About:

Dr. Michael Galetzka studied information technology at the TU Dresden. He then worked as a research associate at the Central Institute for Cybernetics and Information Processes and, from 1992, at the Dresden branch of Fraunhofer IIS. His work focuses on testing, verification, and simulation within system design. From 2001 to 2011, he was a group manager focusing on embedded system development and the design of communication systems. In 2007, he received his doctorate from the TU Dresden. Since 2011, he has been the head of business development at the division Engineering of Adaptive Systems EAS of Fraunhofer IIS. When the FMD was launched in April 2017, he assumed responsibility of the “Design, Test and Reliability” technology park.

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