On May 23, jubilant tones filled the SpreePalais in Berlin – the reason for the celebration was the 20th anniversary of the Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics. Under the motto of “20 years of microelectronics as a driver of innovation – smart systems make all the difference,” the President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, and the Group Chairman, Prof. Hubert Lakner, welcomed the invited guests. In his opening speech, Prof. Neugebauer stressed the importance of the Group for Microelectronics to the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and presented 
Prof. Lakner with the Fraunhofer Medal for his dedication to microelectronics. In another highlight, he handed over the strategic paper “On the Way to a Joint Fab for Research” to the State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Dr. Georg Schütte. To ensure successful implementation of this concept, the institutes in the Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics will, among other measures, organize themselves into a research “fab” – a decisive part of a complete value-creation chain for microelectronics and nanoelectronics. State Secretary Dr. Schütte formulated the government’s expectations of and recommendations to the Group in his speech, “The importance of microelectronics for Germany and Europe in the age of digitization.” 

Dr. Reinhard Ploss, the CEO of Infineon Technologies AG, used his speech to form a bridge to practical applications. As a member of the advisory council of the Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics, Thilo von Selchow illustrated the valuable and close collaboration between Fraunhofer’s research and the microelectronics industry. The current Group Chairman, Prof. Lakner, spoke about the strategic direction of the Group and the future of microelectronics in Germany and Europe. In the podium discussion that followed, the former Group chairmen Prof. Herbert Reichl and Prof. Heinz Gerhäuser looked back at some eventful years and spoke together with Prof. Lakner about the plans and wishes for the future. We need to keep our shoulders to the wheel – there will be plenty for the Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics to do over the next 20 years.