Anniversary: 25 Years Fraunhofer IESE

From the chronicle of IESE:

The year 2016 marked the 20th anniversary of the founding of Fraunhofer IESE. In the anniversary year, the topic “Digital Ecosystems” was the focus of work at IESE. The trend from software engineering to systems engineering continued. With the BaSys 4.0 project, the topic of Industrie 4.0 took on great significance for the future of IESE. The topic of data usage control also became an important part of the IESE portfolio with the framework IND²UCE.

In January 2016, the Fraunhofer High-Performance Center “Simulation- and Software-based Innovation” was founded, which bundles the scientific strengths in Kaiserslautern through cooperation between IESE, ITWM, the two universities, and various companies.

Finally, in September, the IESE Blog was launched.

More on 2016 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

"Machine beats human – In 2016, the computer program AlphaGo won against the South Korean Lee Sedol, one of the world’s best professional players of the board game Go. Another milestone in the history of AI!

Also, Sunway TaihuLight was declared the world’s fastest supercomputer and remained so for the next two years.

In general, a lot happened in 2016  that would lead to global changes: The British voted for BREXIT and the Americans elected Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States."

From the chronicle of IESE:

2015 was a year of change for IESE: After many years of commitment as Executive Director of Fraunhofer IESE, our founding director Prof. Dieter Rombach passed on the torch: On 20 January 2015, the ceremonial handover to Prof. Peter Liggesmeyer took place in the presence of numerous guests from the worlds of politics and business. Prof. Rombach did, however, remain with IESE as Director Business Development until 2018.

In May, IESE received a prestigious international award, the “2015 IEEE Software Engineering Synergy Award” from the largest professional association of engineers in the world, in recognition of its achievements as an innovation driver for the economy.

As part of the research program Smart Rural Areas, the kick-off for the project “Digital Villages” took place in July 2015 to test smart technologies for future-proof infrastructures in rural areas in three municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate.  

More on 2015 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

"Alexa first saw the light of day in 2015. Is there anyone today who does not know the digital voice assistant from Amazon?

The little smart speakers were used, for example, in the IESE project “Digital Neighbors”. Not only did they make the lives of elderly people more comfortable, but a few years later, Alexa also helped to dispel the loneliness in the lockdown a little. "

From the chronicle of IESE:

Smart Ecosystems were an important topic in 2014 because highly networked systems impose new requirements on systems engineering competence.

In 2014, we also pushed the development of methodologies for model-based safety development in the BMBF project SPES_XT as well as in the EU project CRYSTAL.

Researchers of Fraunhofer IESE received the renowned Innovation Award of the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations EARTO for the IND²UCE Framework, which helps to protect sensitive information from future misuse and enables new business models (keyword: data usage control).

Over the course of the year, our research program “Smart Rural Areas” evolved into a new focus area as a counterpart to “Smart Cities”. With “Smart Rural Areas – Intelligent Technologies for the Land of Tomorrow”, we were once again among the winners of the 2014/2014 nationwide competition “Landmarks in the Land of Ideas”.

More on 2014 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

"From being a controversial figure to being cheered and celebrated – in 2014, Jogi Löw made a soccer fairy tale come true at the World Cup in Brazil. With him, the German national team surprisingly became world champions, and IESE also celebrated vigorously.

In addition, with the advance of smartphones and tablets, apps increasingly replaced classic software programs. In the following years, IESE also developed numerous apps, e.g., in the context of Smart Rural Areas."

From the chronicle of IESE:

In 2013, we focused on the more efficient use of Big Data, building on our competencies for Smart Ecosystems including mobile devices.

Software Engineering and Big Data Analytics as enablers for innovations was the keyword.

On 06 June 2013, Prof. Dieter Rombach celebrated his 60th birthday. A large ceremony on 07 June 2013 honored him as a person, his services to progress in software engineering, as well as his great commitment to interdisciplinary cooperation between industry and research; for his services to the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, he was awarded the Fraunhofer Medal.

In August, the Rhineland-Palatinate Minister President Malu Dreyer visited the Fraunhofer Center and informed herself in detail about the current research areas and flagship topics of Fraunhofer IESE.

In December, the German Informatics Society (Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI)), the largest professional society for computer science in the German-speaking world, elected Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Liggesmeyer as the new GI President for the next two years.

More on 2013 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

"Augmented Reality kept tech enthusiasts busy in 2013 as Google marketed its "data glasses" to developers for the first time. Today, IESE uses VR glasses, for example, in a project to train emergency medical technicians.

In other news, Bertelsmann gave up their encyclopedia business for good. No wonder, as Wikipedia had already been around for a long time by then 😉."

From the chronicle of IESE:

The year 2012 was characterized for us by innovation and by becoming competitive for the "Digital Society 2.0". IESE started to explore the evolution of system classes from Information Systems and Embedded Systems to Smart Ecosystems, thus preparing the future of software engineering.

On 9 March 2012, the official opening of the first Fraunhofer Project Center in Brazil took place in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

There were also two awards for IESE in 2012: the Innovation Award 2012 of the dbb Beamtenbund und tarifunion for the Germany-wide project P23R Process Data Accelerator, and the award “Selected Landmark 2012” for the “German Center for Emergency Medicine and Information Technology (DENIT) at IESE in the nationwide competition “365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas”.

More on 2012 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

"Curiosity is what always drives the spirit of research at IESE. Curiosity is also the name of the Rover mission to Mars, which started in August 2012 with the goal of exploring the early history of the planet Mars. In the same year, U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the Moon, died.

What else happened? Facebook set the next milestone in its success story with its stock market flotation."

From the chronicle of IESE:

The highlight of the year 2011 was the celebration of the 15th anniversary of our institute on 08 June 2011 with numerous prominent representatives from research, industry, and government. In the context of IESE’s innovative application-oriented research, the focus in 2011 was on the topic of innovation and competitiveness through mobile services.

Building on our competencies for cyber-physical systems, IESE increasingly devoted itself to the use of mobile devices for product-related services.

The global visibility of IESE was reflected in the increasing number of international collaborations with partners from research and industry. In addition to the Fraunhofer Center Maryland, Fraunhofer Project Centers were established in Australia and Brazil.

More on 2011 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

"After tablets and smartphones increasingly also entered the world of application-oriented research at Fraunhofer IESE, one of the great computer visionaries, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, passed away in 2011.

With the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, the world experienced the second mega disaster after Chernobyl, which also ushered in a new era away from nuclear power and towards alternative energies in Germany,

Another exciting topic for application-oriented research at IESE!"

From the chronicle of IESE:

2010 was the 100th birthday of computer pioneer Konrad Zuse. On 8 July 2010, IESE opened its treasure collection and presented Zuse’s famous computing machine Z23. At a ceremony, Horst Zuse paid tribute to his father’s lifetime achievements and inaugurated the refurbished Z23 as an exhibit for posteriority. This computing machine was an important milestone for the development of commercially produced computers, and only very few such machines still exist today.

With a new “Innovation Center” in Kaiserslautern, the competencies of the Technical University (TU) and the two Fraunhofer Institutes IESE and ITWM in applied mathematics and computer science were bundled. The establishment of the European Technology & Innovation Center of the agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere in Kaiserslautern was a highlight of our industrial collaborations. Peter Liggesmeyer, scientific director of Fraunhofer IESE, became spokesperson of the newly founded Fraunhofer Embedded Systems Alliance.

More on 2010 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

"2010 was the year of the tablet computer. Everyone wanted to get their hands on one of the first iPads, which meant that Apple had more than 50,000 preorders in the first few hours already.

But who of you would have known that computer science entered West German universities with the Zuse computer Z22, which was built starting in 1958? One of the reasons: Its procurement was state-subsidized ;-). Its successor, the Z23, was only built 98 times and can be admired on the premises of IESE."

From the chronicle of IESE:

2009 was a year of awards: The Fraunhofer Center, which consists of IESE and ITWM, became a “Selected Landmark 2009” in the competition “365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas” for the innovative technical conference with affiliated technical exhibition “Digital Commercial Vehicle Technology”.

The director of our institute, Prof. Dieter Rombach, received the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon awarded by the German President as well as an honorary doctorate from the University of Oulu, Finland, for his lifetime achievements as a software engineer.

Experiences, innovations, and trends in software and systems engineering were the focus of the Software Engineering 2009 (SE 2009) conference organized by the Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (German Informatics Society) at Fraunhofer IESE with more than 200 participants from industry, research, and government. 

More on 2009 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

"While IESE was showered with awards, world events were dominated by rescue packages for the economy to barely avoid the collapse of the global financial system.

In addition, a global pandemic called swine flu struck fear into the hearts of the world.  "

From the chronicle of IESE:

The year 2008 held an anniversary in store for us software engineers: The term “Software Engineering” was first coined exactly 40 years – incidentally on the occasion of a NATO meeting in Garmisch, Germany. In the meantime, this research area has even made its way into our homes: For our research work in the area of “Ambient Assisted Living”, we received an award as “Selected Landmark 2008” as part of the initiative “Germany – Land of Ideas”.

2008 also saw the 1st annual “Digital Commercial Vehicle Technology Conference” held at the Fraunhofer Center, the launch of the IESE Academy with a top-class seminar program, and the establishment of the German Center for Emergency Medicine and Information Technology DENIT at IESE. 

More on 2008 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

"In 2008, the world looked towards America, where Barack Obama won the election as U.S. president and went down in the history books as the first African-American president of the United States. 2008 was also the year of a downturn in the global economy, the origin of which was the U.S. real estate crisis in 2007 and the subsequent financial market crisis.

IESE was able to successfully defy this downward spiral with innovative software and systems engineering solutions!"

From the chronicle of IESE:

The highlight of 2007 was the visit of German President Horst Köhler on 7 November, to whom we presented life assistance systems and smart living environments in our “Ambient Assisted Lab” as a technological implementation of the motto of his visit, “Partnership of the Generations”. The year 2007 was also characterized by our research in the area of Ambient Intelligence – from projects with senior citizens to our participation in CeBIT 2007.

With the Fraunhofer Innovation Cluster “Digital Commercial Vehicle Technology”, a new cooperation between IESE, Fraunhofer ITWM, and several industrial companies was established for the joint development of new solutions for competition-relevant challenges of the commercial vehicle industry. 

More on 2007 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

"Product of the year 2007 was Apple’s first portable computer – the iPhone! It pushed Blackberry and the like out of the market because not only could you make phone calls, take pictures, and surf the web – no, it also looked great and was easy to use. And so the iPhone has changed the smartphone industry for good to this day."

From the chronicle of IESE:

The grand opening of the Fraunhofer Center took place on 21 February 2006. At the 2006 Soccer World Cup, we provided a “virtual printer” as a service to journalists as part of the “Virtual Office of the Future” competence center, together with the Japanese company RICOH and the World Cup office of the city of Kaiserslautern. On 10 October, we celebrated our tenth anniversary and officially opened our “Assisted Living Lab” to research novel technologies for “smart” living environments that provide optimal everyday support for elderly people or people in need of assistance. Due to increasing demand from the public sector for systems engineering, we also expanded our portfolio to include the business area “eGovernment”.

More on 2006 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

»Soccer, soccer, and more soccer – the 2006 World Cup was a nationwide, roaring soccer festival. Germany may not have won the World Cup, but it was the champion of hearts!

And IESE not only celebrated heartily, but together with other partners provided a virtual printer as a service for the World Cup games held in the city of Kaiserslautern.«

From the chronicle of IESE:

The year 2005 was special in every respect. One dominating topic for us was the move to the new Fraunhofer Center on Trippstadter Strasse. Before the building could be handed over, today’s “landmark” was installed: the 13-meter-high "hyperboloid", which was designed and built by the artist Martin Willing. Fraunhofer IESE already moved in in August, with Fraunhofer ITWM following in December.

In 2005, we intensified our involvement in the areas of Embedded Systems and Ambient Intelligence and, among other things, further expanded our cooperation with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA. In the fall, we hosted the annual DASMA conference MetriKon, which has traditionally focused on the topics of “Software Metrics” and “Effort Estimation of IT Projects”.

More on 2005 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

»While the institute management and the staff of Fraunhofer IESE moved into the new institute building, there were two other changes of significance to Germany in 2005:

A German Pope named Joseph Ratzinger followed the late John Paul II into the Vatican and gave himself the name Benedict XVI. And on 22 November, Angela Merkel became the first woman in history to be elected Chancellor by the German Parliament.«

From the chronicle of IESE:

2004 was a successful year for our institute in every respect. Against the background of steadily increasing revenues and growing staff numbers, we strengthened the management level with a second institute director - Prof. Dr. Peter Liggesmeyer – in order to be prepared for the future in the best possible way. As for our scientific reputation, we were able to improve our 6th place in the worldwide ranking of the “Journal for Systems and Software” from the previous year to 4th place. With the signing of the cooperation agreement with the Japanese Ministry of Economy (METI), we further expanded our activities with Japanese partners. On 30 April, the foundation stone for the new Fraunhofer research center was laid in the presence of many VIPs.

More on 2004 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

»In February 2004, Mark Zuckerberg and his co-founders initiated Facebook at a Harvard student dormitory. What initially started as a digital yearbook for students is now also indispensable at IESE as the social media platform for addressing our young researchers.

In terms of sporting events, a lot was going on that year as well: Olympic Games in Athens and European Football Championship, where a sensation was achieved. With Otto Rehhagel as their coach, Greece became the European soccer champion for the first time ever! «

From the chronicle of IESE:

In 2003, Fraunhofer IESE achieved an excellent 6th place among all software & systems engineering research institutions worldwide in the international ranking of the prestigious journal “The Journal of Systems and Software” – as the only German and best European institute among the Top 15. In view of the ever shorter cycle time for the development of innovative products, we established “Research Labs” as a new form of cooperation, where user experts from a company collaborate with our researchers directly at IESE for a limited period of time. Among the first was the competence center “Virtual Office of the Future” with the Japanese IT giant RICOH. Furthermore, on 27 October, ground was broken for the new Fraunhofer Center.

More on 2003 in the annual report.

ISA looks back:

"International cooperation was the main focus of IESE. The Concorde also connected continents for several decades before it was retired in 2003.

Unfortunately, even back then diseases such as SARS did not stop at national borders – with enormous consequences for humankind and the economy."

From the chronicle of IESE:

In 2002, application areas and industries became the key factors in the reorientation of our applied research topics, and new forms of strategic collaboration with our customers in industry emerged. We newly established business areas in the fields of embedded systems, infrastructure services, IT-based business processes, and software engineering methods. Our competence areas focused on systematic-experimental methods, software development, software management, and software competence development. In 2002, the planning of the new institute building also continued: The premises were transferred to the Fraunhofer- Gesellschaft, a team of architects was selected, and the construction plans were finalized and approved by the federal and state governments.

More on 2002 in the annual report.

ISA looks back:

"The year 2002 started with a real Euro euphoria: Germans, and certainly some IESE employees, could not wait to hold the new banknotes of the common currency in their hands. However, people quickly mourned the DM and the term TEURO (made up of teuer (German for expensive) and euro) was born.

Furthermore, the "ILSE" depression hit many European countries, and in August 2002, its unbelievable water masses destroyed parts of Saxony and Bavaria, in particular."

From the chronicle of IESE:

The highlight of 2001 was the celebration of our institute's fifth anniversary. A strategic reorganization of the institute, where the static line organization was supplemented by a dynamic matrix organization of business and competence areas, became the basis of our continuing success. We further expanded our collaborations, also with international partners and with the University of Kaiserslautern, and received recognition for our research achievements. In September, we organized the first major conference at our institute, the 3rd International Conference on Product Focused Software Process Improvement (Profes 2001). Furthermore, in 2001 we initiated the first planning activities for a new building for our institute.

More on 2001 in the annual report.

ISA looks back:

"While tourist trips were already leaving Earth in 2001 - we remember the multimillionaire Dennis Tito and his trip into space for a modest 33 milion US dollars - IESE remained on Earth in terms of internationalization, To accommodate our growth, the institute's management started to think about a new building.

By the way: In January 2001, Wikipedia was founded as an ad-free online encyclopedia in numerous languages. But who would have thought back then that an encyclopedia based on volunteer authors would actually work? And today? It's hard to imagine life without it!"

From the chronicle of IESE:

The year 2000 was marked by important internal and external developments. The internal developments included the transition of Fraunhofer IESE to permanent institute status, a strategy discussion that lead to a reorganization of Fraunhofer IESE, as well as further improvement of our customer orientation. The external developments included our growing status as a national software engineering competence center and as one of the leading competence centers in (experimental) software engineering worldwide, as well as the successful development of our sister organization in the U.S. Overall, the year 2000 was our most successful year to date.

More on 2000 in the annual report.

ISA looks back:

"Not only in the most successful year of IESE to date did everything revolve around even more customer orientation. The new cult cell phone Nokia 3310 also captured the spirit of the times with funny or extravagant Jamba ringtones. With the USB stick, the smallest common storage medium arrived on the market and was of course offered in all kinds of shapes and colors to suit the tastes of its clientele.

By the way: “Big Brother is watching you” – in nearly every German living room starting in February 2000."

From the chronicle of IESE:

In October 1999, the Fraunhofer Senate voted to make our institute a permanent member of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft e.V., effective immediately. This decision was based on a very successful external review of our research competencies and business orientation by a panel of highly renowned experts in 1998, almost four years of successful industry collaborations, and the conviction that the market for software engineering expertise will continue to grow in the future.

More on 1999 in the annual report.

ISA looks back:

"The millennium said goodbye with an impressive total solar eclipse over Germany, Europe, and Western Asia. At the time, the millennium gave rise to the wildest speculations about the future. However, the expected large-scale breakdown of computers was not to come true, so IESE was able to further expand its offerings in the area of software and systems engineering without any complications.

By the way: did you know that the euro was already introduced in 11 EU countries in 1999? However, only as demand deposit…"

From the chronicle of IESE:

The year 1998 was marked by a reorganization of IESE to better address industrial needs across major branches of industry. Several new competence centers were added (e.g., learning organizations in the areas of software as well as training and continuing education), and the SWA Software Akademie AG was established in Kaiserslautern to enable professional marketing and organization of our industrial training and education program. Internationally, the most outstanding event was the founding of the Fraunhofer Center for Experimental Software Engineering, Maryland (FC-MD), which is closely affiliated with the University of Maryland at College Park, and its official opening on 25 February 1998 in the presence of numerous prominent political representatives from Germany and the US.

More on 1998 in the annual report.

ISA looks back:

"In 1998, IESE set out for the land of unlimited freedom and founded the Fraunhofer Center Maryland in the USA. Unfortunately, this was not a good year to be noticed by the American press, as for weeks there was only one topic: the so-called Lewinsky affair.

By the way: Incidentally, while the FCK immediately became German champion following its promotion from the second German soccer league to the Bundesliga, Trapattoni, the Bayern coach at the time, was less pleased with his portégé Strunz: “I have finished!😉“."

From the chronicle of IESE:

The year 1997 was characterized by the further build-up of our staff and our continuing establishment as an internationally leading center of competence, which was reflected, among other things, in our increased participation in international conferences, numerous journal publications, and longer visits by internationally leading software engineering experts at IESE. In terms of collaborations with industry, the number of both follow-up and new orders increased, and a trend towards long-term strategic industry collaborations emerged.

More on 1997 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

"While the Mercedes A Class was literally thrown off course in the so-called “moose avoidance test” in 1997, IESE was by no means thrown into a tailspin. With long-term strategic industry collaborations and increasing international recognition, the institute had its sights set firmly on the fast lane.

By the way: The year was characterized by a lack of sleep and a lack of concentration because a Tamagotchi moved into many households, beeping day and night because it wanted to be fed and cared for."

From the chronicle of IESE:

In the first year of our existence, we already received significant support from companies in all major branches of industry, established ourselves as a highly recognized applied research institution, and became an integral part of the information technology infrastructure in our home state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Our highly qualified staff of international standing grew from 14 employees at the time of our foundation on 14 February 1996 to 67 employees at the end of 1996. We acquired industry projects from numerous industries and built up an international research reputation

More on 1996 in the annual report

ISA looks back:

"Two new stars in the IT sky were born. In addition to Nintendo 64, Fraunhofer IESE also made its debut. 

By the way: A whole generation burst into tears ─ the boy band "Take That" announced their separation!"

Stay up to date: join us on a digital journey through 25 years of Fraunhofer IESE in the anniversary year. It will be continued in the coming weeks. See you soon!