Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB 
We help harness the full potential of digital technologies
Digital devices have become omnipresent in today’s world, and few activities remain entirely analog. Yet, this high degree of things being digitized doesn’t necessarily mean that digitalization, in a transformative sense, is happening. According to the Gartner Glossary, digitalization, as opposed to digitization, is “the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities.”
Digitalization is thus about fundamental change, about opening up new opportunities. However, beyond Gartner’s definition, it should aim not only for economic advantage and increased revenue, but for value creation in a much broader sense. In line with this, our goal is to future-proof our society with the aid of digitalization. One focus is productivity, because it is key for our economic strength and prosperity. To meet today’s needs, productivity has to go hand in hand with flexibility and resilience. It must be resource friendly and comply with environmental and social standards, which leads to the second focus: sustainability. Sustainability not only concerns industry and its supply chains, it also extends to the utilities sector, the energy transformation, and mobility. As we must acknowledge, while extreme weather events and armed conflicts are closing in on us, all the progress mentioned is pointless if security is lacking. Therefore, security, in a comprehensive sense, is a third focus.
To achieve these ambitious goals, digitalization, like technology in general, is not the sole solution, but it plays a pivotal role. At Fraunhofer IOSB, we leverage our technological expertise and in-depth knowledge of application domains to contribute to the solution.
Our research focuses on technologies that bridge the gap between the real and digital worlds. We use sensors to transform real-life situations into data and then analyze and exploit that data. We create digital twins of real-world entities and systems — whether it be machines, products, critical infrastructures, crowds, or even battlefields — and network stakeholders by helping to create interoperable, federative data spaces. We apply physical models and/or create data-driven models through machine learning, to push the boundaries of experiential knowledge through simulation. We integrate the insights gained into dashboards and situation pictures. We develop autonomously operating systems for appropriate applications. And we put the human in the loop wherever necessary, providing innovative interfaces for interaction and empowering them to make the best possible decisions.
That is what we can contribute to achieving the benefits outlined above. That is what this report is about.
We cordially invite you to browse through our annual report online, download a pdf or order a printed copy. You will find the relevant links in the boxes on the right or below (in the mobile view). If you would like to be kept up to date on our work at a somewhat higher frequency - approx. 3 to 4 times a year - you are welcome to subscribe to our visIT brochure and the InfOSB newsletter.