Fraunhofer Center for Energy and Systems ZESS
Cooperation and networking
What opportunities are there for cooperation with Fraunhofer ZESS?
The Fraunhofer Center for Energy Storage and Systems ZESS combines scientific excellence with practical implementation and supports companies, research institutions, and the public sector with a wide range of customizable cooperation formats. The aim is to jointly bring technologies to market maturity and ensure sustainable value creation.
Fraunhofer ZESS partners and clients also benefit from the Fraunhofer Center's network within the regional, national, and international battery ecosystem. As part of the Fraunhofer Battery Alliance, a national research cluster, and the regional BLB+ network, which is being promoted jointly with the Technical University of Braunschweig, we offer the best conditions for developing solutions to issues along the entire value chain for storage technologies.
Whether as a development partner, source of ideas, or innovation and piloting platform for solid-state batteries as mobile or stationary storage, hydrogen technologies, or comprehensive and holistic testing technology, Fraunhofer ZESS combines scientific excellence with industrial practice. Companies benefit from modern laboratories, pilot plants, and dry rooms, as well as from many years of experience in developing customized solutions for numerous applications.
Your opportunities for cooperation with Fraunhofer ZESS
Development projects and innovation partnerships
Do you have an idea and want to develop new technologies or products? Fraunhofer ZESS offers industry and research partners
- Feasibility studies
- Concept and prototype development
- Development of industry-oriented demonstrators and pilot plants
- Evaluation of products, production processes, and even factories in terms of sustainability from an ecological, economic, and socioeconomic perspective
- Partnerships in publicly funded research projects, including joint applications
- Opportunities to participate in innovation networks and consortia
How to start your development project with Fraunhofer ZESS – from idea to implementation
Needs analysis: We discuss your goals and challenges with you.
Project design:
You will receive a structured offer including a schedule. Depending on the task at hand, we will work with you to define milestones with various decision paths.
Implementation:
We develop solutions together and support their implementation.
Transfer and consolidation: We ensure sustainable transfer into your organization—both technically and in terms of any necessary employee training.
Innovation consulting and technology transfer
Would you like to use one of the technologies developed at Fraunhofer ZESS? Would you like to optimize processes and process chains in your company? Do you need expert advice on storage technologies?
Fraunhofer ZESS has proven experts and a large network and offers you:
- Technology assessments and feasibility analyses
- Sustainable factory planning
- Life cycle assessment and life cycle engineering
- Strategy consulting along the supply chain/value chain
Please contact us.
Training and knowledge transfer
Stay up to date. In workshops, seminars, and conferences, our employees regularly report on the latest research results and current topics related to battery production, hydrogen technology, and the circular economy. In cooperation with partners such as the Fraunhofer Academy and Wasserstoff Campus Salzgitter e.V., we offer training and continuing education courses and, if required, also create customized training programs for companies and project partners.
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Braunschweiger LabFactories for Batteries and more, BLB+
Fraunhofer ZESS is part of Braunschweig LabFactories for Batteries and more, or BLB+ for short, a regional network that brings together leading research institutions in Lower Saxony to further develop sustainable batteries and energy converters and actively shape the future of the energy and mobility transition.
BLB+ brings together three central research centers: the Battery LabFactory Braunschweig (BLB) at the Technical University of Braunschweig, the Fraunhofer Center for Energy Storage and Systems ZESS (opening in 2026), and the Center for Circular Production of Next Batteries and Fuel Cells (CPC) at the Technical University of Braunschweig (opening in 2027). The network is complemented by Clausthal University of Technology, Leibniz University Hannover, the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST, and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt PTB.
This alliance creates a unique ecosystem that supports the development of new energy storage and energy conversion systems throughout the entire innovation process – from the laboratory to industrial application. The research focuses range from innovative cell concepts and sustainable production processes to digital tools for diagnosis and optimization to closed material cycles in a modern circular economy.
Since 2008, the Braunschweig region has established itself as a central location for battery research. Today, the initiative offers state-of-the-art infrastructure for the production and recycling of battery cells and links the knowledge and expertise of universities, Fraunhofer Institutes, and other research partners.