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34 Strategy is looking at today’s markets and thus at the goals and successes of tomorrow: accordingly, strategic orientation is the key to long-term commercial and scientific success of an institute. At the Fraunhofer IGB we therefore monitor the fo- cus of our core competences and business areas through an ongoing strategy process. When Professor Hirth took over the helm of the Fraunhofer IGB at the end of 2007/beginning of 2008 one of his first acts was to initiate a process to develop a joint mission and vision for the institute based on its guiding principles. In par- allel, Professor Hirth reorganized the institute into the five business areas medicine, pharmacy, chemistry, environment, and energy. As early as 2011, the Fraunhofer IGB adopted the strategy process established in the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, which serves as a planning and appraisal tool for constant strategic orientation and innovative development. In Novem- ber 2012 we concluded this intensive strategy process with a strategy report for the period 2013–2017 and a technology audit. External auditors from industry and science evaluated the institute’s eight core competences and five business areas and gave them a preliminary rating of very good. The audi- tors’ final report is expected in spring 2013. The strategy plan, which is structured according to core com- petences and business areas, reveals how the core compe- tences of the Fraunhofer IGB serve as a broad base for pursu- ing market-oriented technology developments in the business areas. It also gives details of the themes that have been identi- fied and prioritized for the next five years. To this end, SWOT analyses and technology roadmaps were drawn up for all core competences and business areas. A further focus here was the potential for product or process developments that extend across core competences and disciplines, which in many cases the Fraunhofer IGB can realize – from planning to design/con- struction to process optimization up to pilot-scale phase. As a consequence, a priority was to identify the relevance of the core competences for the business areas: it was shown that all core competences make a contribution in at least three of the five business areas. The synergistic linking of core competenc- es and the associated diversification of R&D that can be of- fered makes it hugely easier to react flexibly to rapidly chang- ing markets, and ensures the success of the institute in times of crisis. The ability to offer expertise in diverse sectors and business areas also increases innovation potential. Thus an IGB-internal “open innovation process” effectively takes place, which makes it possible to continually tap into new markets. Finally, we identified ten strategic topics, based in part on the criterion that each of them must contribute significantly to at least two of the business areas. Apart from these thematic fo- cuses, we have set ourselves four goals that encompass our clients and customers from industry, politics and science as well as our social responsibilities. We are convinced that in this way we can make a sustainable and remarkable contribution to tackling the major challenges of the 21st century. STRATEGY PROCESS AT THE FRAUNHOFER IGB HIGHLIGHTS 2012