2012|13 Annual Report Fraunhofer IGB

37 the institutes’ highly varied ﬁelds of work as well as opportu- nities for starting their careers at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft – in particular at the Stuttgart institutes. Answering the ques- tion “Why not go into industry straight away?” the partici- pants were shown the various career paths at the Fraunhofer- Gesellschaft. Extremely positive feedback and rising numbers of participants, especially of female students, reﬂect the suc- cess of the event, which has taken place once a year since 2007. www.stuttgart.fraunhofer.de/studierende Training at the Fraunhofer IGB The IGB is not only dedicated to the training of young people pursuing academic studies; we are also expressly committed to enabling young people of all backgrounds to train at Fraun- hofer. For over ten years we have been providing youngsters with apprenticeships in the recognized (requiring formal train- ing) vocational occupations of ofﬁce administrator, chemical lab technician and biology lab technician. When not attending vocational training college, the apprentices have the oppor- tunity to work alongside more experienced colleagues in the many diverse ﬁelds of activity of a research institute, and so learn the handiwork for a career in research or industry. Many of our apprentices choose to go on to study or to participate in an advanced occupational training course designed for full- time employees and sponsored by the institute. www.igb.fraunhofer.de/ausbildung MS Wissenschaft 2012 – “Project Earth: Our Future” On October 15, 2012 Würzburg was the ﬁnal stop in MS Wis- senschaft’s tour, which had featured two Fraunhofer IGB ex- hibits. During the trip, covering 4270 km of waterways, some 90,000 people visited the exhibition and discovered about the research being done on sustainable development topics. Following its launch on May 30, 2012 in Berlin, the ship vis- ited a total 36 cities and towns in Germany and Austria. 480 school classes came on board to experience the exhibition, which was themed on a typical town, where each of the mu- nicipal facilities represented a topic area. Wastewater as a raw material – intelligent water management For the “public utilities” in the exhibition the Fraunhofer IGB presented the DEUS 21 (“DEcentralized Urban Infrastructure System”) project in the form of a planning board. The DEUS system is used to reduce the drinking water consumption of a settlement, a housing complex or a neighborhood, treat rain- water and at the same time harness wastewater as a source of recyclable material. To this end, the wastewater is treated anaerobically in dedicated bioreactors where the organic com- ponents are converted into biogas, which can then be used as a source of electricity and heat. Inorganic nutrients can be re- claimed from the wastewater in the form of fertilizing salts. Eco-friendly cleaning and washing – bio-surfactants from renewable raw materials The “house” was home to sustainable solutions and the topic “everyday life”. Fraunhofer IGB presented a washing machine that shows how bio-surfactants can be made from renewable raw materials using fungi. Washing powder, household deter- gents, shower gels or shampoos all contain surfactants that enable the washing agents to foam and dirt and fat to dis- solve. Up till now, most surfactants have been produced from crude oil. With the aid of fungi and bacteria, the Fraunhofer IGB aims to manufacture eco-friendly and effective grease and dirt removers using renewable raw materials as feedstock. For the production process the microorganisms require sugar, which can also be generated form second generation feed- stock like straw and plant oils. Properly cultivated in the biore- actor, the microorganisms form a large number of surface-ac- tive substances which can be isolated and used as detergents. 2 3 2 + 3

2012|13 Annual Report Fraunhofer IGB

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