Fusion Bionic wins Fraunhofer Founder Award 2024

Dresden, 19.02.2025 - Fusion Bionic, a leading company in the field of laser-based surface functionalization, has been honored with the Fraunhofer Founder Award 2024. With this prize, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, together with Fraunhofer Venture and the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), recognizes outstanding spin-offs whose innovative technologies create a direct benefit for society.

Fusion Bionic was established out of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and is a pioneer in the application of Direct Laser Interference Patterning (DLIP) technology.This groundbreaking manufacturing method enables the industrial production of bio-inspired surfaces with unique functional properties - often inspired by natural surfaces such as the lotus leaf, scallop or moth eye. The technological secret lies in targeted surface structuring, which can make the decisive difference in performance for users: Photovoltaic modules, for example, are given self-cleaning capabilities, heat exchangers become more energy-efficient and PFAS-free textiles become water-repellent. The biggest advantage is the ultra-fast process speeds of up to several square meters per minute, which makes economic exploitation very attractive in many cases.₂The surface structures used are often aimed at replacing environmentally harmful processes such as chemical etching or sandblasting, resulting in significant increases in energy efficiency, CO2 reduction and the avoidance of environmentally harmful emissions.

A milestone for Fusion Bionic

“Receiving the Fraunhofer Founder Award is a great recognition of our achievements to date and proof of the innovative strength and market potential of our technology,” says Dr. Tim Kunze, CEO of Fusion Bionic. “Our goal is to transform industrial manufacturing through high-precision laser-based functionalization and to open up new possibilities in product design for our customers.”

The founding team was motivated to create the spin-off during their time at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden, Germany. Within a few years, in collaboration with the TU Dresden, it was possible to successfully bring DLIP technology, which previously only existed in laboratories, to industrial maturity using compact hardware solutions. The high application potential for laser-based high-speed solutions was not long in coming and pilot customers were quickly found. Today, the Fraunhofer start-up's customers include well-known, globally active companies, mainly from the glass and photovoltaic industries, semiconductor and medical technology and the automotive industry.

Fusion Bionic has already established itself in the global innovation landscape and has been honored several times for its activities. In 2022, Fusion Bionic was awarded the Ray of Hope Prize by the US-based Biomimicry Institute as one of the best nature-inspired start-ups in the world. Biomimicry Institute In addition to international awards, Fusion Bionic also gained recognition at a national level, particularly in the framework of the Saxon Founder Award and by achieving second place in the Innovation Award Laser Technology.

A glance into the future

With this award, Fusion Bionic is continuing its successful course and driving forward the further development of its DLIP technology and its application in industrial production. “Together with our customers and partners, we look forward to continuing to achieve new innovation potential through laser-based surface functionalization and establishing our technology worldwide,” says Tim Kunze.

To this end, work began in 2024 to set up further DLIP application centers in Taiwan and Japan in collaboration with partners to accelerate the development cycles for innovative product surfaces. “Our goal is to establish a new standard for creating sustainable product surfaces using laser-based manufacturing technologies, especially in industrial mass production. We still have some way to go in several area and we are delighted that the Fraunhofer Founder Award has recognized these ambitions,” Kunze continues.