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Fraunhofer

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, based in Germany, is the world's leading organisation for application-oriented research. With its focus on future-relevant key technologies and the utilisation of results in business and industry, it plays a central role in the innovation process. In the field of maritime and underwater technology, companies benefit from a broad technology portfolio and many years of experience in interdisciplinary co-operation between several institutes. The OceanTechnologies@Fraunhofer competence network is one of Europe's leading leading European networks for applied research in underwater technology and covers the entire range of marine and underwater technology. In interdisciplinary and cross-location collaboration, research teams develop technical, conceptual and system-oriented solutions for the sustainable use of the oceans and develop customised service packages tailored to the needs of industry. 

Through its involvement in the Subsea Monitoring Network e.V., Fraunhofer provides impetus for innovation projects with companies in the industry and operates various test fields and laboratories in order to investigate issues in the maritime sector and provide optimal support in the development of maritime technologies. At the Rostock site, the interdisciplinary Fraunhofer research group "Smart Ocean Technologies" (SOT) develops complex system solutions for underwater applications with the combined expertise of the Fraunhofer Institutes IGD, IGP, IOSB and IKTS. The group's research focuses on hardware-related sensor and system integration, the coupling of computer vision, data mining and machine learning processes as well as the testing of innovative analysis methods and the development of autonomous systems. It operates in the context of the "Ocean Technology Campus Rostock" in close co-operation between research and industrial application. The centrepiece is the "Digital Ocean Lab", a versatile underwater test field near the coast that is pre-equipped for various application scenarios and is unique in this form. It is used to test, evaluate and optimise materials, modules and complete underwater systems under controlled conditions in a real environment.