Materials Informatics

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Fields of application

R&D services for materials informatics

Specific offerings

Why should my company collaborate with the Fraunhofer IWM regarding materials informatics?

Select projects and applications

Materials Informatics Publications

We empower organizations to harness data and knowledge to solve complex and impactful challenges in materials science and manufacturing. Our mission encompasses addressing critical societal issues, including adoption of AI, data privacy, energy transition, and climate change, by applying innovative and sustainable solutions within the materials domain. We are committed to advancing German and European research and industries while building global partnerships for the benefit of all. We focus on delivering user-centric, data-driven, and transformative digital solutions that shape the future of materials innovation and product manufacturing.

Fields of application

Resource Efficient Manufacturing

Modern manufacturing faces a critical challenge: achieving resource efficiency while managing production irregularities and minimizing product failures. This is particularly true when the behavior of materials under different conditions is a key factor in production outcomes. Identifying innovation opportunities, resolving bottlenecks, and understanding the intricate cause-effect relationships within manufacturing processes require deep insights not only into systems but also into the materials themselves. Moreover, data from multiple sources must be synthesized to uncover hidden material behaviors, predict outcomes, and guide decisions. Without specialized expertise in material science and an understanding of how materials interact within manufacturing systems, these challenges become even more daunting.

Competitive Product Innovation

Manufacturers face mounting pressure to shorten development cycles while meeting high standards for material performance, sustainability, and cost efficiency. These challenges are compounded by fragmented data systems, which make it difficult to access and leverage critical information across the product lifecycle, from design through production to end-of-life. Adapting to fast-changing market demands requires more than just technical expertise; it demands a unified approach to managing materials data, ensuring informed collaboration across teams and departments. By addressing these data and communication gaps, manufacturers can streamline decision-making, reduce risks, and unlock new opportunities for product innovation.

Compliance with Sustainability and Circularity

Meeting regulatory requirements and sustainability targets is increasingly complex and demands reliable, comprehensive data from multiple perspectives. Companies need accurate tracking and reporting systems that ensure compliance with evolving laws and standards.
At the same time, achieving sustainability goals requires clear insights into material properties, recyclability, and the potential for recovery. Designing products for reuse, repurposing, or recycling involves understanding environmental footprints throughout the lifecycle: an inherently complex task. Comprehensive data management and integration systems provide the foundation to analyze these factors effectively, helping companies align operational practices with both sustainability objectives and regulatory compliance.

Interoperability and Knowledge Management

European manufacturers are under pressure to innovate faster, reduce emissions, and stay globally competitive. Yet many still struggle with fragmented data landscapes, legacy systems, and isolated modelling tools that do not talk to each other. Valuable materials data and process knowledge are often locked away in separate departments or formats, making integration across the value chain slow and inefficient.
At the same time, the rise of AI and large language models opens new possibilities for automation, prediction, and decision support, but only if the underlying data is accessible, structured, and interoperable. Without a solid foundation for data and knowledge management, even the most powerful AI cannot deliver real value. Overcoming these barriers is no longer optional. It is a critical step toward building smarter, more resilient manufacturing ecosystems in Europe.

From Data to Insight: Tackling Industrial Challenges in Materials Science through Digitalization

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R&D services for Materials Informatics

Dataspaces

We build and deploy software platforms for seamless integration and in-depth analysis of data and processes, with a particular focus on manufacturing processes, enabling organizations to unlock the full potential of their information assets. Whether data resides in diverse formats, fragmented systems, or disparate locations, our solutions are designed to bring them together into a unified, actionable framework. By addressing the complexities of modern data management, we empower businesses to overcome barriers, enhance decision-making, and drive innovation through comprehensive insights and efficient workflows.

Digital Ecosystems

We design and implement digital ecosystems that enable seamless data interoperability and sharing across platforms and institutions, empowering organizations to streamline their workflows, harness knowledge-generating apps, and optimize process design and documentation for enhanced collaboration and innovation.

Ontologies

We create and maintain standard vocabularies and ontologies to enable the harmonized representation of materials data, bridging the gap between diverse systems and ensuring seamless integration, interoperability, and intelligent insights for advanced applications.

AI solutions

We develop predictive and generative models as well as optimization strategies for materials manufacturing using machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques. Our expertise spans materials and process design, knowledge representation, extraction, and processing as well as web application development and natural language interfaces, enabling us to deliver tailored solutions that drive innovation and efficiency.

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Specific offerings

Customer-Driven Insights

We engage in direct communication with potential customers to gather detailed market requirements and pain points. This hands-on approach ensures our solutions are precisely aligned with real-world needs, enabling faster innovation and greater industry impact.

Materials Informatics as a Service

Our expert Team MI partners with your organization to tackle your toughest materials and manufacturing challenges. Offering flexible, on-demand support, we bring tailored data strategies, analysis, and technology to accelerate your projects and decision-making processes.

Workshops and Training

We provide customized workshops and training sessions to upskill your teams in materials informatics, data management, and emerging digital technologies. Empower your workforce with practical knowledge to leverage data-driven approaches and boost innovation.

Collaborative Research and Pilot Projects

We partner with your company on joint research and pilot projects to co-develop and validate innovative materials informatics solutions. This hands-on collaboration targets your specific challenges, delivering practical insights and breakthroughs tailored to your needs.

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Why should my company collaborate with the Fraunhofer IWM regarding Materials Informatics?

User-Centric Interfaces for All Skill Levels

Our software solutions feature intuitive, low/no-code graphical interfaces designed for engineers and scientists, not just programmers. This empowers your teams to explore, analyze, and act on materials data without needing deep coding expertise.

Data Privacy and Secure Deployment

We prioritize your data sovereignty. Our solutions support secure on-premise deployment, fine-grained access control, and advanced user and data management, ensuring compliance with internal policies and external regulations.

Tailored Solutions, Powered by Our Technology Stack

We apply our flexible, modular technology stack to your specific use case, developing the solution together to address your most pressing materials and manufacturing challenges. The result: fast, focused implementation that fits seamlessly into your workflows.

State-of-the-Art Digital Technologies for Materials and Manufacturing-Centric Challenges

We combine advanced computer science, including AI, semantic technologies, scalable architectures like Kubernetes, and seamless data integration, to deliver powerful, future-ready solutions tailored to the complex needs of materials science and manufacturing.

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Selected projects and applications

MarketPlace (EU) - Materials Modelling Marketplace for Increased Industrial Innovation
Oyster (EU) - Open characterisation and modelling environment; Open Innovation Environment (OIE)
NanoMECommons (EU) - Harmonisation of EU-wide nanomechanics protocols and relevant data exchange procedures
Apache (EU) - Active & intelligent Packaging materials and display cases as a tool for preventive conservation of Cultural Heritage
ReaxPro (EU) - Software Platform for Multiscale Modelling of Reactive Materials and Processes
SimDome (EU) - Digital Ontology-based Modelling Environment for Simulation of materials
Intersect (EU) - Interoperable Material-to-Device simulation box for disruptive electronics
EOSC-Pillar (EU) - EOSC-Pillar aims to coordinate national Open Science efforts across Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Italy, and ensure their contribution and readiness for the implementation of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)
FORCE (EU) - Formulations and Computational Engineering
OntoTrans (EU) - Provides an ontology-based Open Translation Environment
OntoCommons (EU) - Ontology-driven data-documentation for industry commons
SimPhoNy and Open Simulation Platform - SimPhoNy is an ontology-based open-source Python framework that promotes and enables interoperability between any 3rd-party software tool

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