Fostering Open Science at Fraunhofer

Open science as a paradigm shift in science concerns university or non-university research organizations from the field of not only basic research but also applied research, i.e., research and technology organizations. However, these have a completely different starting point than the other research organizations for the implementation of open science. This is due to their unique position in the innovation system and their close connection with business. In other words, they must meet the demands of both the scientific and economic systems as well as fulfill their overriding mission of conducting research for society. In the interplay between science and business, Fraunhofer has developed a balanced system of control mechanisms and research management topics as well as an infrastructure specifically adapted to the needs of the organization, which is now subject to considerable challenges and changing tendencies due to digitization. These changes affect control processes and related organizational issues as well as the infrastructure around the core business of Fraunhofer – the generation of research output – and the associated infrastructure. This paper discusses how the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft deals with these requirements with a special focus on dissemination management. The current activities in the field of the Fraunhofer infrastructure and the introduction of a Current Research Information System (CRIS) as an indicator system to measure scientific excellence will be discussed, along with the activities for the implementation of open science.