Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Driving Innovation, Value Retention, and Strategic Resilience. The Circular Economy Act (CE Act) must move beyond end-of-life recycling and focus on retaining material and product value throughout their lifecycle. True circularity relies on R-strategies (repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and repurposing) which must be prioritized alongside circular design, research and innovation (R&I), and skills development.

Biotechnology as a Strategic Pillar for European Sovereignty, Competitiveness, and Resilience: Europe faces the existential task of shaping its future, and biotechnology sits at the very heart of that challenge.

Drawing on its leading expertise in biotechnology, Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB puts forward several priorities to ensure that the Biotech Act can fully support Europes competitiveness, resilience, and sustainability. A key objective must be to bridge the persistent gap between research and industrial application by improving access to finance.

Europe's future will be shaped by what it does in biotechnology. From food security and advanced materials to climate resilience and circular chemistry, Europes scientific leadership, industrial strength, and strategic autonomy face mounting pressure.

Achieving climate neutrality while ensuring secure, resilient, and efficient energy systems across Europe requires a future-proof grid, supported by coordinated planning, cutting-edge research, robust data infrastructure, and forward-looking regulation. A coherent energy system requires integrated planning across electricity, hydrogen, gas, and heat infrastructure.

Europes aviation sector is a strategic asset for competitiveness, connectivity and technological sovereignty. It is also one of the few domains in which Europe still combines world-class research, industrial depth and global market relevance.

1. Do you think that women encounter specific challenges and barriers? If so, which ones? As an applied research organization, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft stands for research and transfer. The following section focuses on the obstacles and challenges faced by women in research. These are outlined concisely below.

The Fraunhofer Water Systems Alliance welcomes the Commission's recognition that a strategic, coordinated R&I framework for water resilience is urgently needed. The EU water sector is not held back by a lack of technology, but by a set of structural conditions that make it difficult to move from successful demonstration to real-world deployment at scale.

Fraunhofer welcomes the European Commission's initiative to accelerate digitalization in the water sector but argues that the current approach is too narrowly focused on technology deployment. The real barriers are regulatory design, missing business models, and systemic infrastructure flaws, not technology gaps. Digital tools are applied to a structurally broken water cycle.

Executive Summary of the Statement by the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft: The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft welcomes the EUs initiative to develop a comprehensive fusion strategy and emphasizes the urgency of coordinated action to secure Europes leadership in this transformative field. Fusion energy is critical for Europes energy sovereignty, climate goals, and industrial competitiveness.

Fraunhofer ISE has conducted an analysis of the proposed implementing regulations for photovoltaic (PV) modules and inverters. Our findings indicate that the current proposals fall short of incentivizing meaningful advancements in sustainability. The absence of additional requirements beyond existing market standards risks stagnation in environmental and social progress within the PV sector.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback regarding the evaluation of the EUs non-preferential Rules of Origin (RoO). The origin of PV products and components is a critical element in achieving the resilience goals outlined in the NZIA.