Exhibition in Schlösschen Michelbach

Press information /

2012 saw the 20th anniversary of the “Rio Summit”, whose resolutions in the form of Agenda 21 are considered to be a milestone on the path to sustainability.  Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel declared the 2012 Year of Science to be the “Year of Sustainability Research” under the motto “Future Project EARTH”. At the centre of this initiative was the contribution of science and research to sustainable development.

The Fraunhofer Society is the leading organisation for applied research in Europe with 60 institutes at over 40 locations in Germany.

Since 2011 the Fraunhofer Project Group for Materials Recycling and Resource Strategies IWKS has been located in Alzenau. Scarcity of resources and increasing raw materials prices demand efficient use and recycling. The major issue to be faced is how to win back the valuable raw materials in many products intelligently and cheaply, and make them reusable sustainably. Furthermore there is the question of how to design products from the outset in such a manner that reuse is optimally possible. Resource efficiency and the reliable supply of raw materials are the basic prerequisites for the preservation of a productive industry and the safeguarding of economic wealth.

The exhibition in Schlösschen Michelbach intends to make research on sustainable development visible and possible to experience at first hand. It introduces the different research fields of the Fraunhofer Society and emphasises the tasks of the new project group in Alzenau.

Opening times: Sundays and holidays from 2 to 6 p.m., admission free, tours upon prior arrangement (tourist office: Tel. 502-112).