Around 830 employees work in the contract research for industry, service companies and public institutions. The Fraunhofer IIS with headquarters in Erlangen has more locations in Nuremberg, Fuerth, Wuerzburg, Ilmenau, Dresden, Bamberg, Deggendorf, Coburg and Waischenfeld. The budget of 108 million euros is financed to a base funding in the amount of 25 percent of the contract research.
Founded in 1985 the Fraunhofer IIS in Erlangen is today the largest Fraunhofer-Institute of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. With the significant involvement in the development of the audio coding method MP3 and MPEG AAC, Fraunhofer IIS has reached worldwide recognition.
The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is one with its 67 institutes and independent research institutions in Germany as well as numerous national and international institutions in Europe, USA and Asia's leading research institutes for applied research. Around 23,000 employees work with an annual research budget of two billion euros.
