Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB
Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB
Fields of action and factors influencing sustainable urban development were also identified using Copenhagen as an example.
© Fraunhofer IGB
Fields of action and factors influencing sustainable urban development were also identified using Copenhagen as an example.

© Fraunhofer IGB

Innovation Network Morgenstadt

Morgenstadt Initiative – Shaping the cities' future

To navigate the big challenges of the next decades, city systems must be innovative, flexible, liveable, and sustainable.  

Future cities will produce net-zero emissions and waste, enable a maximum quality of life for all its inhabitants, optimize resiliency, and enable prosperity and progress through sustainable innovations. The "City of the future" is the vision of a sustainable, livable and viable city and its suburban surroundings. The challenge lies not in optimizing individual technologies, but in bringing them together over the long term to form a holistic system in the sustainable city of the future. 

With their broad-based, well-networked research competencies, the Fraunhofer Institutes are ideally placed to fulfill this task. The future project pursues concrete goals of scientific and technological developments.

The innovation network "Morgenstadt " supports cities, companies and political institutions.

Morgenstadt Research Fields  

  • Energy
  • Buildings
  • Production and logistics
  • Mobility and transport
  • Information and communication
  • Urban processes and organization
  • Security
Morgenstadt

How do we want to live and work in the city of the future?

In Tbilisi, Georgia, a CityLab was conducted in 2015/16 under the direction of the Fraunhofer IGB.
© Fraunhofer IGB
In Tbilisi, Georgia, a CityLab was conducted in 2015/16 under the direction of the Fraunhofer IGB.

Urban Development – Electric Mobility – Industry 4.0 – Demographic Change – Climate Crisis – Internet of Things – Shareconomy … the world is changing fast and entire industries are reinventing themselves in response to complex transitions in social, economic, and environmental arenas. Increasing urbanization is a key trend and the design of city systems will play an essential role in shaping a sustainable future. Institutions at all levels must be proactive in order to compete successfully and to establish themselves as active, relevant players in the city of the future.

Today’s cities are using systems and infrastructure based on outdated technologies, making them unsustainable, inflexible, inefficient, and difficult to change. In order for both people and natural systems to thrive, the city of the future will have to be fundamentally different. Car-congested cities that over-consume energy and resources, emit greenhouse gases, and produce contamination and waste will no longer be the status quo.

With its "Morgenstadt" initiative, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is supporting the German government in implementing its future project "The CO2-neutral, energy-efficient and climate-adapted city", one of ten projects selected in the action plan of the High-Tech Strategy 2020.

Water and energy concepts for the city of the future

Dr. Marius Mohr from Fraunhofer IGB is actively involved in the Morgenstadt initiative as an expert for semi-decentralized wastewater and energy systems.

In one of the first Morgenstadt project phases, in which fields of action and impact factors for sustainable urban development were identified and from which an action-oriented model for sustainable urban development was developed, Fraunhofer IGB analyzed the water infrastructure sector.

As part of the Morgenstadt City Challenge, it developed an innovation strategy with which the Georgian capital Tbilisi can become more sustainable. A roadmap shows the way to a sustainable city.

In the Morgenstadt Global Smart Cities project, Mohr is leading the Kochi city lab in India.

Fields of action and factors influencing sustainable urban development were also identified using Copenhagen as an example.
© Fraunhofer IGB
Fields of action and factors influencing sustainable urban development were also identified using Copenhagen as an example.
Morgenstadt.
Morgenstadt.
Agricultural land in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang: In the future, residents will be able to use purified wastewater to irrigate the beds.
© Fraunhofer IGB
Agricultural land in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang: In the future, residents will be able to use purified wastewater to irrigate the beds.