Open to all, good for logistics

“Open source paves the way for collaboration and innovation in logistics. That is why research in this field is advancing.”

- Prof. Dr. Alice Kirchheim, Institute Director

digitalization of logistics today. Based on the results of research projects such as the Silicon Economy initiative, funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport from 2020 to 2024, Fraunhofer IML has not only been able to derive recommendations for action for companies, but also a need for action for research.

With the large-scale research project Silicon Economy, Fraunhofer IML has put the topic of open source on the logistics research agenda in recent years and made it big in the logistics industry: all developments in the project were carried out as open source. The project also provided the impetus for the establishment of the Open Logistics Foundation, an internationally oriented, non-profit organization that supports logistics companies in the collaborative development of open source software. The software and hardware developments from the Silicon Economy research project formed the starting point for the foundation's work and the basis for the Open Logistics Repository, a new digital library for open source software. 

Fraunhofer IML is a strategic member of the Open Logistics Foundation. The institute contributes current developments, models and concepts from logistics research to the foundation's work. Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Michael Henke, Institute Director at Fraunhofer IML, is a member of the Foundation's Board of Trustees, while Institute Director Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alice Kirchheim is a member of the board of the Open Logistics e. V. support association. Numerous researchers from the Institute are active in the Foundation's working groups and projects and work together with industry to develop digital solutions for greater efficiency and sustainability in logistics.