Markus Meindl honored for his outstanding project management of Fraunhofer's activities within the NEWBORN Project

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This year, the IISB R&D Award goes to Markus Meindl, business developer in the field of power electronics at our institute, for tackling a truly massive undertaking: the cross-departmental and even cross-institute management of the Fraunhofer contributions to the Clean Aviation project NEWBORN. For our institute, NEWBORN is certainly one of the most significant projects of recent years, with three IISB departments and several research groups on board, and even more colleagues involved across the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

© Jennifer Reißig / Fraunhofer IISB

Not only shouldering this coordination workload, Markus also drives forward the technical outputs with his top-notch power electronics expertise and personal dedication. At the IISB, Markus and his team are responsible for the entire 800 V DC power distribution system for the NEWBORN 1 MW hybrid-electric aircraft powertrain. The developed prototype high-voltage bus - including a significant number of innovative high-density converters and specialized safety components — speaks for itself. Furthermore, the scientific impact in the fields of aviation, with numerous project deliverables, journal articles, panel discussions, and participation in international events, should not go unmentioned. The biggest event highlight featuring NEWBORN is still to come: PEASA Europe 2026 on September 29-30 in Nuremberg, which is also largely organized by Markus.

Big congratulations to you, Markus, for your impressive commitment to sustainable European aviation!

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