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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

“Clean Energy” R&D and Innovation Center to be Built in Boston

05/22/2011
The Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE) of Cambridge, MA, announces it will partner with federal, state and city agencies to build a $20 million, 50,000-sq.-ft. clean energy center in Boston's Innovation District at 5 Channel Center.

This one-of-a-kind, applied research facility will be a "factory of innovation" functioning as a high-tech "living lab" for manufacturers and systems providers of next-generation energy efficiency technologies. It also house Fraunhofer's technical R&D labs and the TechBridge start-up accelerator group to support regional clean energy businesses. CSE's mission is to meet the research needs of America's sustainable energy industry. It's a division of Fraunhofer USA, a subsidiary of the Fraunhofer Society (one of the world's leading applied R&D organizations).

The Center will continue to focus on development of low-cost, high-efficiency systems, products and best practices. CSE said this work, performed on behalf of industry partners, will generate jobs by supporting client company growth and profitability

Dr. Roland Schindler, executive director of CSE, said the Center's new building will attract "technology pace-setters from around the nation and the international business community" who want to demonstrate the future of sustainable buildings. "The CSE facility will help develop the City of Boston's Innovation District and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a hub of sustainable energy technology and research," he added.

Boston's Mayor Thomas M. Menino said the new center is a "great addition" to the growing cluster of clean-tech workers in the Innovation District. "Our leading universities and research community are unmatched sources of talent, and Fraunhofer's expertise and international reputation will help budding entrepreneurs grow their ideas in Boston."

The project will further the international partnership between American and German industry, and could be a great economic benefit to both countries, noted Consul General Friedrich Löhr of the German Consulate in Boston. "The Fraunhofer CSE is a model of international collaboration for economic development in a partnership that creates jobs and clean-energy economic development opportunities for both economies."

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