Raoul Klingner takes over this position from Prof. Dr. Bohumil Kasal, who retired on the 1^st of October 2024 after more than 14 years as the Director of the Fraunhofer WKI.

“With the assumption of the directorship of the Fraunhofer WKI, I am now returning to my original field of research following exciting years in research management at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. For me, this is at the same time a great pleasure and a strong motivation. Prof. Bo Kasal leaves behind an excellent institute. I would like to thank him for his highly successful work and notable achievements. The topics addressed by the Fraunhofer WKI could not be more up to date. Our work revolves around renewable raw materials: Their sustainable production and utilization in cascade as materials for construction and manufacturing makes them – through the binding and storage of carbon – a key factor in the management of climate change. The unique range of properties of wood continues to fascinate me. I am sure that it will continue to provide us with intriguing research questions and many opportunities for value creation in Germany. I am very much looking forward to working together with the highly successful WKI team and our partners in industry and science,” explained Institute Director Raoul Klingner.

The career path of Raoul Klingner

After graduating in Wood Science and Technology, Raoul Klingner worked in the fields of wood research and bionics at the EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) and the ETH Zurich in Switzerland from 1999. He completed his doctorate at the Chair of Construction Physics in the Department of Architecture at the ETH Zurich.

At the end of 2005, Raoul Klingner joined the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Munich, initially as a research associate in the field of strategy and internal research programs. In 2010, he was entrusted with the management of the “International Business Development” department. In April 2016, he was appointed Director of Research at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Raoul Klingner’s responsibilities thereby included the coordination of national and international research collaborations, as well as the interface function with the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s university partners and national funding agencies.

Since the winter semester of 2017/18, Raoul Klingner has been teaching research and innovation management at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technische Universität Braunschweig, where he was appointed Honorary Professor at the end of 2019.