Manfred Renner and Christian Doetsch succeed Eckhard Weidner and lead the institute together.
Since August 2022, Professor Manfred Renner (right) and Professor Christian Doetsch have been heading the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT as dual leaders. The two scientists most recently worked respectively as heads of the Products Division and the Energy Division at the Fraunhofer UMSICHT Institute. They take over from Professor Eckhard Weidner, who is retiring. Renner, who has held various positions at Fraunhofer UMSICHT since 2006, holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering and specializes in process engineering and business development. Since August 2022, he has also led the Fraunhofer Clusters of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy (CCPE) and in this capacity is responsible for representing the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft at national and European level with regard to the transformation of the economy and society to a circular economy. Doetsch has also been working for Fraunhofer UMSICHT for many years. The technological focus of the energy expert is on energy storage, power-to-X technologies including electrolysis hydrogen and chemical conversion into valuable materials, catalysts, and the modeling and optimization of energy systems. Doetsch is also deputy spokesperson for the Fraunhofer Energy Alliance and task manager on energy storage at the International Energy Agency (IEA). Renner and Doetsch also both teach at Ruhr University in Bochum.
