Prof. Dr. Schell and Prof. Dr. Wiegand assume the positions of Executive Directors of the Fraunhofer HHI

In January 2014, Prof. Dr. Martin Schell and Prof. Dr. Thomas Wiegand took over from Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Grallert as Fraunhofer Heinrich-Hertz-Institut’s Executive Directors. Both scientists are known for their renowned research. They have developed influential technologies from which the worldwide industry benefits today.

In January 2014 Prof. Schell and Prof. Wiegand took over the management of the Fraunhofer HHI from Prof. Grallert as joint Executive Directors. The fact that the Institute is a worldwide pioneer in communication networks and multimedia systems research can certainly be attributed to the directors. The two TU (Technical University) Berlin professors make significant contributions to the industry with their research.

Prof. Wiegand develops compression technologies for video transmission that can now be found in over a billion user devices. Thanks to the H.264/MPEG-AVC compression standard, it is possible to watch mobile and high definition videos - be it on TV or Smartphone. Only a few years ago, nearly twice the number of bits were required to transmit an image of comparable quality. For his research, the Professor for Media Technology was awarded various prizes including the Vodafone Innovation Prize, the Eduard-Rhein Prize, and the IEEE Masura Ibuka Prize, as well as two Emmys.

Prof. Schell's department “Photonic Components” is primarily concerned with optoelectronic semiconductor components used for data transmission. With his team of 80 employees, he develops technologies that enable optical data transmission of up to one terabit per second. He is also a member of the board of the European Photonics Industry Association and the industry association OptecBB.