Operator of FINO3

The F&E GmbH: the perfect link between science and industry

The F&E GmbH has been operating the FINO3 research platform since August 2009. The F&E GmbH was established in May 1995. The primary motivation at the time it was founded was the aim to make existing knowledge accessible for practical uses at Kiel University of Applied Sciences – and also at other universities in Schleswig-Holstein - and so to support the transfer of technology from university to practice, i.e. to commercial companies. This forward-looking strategy has proved itself up to the present day. On top of this the company promotes technology transfer between university and business, in order to improve the quality of the teaching, staff qualifications and the capacity for business start-ups. The enterprise is not geared to profit. The profits remaining after taxation are reinvested in research and development projects. It works according to a certified quality management system based on DIN ISO 9001.

The offshore activities of the F&E GmbH are reflected in private projects that have been carried out and third-party funded project servicing projects. Alongside numerous projects with wind turbine manufacturers, which have had lightning current measurements carried out on rotor blades or lightning conductors, the company is also running projects for organising work protection in the building and operation of offshore installations and on the development of new kinds of corrosion protection surfaces for use on offshore structures. It is also developing in one project an installation for the automated flange processing of rotor blades for wind turbines, developing an air bubble curtain for minimising noise on offshore wind turbines, building a German-Danish network for the offshore wind energy sector or is having bird migration measurements or crater monitoring carried out on FINO3.