The research coordinator
Patrick Scheele oversees the scientific direction of Ferdinand-Braun-Institut
“I wasn’t disappointed,” says Patrick Scheele, looking back on the expectations with which he took up the post of scientific managing director of the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik (FBH), two years ago. After spending half a professional lifetime in private industry—most recently as vice-president and head of radar development at a manufacturer of security and surveillance technology based in Ulm—he had but one wish: “I wanted to try out new things. To think ahead.” A research institute enables me to do that, he says. This is much less the case in the private sector, which is bound by customer demand.
Born fifty years ago in the Baden town of Schwetzingen, Scheele describes himself as “extremely fascinated by technology”. The interest started early. “The more I learn, the more I realise how much I don’t know.” It began with an electronics construction kit intended for twelve-year-olds, which he had no trouble mastering even though he was below the recommended age. That kind of curiosity, he says, can’t really be taught. “It’s a passion.” He taught himself how to code, then studied communications engineering and electronics in Mannheim and at the Technical University of Darmstadt, earning his doctorate in 2007. By that time he was already working for a company in his hometown of Schwetzingen that produced instruments for use in spaceflight. His career went on at a manufacturer of mobile communications components in Munich and the aerospace group EADS.
Scheele long had a connection to Adlershof. In 2015, he joined the FBH scientific advisory board, becoming its chairperson two years later. Today he leads the institute together with a co-managing director who is responsible for finance and administration. What still impresses him is the institute’s “remarkably broad value chain”—from semiconductor research and laser technology to quantum physics.
Most importantly: “We are not solely committed to creating scientific knowledge. We do the hard part,” he says, “we don’t just design, we build things.” Ultimately, what is designed at the institute is also built and brought to market.
This applied approach follows a business logic. Less than half of the institute’s budget comes from core funding. The rest must be raised through competitive projects and third-party funding. “We get funding because people spend money who need what we do. We want our technologies to be used.” One priority for Scheele is quantum sensing, a technology he describes as still “in its infancy”. It works in the lab. To make this technology fit for everyday use, it has to be possible to package it into compact, practical devices. The ambition of Scheele’s institute is straightforward: “To make quantum sensors pocket-sized.” Another focus is a new generation of semiconductors that FBH is developing within a European research consortium. The idea is to combine silicon with materials such as indium phosphide in high-frequency and power electronics. This “heterointegration” merges the strengths of different technologies and promises more efficient systems.
Scheele sees the institute squarely at the centre of Europe’s key future issues in technology: reducing dependencies, strengthening resilience, and advancing digital sovereignty. Scheele quotes the former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi’s call to double Europe’s semiconductor capacities. This aligns with the federal government’s high-tech agenda as well as the research programme of his institute: “It’s a great fit for us.” How does he see his role in this? To make sure, he says, “that science keeps humming like an engine—and that it isn’t slowed down.”
Dr. Winfried Dolderer for Adlershof Journal