PFI was founded in 1956 in the German shoe metropolis Pirmasens. Originally dedicated to footwear-related research, the Institute has meanwhile become an internationally active organisation, with subsidiaries in Turkey and in Hongkong, serving clients from many different industries. Today our main focus is on testing, analytical chemistry, microbiological studies, biotechnology, certification of product and systems, testing equipment and special machinery, and software development. With a current staff of 100 scientists, technicians, and laboratory personnel we serve clients in industry, commerce, government agencies, consumer organisations, and insurance companies. We provide publicly certified experts for numerous areas of activity. The Institute’s laboratories are mostly accredited in legally regulated and non-regulated areas. We act in an advisory capacity in the setting-up of test laboratories, and in a number of countries we have played a key collaborative role in the founding and construction of institutes. PFI is a non-profit association. Members and directors come from industry, from the Ministry of Economics of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, and from the City of Pirmasens. We are member of the German Federation of Industrial Cooperative Research Associations (AiF) and undertake demanding business-related and industrial research projects, which are partly funded by the German federal government, the individual German states, and the EU. We are also member of EURIS, which represents a union of European testing institutes. Many of our research projects are interdisciplinary and are conducted in collaboration with numerous other institutes from a range of different sectors and countries. The research projects are initiated and accompanied by Institute’s Technical Council, made up of representatives from industry and commerce.