In his 40 years of industrial and research work, Manfred Dietrich played a key role in the establishment of pioneering projects focused on EDA at the federal and EU level. He also contributed intensively to the founding of the “edacentrum” and played a decisive role in the successful work of the advisory board. As an independent institution for the support of research and development in the field of design automation, the “edacentrum” initiates and supports research projects beyond company lines and bundles EDA skills.

In his many years working for Fraunhofer IIS/EAS, Manfred Dietrich also initiated and promoted numerous pioneering projects – from application-oriented research in interdisciplinary consortia through the development of successful EDA tools to the spin-off of a start-up. His commitment to the EDA is rounded off by the organization of numerous symposiums and workshops as well as the participation in program committees and panels, among others in the management committee of the GI/GMM/ITG cooperative association "Computer-assisted circuit and system design".