Re: Great example.....
CERN's output goes far beyond just the particle smashing. I'm surprised you're overlooking that.
But on the topic of DLR and Fraunhofer, you are aware that they are designed for two seperate purposes? Fraunhofer is a dedicated Science institute. It hires top scientists and produce great results in very dedicated fields. DLR is a scientists and engineer training institute. That it produces amazing science at the same time is awesome, but it's primary responsibility (and its written into its manifest) is to train Germany's future engineers and scientists (if you ever work with DLR, you will find the average age there to be quite young).
So its not exactly a like for like comparison.