Prof. Dr. Reimund Neugebauer was born in 1953 in eastern Germany. He graduated from the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) with a degree in mechanical engineering and received his doctorate there in 1984. After holding leadership roles in the mechanical engineering industry, he was appointed professor at TUD in 1989, where he assumed leadership of the Institute for Machine Tools the following year. In 1991 Prof. Neugebauer was awarded the academic degree of Doktor-Ingenieur habilitatus.

In 1994, Prof. Neugebauer became the sole director of what is now known as the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU. In 1995, he was appointed full chair of the Machine Tools and Forming Technology department at the Chemnitz University of Technology (TU Chemnitz).

On October 1, 2012, he took up the post of President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.