Value Chain & Products
Research & Development
A combination of innovative capability and proximity to customers is a key success factor for Evonik and drives profitable growth. In our growth divisions - Specialty Additives, Animal Nutrition, Health & Care, and Smart Materials - we identify future-oriented innovation growth fields, which we use to achieve our ambitious targets.
Strategy and Management
Evonik’s vision is to be a best-in-class specialty chemicals company. Our research and development activities have been reorganized so that our leading innovations make a stronger contribution to the profitable growth of the Evonik Group. We have pooled our cross-business expertise and technologies in a new, group-wide Research, Development & Innovation function. This brings together all innovative capabilities that Evonik has to offer: the R&D teams of the former segments and the present divisions, the previous Innovation division, Creavis, and Evonik Venture Capital. As part of Evonik Operations GmbH, this new function is also closely integrated into the operating business. This makes it easier for us to share our knowledge and leverage synergies, while at the same time gaining even more selective access to attractive new markets that are close to our customers. Our R&D activities are aligned to six innovation growth fields:
- Sustainable Nutrition
Establishing additional products and services for sustainable nutrition of livestock and people
- Healthcare Solutions
Developing new materials for implants, as components of cell culture media, and for custom-tailored, innovative drug formulations
- Advanced Food Ingredients
Creating a portfolio of health-enhancing substances and nutritional supplements as a contribution to healthy nutrition
- • Membranes
Extending SEPURAN® technology for efficient gas separation to further applications
- Cosmetic Solutions
Developing further products based on natural sources for cosmetics and sensorially optimized formulations for skincare products
- Additive Manufacturing
Developing products and technologies for additive manufacturing
Innovation and Sustainability
Our project portfolio is aligned to the differing strategies of the various business lines, and we focus on growth businesses with high sustainability benefits. The PSA-method (WBCSD Portfolio Sustainability Assessment), which is used to evaluate the sustainability of our business, will be extended to our innovation products in the future. In the reporting period, we therefore started to allocate the divisions’ most important innovation projects to the Product-Application-Region- Combinations (PARCs), which are the basis of this method. For example, rhamnolipids for the home care sector were allocated to a PARC and analyzed in detail using a cradle-to-gate life cycle analysis. Meeting stakeholders’ ambitions with regard to the biodegradability of products and the use of green electricity in the production process was evaluated as strongly positive. As a result, these products were allocated to the leader category. In the future, a uniform method will therefore be used to evaluate the sustainability performance of our chemicals business and innovation projects.