Innovation

Innovation Growth Areas

Evonik is driving forward the green transformation of industry. With our new innovation strategy, we are stepping up our focus on sustainability. To this end, we are bundling a large proportion of our R&D activities in three new innovation growth areas. These should generate additional sales of €1.5 billion by 2032, compared with 2023.

Advance Precision Biosolutions

In the first Innovation Growth Area, Advance Precision Biosolutions, Evonik is focusing on modern biotechnology. The goal is to develop biological solutions that improve the health and quality of life of people around the world while protecting natural resources and ecosystems.

Accelerate Energy Transition

With the second Innovation Growth Area, ‘Accelerate Energy Transition,’ Evonik is fully committed to the energy transition. The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies is crucial to reducing the global carbon footprint. Our innovations can make a significant contribution to greater climate neutrality.

Enable Circular Economy

The third area, “Enable Circular Economy”, focuses on closing material cycles to enable a modern circular economy. We want to pave the way for our customers to a sustainable future in which raw materials are continuously reused.

Biosolutions
Energy Transition
Circular Economy

R&D expenses (2025)	€418 milion
R&D ratio	3.0%
No. of new patent applications filed (2025)	246
Patents held and applications filed	approx. 21,300
R&D employees	approx. 2,450
R&D locations	more than 40

Evonik has an extensive patent strategy to protect new products and processes. The value and quality of our patent portfolio have increased steadily in recent years. In 2025, 246 new patent applications were submitted. Overall, we had around 21,300 patents and pending patents.

Our R&D pipeline comprises a balanced mix of short-, mid-, and long-term R&D projects. On the one hand, we constantly strive to improve our processes in order to strengthen our cost leadership, and on the other, our projects open the door to new markets and news fields of technology. Our project portfolio is consistently aligned with our innovation growth fields and Next Generation Solutions, which have high sustainability benefits.

Scientific Relations

We cooperate with research institutes, universities and other industrial companies so that the latest findings in chemistry, biology and physics can rapidly be transported into our company, and to foster science and education.

Through strategic partnerships we are linked to leading universities in the USA, China, and Japan, and to Singapore’s state-run research agency (A*STAR). In 2016 Evonik extended its partnership with the Ruhr University in Bochum (Germany), where it is sponsoring a chair in organic chemistry for five years. Our support for our established partnership with the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany comprises a junior professorship, ten scholarships for doctoral candidates and joint projects. In addition, we are a preferred partner of Munich Technical University. We have been running a joint laboratory with Shanghai Jiao Tong University for several years.

The "Evonik Meets Science" forum is held regularly in Germany, China, Japan and the USA to strengthen networking with leading international research scientists. At these forums, our experts engage in discussion with leading scientists from a wide range of disciplines and institutions and present their joint research findings.

Partner Institutions Americas

Partner Institutions EMEA

Partner Institutions Asia

The Fellowship Program

Our Fellowship Program honors outstanding Evonik researchers who have pioneered significant innovations and thus made a major contribution to the company's success.

In order to make the knowledge of these Research Principals available to the company, they act as expert advisors, for example in decisions on investments in specific technologies or on sustainability issues. They also help Evonik identify and develop talent and actively support young researchers as mentors. Other employees also benefit from the Research Principals' expertise: They share their experience and know-how with other colleagues in internal training courses and other knowledge transfer projects. They also act as external ambassadors for Evonik's research excellence, for example by raising awareness of the company's scientific excellence at universities.

Innovation Factory

The Evonik Innovation Factory gets to the heart of innovation: from complex technology to market-ready products – quickly, systematically and with a practical focus.

More about the Innovation Factory

Venture Capital

As Corporate Venture Capital unit, we play a strategic role in Evonik’s goal to become a best-in-class specialty chemicals company.

More about Venture Capital

Skin Institute

Bringing together passionate scientists and advanced technologies, the Evonik Skin Institute designs more insightful proof of concepts for the next generation of beauty ingredients.

More about the Skin Insitute