Essen, Germany. Evonik is launching the Next Markets Program to drive additional growth. This initiative is designed to unlock markets that are closely linked to the company’s core businesses. By pooling expertise across the organization around existing technologies and products, the program positions Evonik in emerging markets, offering customers holistic solutions.
“We are experiencing massive geopolitical and societal changes. This leads to shifts in the markets and new customer needs,” says Lauren Kjeldsen, Member of the Executive Board and Head of the Custom Solutions segment. “We want to identify these changes even earlier and deliver the right solutions. That’s why we’re launching the Next Markets Program – Evonik’s new speedboat. It navigates through complex value chains and enables us to seize growth opportunities along those.”
The program is led by Patrick Gloeckner. He previously managed the Global Circular Economy Program, which will continue under the new initiative. “The Next Markets Program builds on one of Evonik’s core strengths: our presence in a wide range of markets and customer segments,” says Gloeckner. “By leveraging this network and combining our products and technologies with interdisciplinary collaboration among our experts, we can quickly deliver innovative responses to new customer demands.”
The initial focus areas include circular packaging, plastics recycling, and defense and aerospace. “These are sectors where change is happening rapidly and there is a strong need for innovative solutions,” Gloeckner explains.
Pilot projects are already underway. One interdisciplinary team is exploring a segment of the circular economy: using pyrolysis to recover high-value chemicals from polyolefin based mixed plastic waste. Many companies are aiming to improve yield and efficiency of such processes. However, pyrolysis oils often contain impurities and lack storage stability. Innovations from various Evonik businesses address these challenges by removing contaminants, improving storage stability, and ensuring flowability. Packaging these solutions and forming partnerships to unlock new business opportunities is a key task of the Next Markets Program.
Another example: painted plastic components used in automotive manufacturing are difficult to recycle. In a consortium project with BMW, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), Evonik collaborated with leading industry and academic partners to address this and other challenges. Thanks to a technology from Evonik, paints can now quickly and effectively be separated from plastics. The resulting recyclates are of such high quality that they can be used, for example, to manufacture new add-on parts for cars. Experts in the Next Markets Program are now working to commercialize this solution and identify further applications.
In defense, aerospace, and aviation, there is also growing demand for system solutions that the Next Markets Program aims to address: High-performance plastics, foams, and specialty additives from Evonik enable, for example, improved heat resistance and durability or reduced weight. The program also focuses on Evonik’s broad portfolio for rocket propellants.
Those interested in meeting the team behind the program will have the opportunity at K 2025, the leading international trade fair for the plastics and rubber industry, taking place from October 8 to 15, 2025 in Düsseldorf, Germany.