Research and Development

WACKER’s research and development (R&D) activities pursue three goals:

• We contribute to our customers’ market success by searching for solutions that meet their needs.
• We optimize our methods and processes in order to remain a technology leader and to operate sustainably.
• We concentrate on creating innovative products and applications for new markets and on serving highly promising fields, such as energy storage, renewable energy generation, electromobility, modern construction and biotechnology.

WACKER’s R&D ratio – research and development spending as a percentage of Group sales – was 3.6 percent, which was above the previous year (2023: 2.9 percent). R&D spending rose.

Our portfolio contains about 3,100 active patents worldwide, with 1,100 patent applications currently pending. We license only a small amount of know-how from third parties. In our research partnerships with entities such as universities, our policy is to ensure that the results are made available to us by transfer of rights of use.

WACKER invested €17.2 million in R&D facilities in 2024 (2023: €18.1 million). We have invested in laboratories and equipment, as well as in pilot reactor technologies and pilot plants. At the Burghausen site, we have set up a pilot plant to manufacture a new product for thermally conductive filling materials. At Halle, we have started up a competence center for mRNA actives. Our biotech research activities will be combined and intensified at the Consortium für elektrochemische Industrie, WACKER’s corporate research facility in Munich, where we are investing in a new biotechnology center. In our central R&D facility, we have also expanded our fermentation plants.

Investments in R&D facilities

WACKER is active in many promising fields, especially medicine and biotechnology, energy, electronics, automotive, consumer care, nutrition and construction applications. We devote particular attention to efficient energy utilization, energy storage and renewable-energy generation. We closely examine the use of renewable raw materials and carbon dioxide in our value chain. Research into products and production methods accounted for a large share of R&D expenses.

Breakdown of R&D expenditures

Research and development at two levels

WACKER conducts R&D at two levels: centrally at our Corporate Research & Development department (Corporate R&D) and locally at our business divisions, where the focus is on specific applications. Corporate R&D coordinates activities on a company-wide basis and involves other departments.

Collaboration with customers and research institutes

We collaborate with customers, scientific institutes and universities to achieve research successes more quickly and efficiently. These partnerships cover topics such as CO₂ electrolysis, recycling, construction applications and biocatalysts.

Wacker Chemie AG and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have deepened their partnership with the founding of the TUM WACKER Institute for Industrial Biotechnology. The aim is to ensure that research in the field of industrial biotechnology in Germany is conducted at the highest international level. The two partners intend to find new manufacturing approaches for pharmaceuticals, food and chemicals, where renewable resources are the basis for sustainable business management. WACKER has been funding the institute’s research since 2022. It is providing more than €6 million under a six-year contract.

Research work at WACKER

In 2024, the Group had 956 R&D staff (2023: 906), accounting for 5.7 percent of the workforce (2023: 5.5 percent). Of these, 686 were employed at R&D units in Germany and 270 abroad.

Alexander Wacker Innovation Award

The Alexander Wacker Innovation Award, a €10,000 prize, has been conferred for outstanding research since 2006. In the year under review, it was awarded to a project team from China for successfully marketing silicone sealants directly on online B2C platforms. The team used social-media marketing and developed a business model to boost online sales of alkoxy silicone sealants.

Corporate R&D topics

Our work in Corporate R&D focuses on projects that advance sustainability topics, such as the circular economy, silicon-containing battery materials and electrolysis techniques. We are researching the use of sustainable raw materials to continuously reduce our products’ carbon footprint. One key aspect of our activities is biotechnology, where we are increasingly automating and digitalizing our work. In fermentation, we collect extensive process data for the computer-assisted simulation and optimization of production methods. In microbiology, we have prioritized two areas. One of these is to develop and improve technologies for the production of proteins and nucleic acids (DNA, pDNA) for the pharmaceutical sector. The other is researching production systems that use fermentation and biotransformation for new food ingredients, for example, to make cell-based meat (cultivated meat).

Divisional research projects

At the Silicones division, sustainability is steadily taking center stage. We replace solvents with harmless, degradable products or we avoid them completely, focusing on aqueous systems. We increasingly use renewable raw materials and are working on alternatives to fluorocarbons in coatings, textile applications and release agents. We are working on recycling silicones by hydrothermal degradation or acidolysis and are further developing our silicone resins for extremely durable, advanced materials. In the field of carbon capturing, an ongoing priority is capturing carbon on the surfaces of silica-based molded parts. In cosmetics and hair conditioners, we consistently use degradable formulation components. Continuous advances in Silicones’ product portfolio are reducing cyclosiloxane content to a minimum. We aim to design formulations faster and more efficiently by using machine learning and artificial intelligence. We are combining silicone chemistry with new technologies, such as flow chemistry, electron radiation, high-pressure homogenization and gas atomization. In addition, we are producing hard-wearing, silicone-based artificial leather. For the medical industry, we are developing adhesives that are based on a combination of silicones and organic polymers.

At Polymers, the R&D focus is on sustainable and functional polymer binders for construction applications and for producing consumer goods. We continually review and optimize our product range on the basis of sustainability criteria. We focus on using renewable raw materials in our production processes. We develop solutions for the circular economy, including binders with a high percentage of renewable raw materials. During the reporting period, we introduced functionalized polymer dispersions, dispersible polymer powders, resins, sustainable binders for adhesives, and cement-based construction materials. The division launched efficient products in the paper-to-paper bonding segment. They enable us to support the plastic-to-paper trend. We aim to further develop our product and production technologies to save energy not only in our own processes, but also in those of our customers.

Our Biosolutions division is strengthening its biotech expertise in biopharmaceutical and food applications. We supply our customers with technologies to produce plasmid DNA (pDNA) and for various classes of pharmaceutical proteins. At our Amsterdam site and at our Halle mRNA competence center that opened in 2024, we can produce mRNA-based actives for pharmaceutical customers in line with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). In this way, we support our partners from preclinical development right up to commercial production in compliance with GMP quality guidelines. In the food sector, Biosolutions remains focused on fermentation methods for producing high-quality, bio-based ingredients. We offer customers in the food and cosmetic sectors sustainable amino acids, vitamins, saccharides, flavorings and aromas that are not based on petrochemicals. At our León site, we can implement our own and customers’ production processes on an industrial scale and in line with the required quality regimes. We are continuing to work with partners on production technologies for cell-based meat (cultivated meat) and supply high-quality components for this. In cyclodextrins, we are collaborating with partners to develop applications for the food, agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors.

In order to exploit the potential of modern microchips, the semiconductor industry needs ultrapure polysilicon. Polysilicon has initiated several research projects to this end, Some involve the production line currently under construction at the Burghausen site, where polysilicon for state-of-the-art chip technologies and high-performance applications will now be produced. We stepped up the Quality LeaP (Quality Leadership in Polysilicon) project in the year under review to expand quality control. The type of pure polysilicon to be produced will also enable the production of 3-nm chips or smaller for computer applications in the field of artificial intelligence for data centers and for autonomous driving. In the case of solar modules, the same applies: high cell efficiencies are attainable only with hyperpure polycrystalline silicon. Reference studies such as the International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics (ITRPV) show efficiencies that now exceed 23 percent for monocrystalline solar cells produced with p-type PERC (passivated emitter rear cell) technology. Solar cells produced with n-type TOPCon, heterojunction or interdigitated back-contact technologies achieve efficiencies of over 25 percent. Such high-performance segments need polysilicon of the highest quality. The Polysilicon division meets the solar industry’s growing quality demands by continually developing its manufacturing processes. Moreover, the division is a member of the Ultra Low-Carbon Solar Alliance (ULCSA), which advocates the use of photovoltaic components with a low carbon footprint.