A sustainable future thanks to innovation

Working towards a sustainable future is our goal and creating materials for a better life is our mission. We are consistently investing in research to meet the growing demand for clean mobility materials and for quality recycling of precious and other valuable metals. Besides our core strategic domains, we are exploring new developments in adjacent and new markets based on our expertise. 

We strive to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world and continuously search for new solutions for our customers. We dedicate our research and development (R&D) to solving some of the world’s largest societal challenges in the areas of clean mobility and clean air, resource scarcity and sustainability.

From production and process technology to deep knowledge of metallurgy and materials science, a significant part of our technology is delivered using Umicore R&D findings.  As a materials technology company, our future success depends on our ability to develop and market innovative products and services.

R&D fit for future growth

A carbon neutral economy by 2050 will require further adoption of clean mobility solutions and renewable energy sources for electricity such as hydrogen and other alternative fuels with zero carbon footprint (synthetic fuels, e-fuels, biofuels, etc.). Clean cities with zero local emission and with zero-waste streams are the ultimate goal. The evolution towards zero-waste streams will put even more emphasis on circular economy to address resource scarcity in all smart sectors (mobility, IoT, Industry 5.0, etc.). 
The New Business Incubation unit created in 2019 grew in 2020 to become the unit in which our long-term research projects and internal ventures, such as battery recycling, silicon composite anodes or chemical metal deposition solutions, are groomed to become mature businesses over a horizon of 5 to 10 years. 

Open innovation

A worldwide, ever more diverse Umicore community of over 1300 scientists is collaborating with customers, academic and technology institutes to sharpen our skills, improve the quality of our products, develop our processes, speed up development, lower costs, improve safety and reduce our environmental impact. 

"We use the power of technology, innovation and data to help people have better lives 
and to reduce our impact on the planet".