Sika is leading the industry with its comprehensive portfolio of high-quality, sustainable solutions. Sika’s capability to address sustainability megatrends is evaluated from a life-cycle perspective along the value chain. The Sika brand is a worldwide symbol for technically superior, user-friendly, and long-lasting products. Bringing innovation to life requires customer centricity and courage. For Sika, innovation means implementing something new that adds value. Sika employees drive progressive solutions that move the industry forward and show customers the value of new approaches.
Global Innovation Management
Sika’s long history of innovation has made it a recognized global technology leader in many markets worldwide. The Sika innovation culture reflects courage for innovation, creation, knowledge, and collaboration. Sika’s research and development activities are conducted by 1,840 employees across 18 Global Technology Centers and over 100 local and regional research and development facilities.
While investing in its research and development facilities, the company also nurtures an international network of scientists, partners, suppliers, and customers. In addition, an innovation management team seamlessly integrates sustainability and innovation across functions, facilitating initiatives and solutions to meet evolving customer needs and market dynamics. This team consists of the Global Innovation Manager and exploration teams in all regions to facilitate projects and partnerships. Sika' s collaborative approach to innovation management embraces the specific exploration process and adopts a customer-centric mindset.
Navigating the Multifaceted Landscape of Innovation Management
Sika aims to innovate products that enable sustainable construction and transportation, reducing environmental impact along the value chain. Indeed, sustainability has become a key driver for R&D projects at Sika. It fuels the quest for alternative, renewable materials, low carbon solutions, new recycling concepts more efficient production methods like modular building, resource efficiency, healthier and safer spaces for living and working, and digitally enhanced solutions.
Sika helps its customers overcome challenges by developing innovative products in response to stricter climate-related and chemical regulations, growing sustainability demands. Customer-centricity in both innovation and sustainability encompasses close collaboration with customers and market partners to address specific customer requirements while integrating sustainable materials and practices. Sika’s goal is to foster long-term partnerships and sustainable growth.
Digitalization and AI have a profound impact on the way we are working, this applies to Research and Development (R&D) too. AI-powered systems enable advanced data analysis, accelerating the discovery process and fostering innovation. This transformation brings cultural shifts. Sika’ s culture of collaboration evolves to embrace agility and adaptability, as teams adopt iterative and data-driven approaches.
Sika's concept (“Nuage”) for digitalizing R&D processes worldwide facilitates collaboration across teams in different geographies and enables researchers to conduct experiments and simulations using digital tools and technologies. The global digital laboratory allows researchers to collaborate with teams worldwide in real time, and access a wide range of data, software, and hardware resources.
In the rapidly evolving field of 3D printing, Sika has established itself as a leader. Sika’s 3D concrete printing technology delivers enhanced efficiency, design flexibility, and sustainability by reducing dust and CO₂ emissions while significantly decreasing construction time and costs. In the domain of thermoplastic systems Sika 3D printing solutions enable rapid prototyping and customized production, providing durability and resource efficiency.
Sika's approach to open innovation emphasizes collaboration with external partners to accelerate innovation and strengthen Sika’s overall business by expanding its product portfolio, optimizing processes, and reinforcing its leadership in technological and market advancements. Sika partners with universities and research institutions, tapping into cutting-edge research and specialized expertise in areas such as materials science, sustainability, and construction technology. Collaboration with startups and industry leaders aims to exchange knowledge and co-develop breakthrough technologies that drive efficiency and create new market opportunities.
Exclusivity is a crucial advantage in bringing new products and technologies to market. It not only shields the company from imitators but also assures customers that whenever they see the Sika name, they are receiving an original product of the highest quality. In 2024, Sika reported 264 new inventions (2023: 188), leading to 125 initial patent applications (2023: 108). By the close of 2024, Sika's patent portfolio had grown to include 1,606 distinct patent families, totalling 5,772 (2023: 5,680) individual national patents.
Scouts - Ideation Management
Scouts – the global ideation management platform streamlines and standardizes the process of capturing and developing innovative ideas. This ideation framework has been deployed to efficiently capture and assess employee contributions, advancing ideas for further development. Scouts facilitates the collection, evaluation, and prioritization of ideas from across the organization. This ensures inclusive participation by providing accessible channels for all employees. The platform enhances visibility into the innovation process, delivers feedback, and supports employees' professional growth, while driving Sika’s strategic objectives.
Partnerships and Collaborations
Cross-functional collaborations within Sika, alongside partnerships with technology companies, scientific institutions, and universities, yield fresh insights and scientific breakthroughs. Collaborative effort results in products and solutions that offer both enhanced performance and bring about sustainability benefits. On corporate level, Sika cooperates with renowned universities and scientific institutions such as ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich), EPFL Lausanne, University of Illinois (USA), the Beijing University of Chemical Technology (PRC), and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) on various research projects.
On local level Sika partners within application-oriented research projects. An example of a successful scientific partnership on both corporate and local levels is the is the cooperation with the University of Cádiz (UCA) in concrete protection, building facades, and industrial processes. In Germany, Sika is collaborating with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Leibnitz University Hanover LUH in the context of the URBAN project, which focuses on developing a sustainable process to recycle old concrete into new cement and high-quality aggregates, achieving a CO2-reduced circular economy by capturing and reusing CO2 during production. The initiative aims to reduce environmental impact while maintaining cost-effectiveness and high material quality.
A successful example from Asia is the “Data Driven Project” on adhesive bonding as part of the Technological Consortium for Adhesion and Bonding (T-CAB), organized by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). Highlights in the United States include, among others, energy-saving assessments with the Department of Energy's Industrial Assessment Centers, partnerships with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and with the National Science Foundation (NSF) for concrete sustainability, sponsorship of Oklahoma State University's solar racing team, and roofing innovations with universities like University of Colorado Denver and Arizona State.