ELKEM SILICONES FRANCE SAS

Their core work

Elkem Silicones France is the European R&D and innovation unit of Elkem, one of the world's leading silicone manufacturers. They develop specialty silicone formulations — including sol-gel coatings, silicone-based inks, and elastomers — and bring these materials into industrial and biomedical applications. In EU projects, they act as the materials supplier and formulation expert, providing custom silicone systems that other consortium members integrate into end products. Their work spans protective coatings for aerospace structures and printable silicone biomaterials for next-generation medical implants.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their first H2020 project (2017–2019) was firmly in the aerospace coatings domain — sol-gel chemistry, protective varnishes, and functional surfaces for aircraft. By 2021, they pivoted into biomedical manufacturing, applying silicone ink formulation expertise to 3D-printed implants for bone and dental repair. The shift is not a departure from their core: in both cases, Elkem Silicones is the specialty material provider enabling a demanding application. The trend shows them moving from structural/protective coatings toward biologically active and printable silicone systems with higher regulatory complexity.

Elkem Silicones France is moving toward high-value, regulated markets — medical devices and biofabrication — where specialty silicone formulations command premium pricing and where their materials expertise is a hard-to-replicate differentiator.

How they like to work

Elkem Silicones France participates exclusively as a consortium partner — they have never led an H2020 project. This reflects the typical role of a large industrial materials company: they supply a critical enabling material or technology and let academic or integrator partners drive the project architecture. With 21 unique partners across 8 countries in just two projects, they work in sizeable, multi-national consortia. This suggests they are comfortable operating as one specialist node in a complex network rather than anchoring a smaller team.

With 21 distinct consortium partners across 8 countries from only 2 projects, Elkem Silicones France has built a notably broad contact network relative to their EU project volume. Their reach is pan-European, covering both aeronautics clusters (likely France, Germany, UK) and biomedical research hubs.

What sets them apart

Elkem Silicones France brings the manufacturing scale and formulation depth of a global silicone producer into EU research consortia — a combination most university or SME partners cannot replicate. They are one of very few industrial actors capable of developing custom silicone systems (inks, coatings, elastomers) and validating them against both aerospace and medical regulatory standards. For consortium builders, they represent a direct path from laboratory material to industrial-grade, certifiable product.

Highlights from their portfolio

• INKplant
  The largest of their two projects by funding (EUR 273,644) and the most technically ambitious — combining silicone bioinks, ceramic additive manufacturing, and implant biology in a single RIA, signaling Elkem's entry into the medical device materials market.
• PILOT
  Their first H2020 engagement, under the competitive Clean Sky 2 programme, demonstrates validated access to the European aerospace supply chain and credibility with Airbus-ecosystem consortia.