NANOGENCE SA

Their core work

NANOGENCE SA is a Swiss deep-tech startup that has developed a nano-additive for concrete that reduces the amount of cement required in construction while maintaining structural performance. Their core product, commercialized under the ngCon brand, targets the construction materials market with a chemistry-based solution aimed at cutting CO2 emissions from cement production — one of the heaviest-emitting industrial processes. The company operates at the intersection of chemical engineering and construction materials science, translating nanomaterial research into a commercially deployable building product. Based in Lausanne, they are a product-focused SME rather than a research contractor.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

NANOGENCE entered H2020 in 2019 with a Phase 1 feasibility study that had no recorded keywords — typical of an early-stage concept validation exercise with limited public technical disclosure. By 2020, their Phase 2 project reveals a fully defined technical focus: construction materials, cement, concrete, and chemical engineering, confirming the transition from proof-of-concept to product development and market entry. The trajectory is linear and concentrated — there is no diversification, only deepening commitment to a single product in a single domain.

NANOGENCE is on a commercialization path for a single focused product — any future collaboration would most likely seek manufacturing scale-up partners, construction industry pilots, or sustainability certification support rather than basic research.

How they like to work

NANOGENCE has exclusively coordinated solo SME Instrument projects — a grant type specifically designed for individual innovative companies, which requires no consortium partners. This means they have no recorded co-development relationships within H2020 and operate as an independent product developer rather than a collaborative research actor. For a future partner, this signals a company that owns its IP internally and would likely engage others for go-to-market, testing, or integration rather than co-invention.

NANOGENCE has no recorded consortium partners in the H2020 database — both projects were executed under the SME Instrument, which is a single-beneficiary funding scheme. Their H2020 network is effectively non-existent in the traditional consortium sense.

What sets them apart

NANOGENCE occupies a narrow but commercially valuable niche: a chemistry startup in Switzerland that has taken a nano-additive product from feasibility through a €2.5M EU-backed development cycle, focused specifically on reducing cement content in concrete. Unlike academic groups working on similar materials, they are product-oriented and have demonstrated the ability to win competitive EIC/SME Instrument funding twice for the same technology — a sign of validated market interest and technical credibility. For a construction company, materials distributor, or cement producer looking for a ready-to-license decarbonization additive, NANOGENCE is unusually far along the commercialization curve for a company of its size.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ngCon (Phase 2)
  With €2.499M in EC funding, this is NANOGENCE's flagship project — one of the largest single-SME grants in the construction materials category, covering full product development and market entry for their cement-reducing nano-additive.
• ngCon (Phase 1)
  A successful Phase 1 feasibility study in 2019 that unlocked the Phase 2 grant, demonstrating that the concept passed EU-level technical and commercial validation before full investment.