NOVAMONT SPA

Their core work

Novamont is an Italian biochemistry company specializing in bioplastics, biodegradable materials, and integrated biorefineries. They develop bio-based alternatives to conventional plastics — particularly for packaging, agriculture, and automotive applications — using feedstocks like vegetable oils, starches, and lignocellulosic biomass. Their work spans the full value chain from crop cultivation and biorefinery processing to end-product formulation and circular waste recovery. With 31 H2020 projects and over €30M in EC funding, they are one of Europe's most active industrial players in the bio-based circular economy.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2015–2019), Novamont focused heavily on bioplastics, packaging redesign, and biorefinery scale-up — keywords like "biobased," "recycling," "plastic," "packaging," and "biodegradable" dominated, with flagship projects like FIRST2RUN and CIRC-PACK. From 2019 onward, the focus shifted decisively toward CO2 valorisation, electrochemistry, and circular biorefinery systems processing municipal and urban waste — with new keywords like "electrochemistry," "photobiorefinery," "fertilizer," and "sewage" appearing. This evolution shows a company moving upstream from product-level bioplastics toward systemic carbon循环 and waste-to-chemicals platforms.

Novamont is moving from bio-based product development toward carbon capture chemistry and integrated urban waste valorisation — expect future work at the intersection of industrial biotechnology and carbon-negative manufacturing.

How they like to work

Novamont operates almost exclusively as a participant (30 of 31 projects), bringing industrial-scale bio-based manufacturing capacity to large consortia rather than leading academic research. With 543 unique partners across 38 countries, they function as a highly connected industrial hub — the kind of partner that provides real production facilities, materials expertise, and market access. Their single coordination (FIRST2RUN, their largest project at €6.4M) was a flagship biorefinery demonstration, suggesting they lead when the project centers on their core industrial infrastructure.

Novamont has collaborated with 543 unique partners across 38 countries, making them one of the most broadly networked industrial SMEs in the bio-based sector. Their reach is truly pan-European with connections extending well beyond the EU into associated countries.

What sets them apart

Novamont is not a typical research SME — they are an established bioplastics manufacturer (Mater-Bi is their flagship product line) with real production plants, giving them the rare ability to take lab-scale bio-based innovations to industrial demonstration. Their 31-project portfolio creates an unmatched knowledge network across the entire bio-based value chain: from crop feedstock through biorefinery processing to end-product applications in packaging, automotive, and agriculture. For consortium builders, they offer what few partners can — a direct path from project results to commercial-scale bio-based manufacturing in Italy.

Highlights from their portfolio

• FIRST2RUN
  Their only coordinated project and largest by far (€6.4M) — a flagship integrated biorefinery demonstration converting dry crops into bio-based products, representing Novamont's core industrial mission.
• BIOMOTIVE
  Second-largest funding (€3.1M) and a cross-sector play developing bio-based polyurethanes and fibres specifically for the automotive industry — showing reach beyond packaging.
• CIRCULAR BIOCARBON
  Their most recent large project (€1.5M, running to 2027) turning municipal organic waste into value-added products — a flagship biorefinery that signals their strategic direction toward urban waste valorisation.