PILKINGTON TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT LTD

Their core work

Pilkington Technology Management is the R&D and technology licensing arm of the Pilkington glass group, one of the world's leading flat glass manufacturers. They bring deep expertise in advanced glass coatings, transparent substrates, and building envelope technologies to EU research consortia. Their contributions span flexible display substrates, building-integrated photovoltaics, and emerging photocatalytic surfaces — all rooted in their core competence of engineering glass surfaces for new functional applications. They serve as an industrial partner translating laboratory glass innovations toward commercial-scale manufacturing.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Pilkington's H2020 journey shows a clear shift from display and electronics applications toward climate and energy technologies. Their early work (2016–2019) centred on flexible OLED substrates for lighting, displays, and automotive — classic industrial glass innovation. From 2017 onward, the focus pivoted sharply to energy and environment: invisible solar integration in building façades, and most recently, photocatalytic surfaces for removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. This trajectory mirrors a broader industry trend of glass manufacturers repositioning their R&D from consumer electronics toward climate-critical building and environmental technologies.

Pilkington is moving decisively from electronics substrates toward glass technologies that address climate change — solar harvesting façades and atmospheric gas removal — making them a strong partner for green building and negative emissions projects.

How they like to work

Pilkington consistently participates as a consortium partner rather than leading projects, which is typical for large industrial companies contributing specific manufacturing know-how to research-driven consortia. With 33 unique partners across 9 countries in just 3 projects, they engage in large, diverse consortia and do not appear to cluster around a fixed set of collaborators. This suggests they are open to new partnerships and bring industrial-scale glass manufacturing perspective that complements academic and SME-driven research teams.

Despite only three projects, Pilkington has built a broad network of 33 partners across 9 countries, reflecting their participation in large Innovation Action and MSCA-RISE consortia. Their network spans multiple European countries, consistent with a multinational glass manufacturer's reach.

What sets them apart

Pilkington brings something rare to EU consortia: the manufacturing infrastructure and process knowledge of a global flat glass producer, combined with willingness to engage in early-stage research. Few partners can offer a credible path from laboratory coating to industrial-scale glass production. For any project needing to demonstrate that a functional surface technology can move from lab to factory, Pilkington's involvement significantly strengthens the exploitation case.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PI-SCALE
  Largest funded project (EUR 104,731) focused on scaling flexible organic electronics to pilot production — directly relevant to Pilkington's manufacturing capabilities.
• STEPforGGR
  Represents a bold strategic move into negative emission technologies, combining solar thermal and photocatalysis for non-CO2 greenhouse gas removal — an unusual topic for a glass company.