Italian SME specializing in encapsulation technology applied to bio-based phase change materials and marine-derived biosurfactants for industrial use.
Sphera Encapsulation is an Italian industrial SME whose core business is encapsulation technology — engineering the controlled enclosure of active substances (chemical compounds, phase change materials, biological molecules) within protective shells to govern their release, stability, and integration into host products or materials. In the NRG-STORAGE project they applied this expertise to building materials, encapsulating bio-based phase change materials within ultra-lightweight cementitious foams reinforced with graphene and nano-additions to create thermally intelligent building envelopes. In the SECRETed project they shifted application domain toward marine-derived biocompounds — biosurfactants, siderophores, and amphipathic molecules — where encapsulation is used to stabilize and deliver bio-based actives at scale. As an industrial partner in research consortia, they bridge laboratory discovery and manufacturable product, contributing process know-how that most academic partners cannot provide.
The company's name and dual-project track — bio-based PCM encapsulation in NRG-STORAGE and bio-compound delivery in SECRETed — confirm encapsulation as the unifying commercial capability across both engagements.
NRG-STORAGE (2020–2024) involved integrating bio-based PCM into ultra-lightweight cementitious nanocomposite foams for non-residential building envelopes, directly requiring encapsulation of thermally active materials.
SECRETed (2021–2025) focuses on sustainable exploitation of biosurfactants, marine siderophores, and amphipathic molecules engineered from natural sources, representing a newer application domain for the company.
NRG-STORAGE required expertise in cementitious foam formulation, graphene integration, and meta-material optimization for building envelope performance, indicating materials engineering competence beyond encapsulation alone.
Their H2020 entry in 2020 was firmly grounded in the built environment — encapsulating bio-based PCM and nano-materials within cementitious construction composites targeting energy savings in buildings. By 2021 their second project, SECRETed, moved into an entirely different application territory: marine-derived biosurfactants and siderophores, with a 'mix and match' / 'design-build-test' engineering methodology typical of synthetic biology and green chemistry pipelines. The encapsulation platform appears constant, but the substrate is shifting from inorganic construction materials toward organic bio-based molecules, suggesting the company is actively diversifying its addressable markets.
Sphera Encapsulation is moving its encapsulation platform from construction materials into bio-based and biochemical applications, which positions them at the intersection of green chemistry and industrial biotechnology — a fast-growing area with strong EU funding momentum.
Sphera Encapsulation has participated exclusively as a consortium partner in both projects, never taking on the project coordinator role. Despite only two projects, they have accumulated 26 unique partners across 14 countries, indicating they join large, internationally diverse consortia rather than small bilateral efforts. This pattern suggests they are selected specifically for their encapsulation expertise and are comfortable operating as a specialist industrial contributor within research-led teams.
With 26 unique partners across 14 countries from only 2 projects, Sphera Encapsulation participates in well-networked, multi-country consortia — averaging 13 partners per project. Their reach is broadly European with no single geographic concentration visible from the available data.
Sphera Encapsulation is one of very few industrial SMEs with proven encapsulation expertise that has demonstrated applicability across both functional construction materials and bio-based chemistry — two sectors with almost no organizational overlap. This cross-domain track record makes them unusually valuable to consortia that need an industrial partner capable of turning a research discovery into a stable, processable, scalable product. Consortium coordinators looking for TRL uplift in either advanced materials or bio-based actives should treat them as a rare find among Italian SMEs.
