SQIM SRL

Their core work

SQIM SRL is an Italian SME specializing in mycelium-based and biobased materials for construction and textiles. They develop fungal fermentation technologies to produce sustainable floor coverings, biobased textile fibers, and other circular building materials. Their work spans from agricultural waste valorization — converting food and crop residues into valuable feedstocks — to manufacturing finished mycelium-grown products like flooring and fabrics. The company bridges biotechnology and industrial manufacturing, turning biological processes into commercially viable material solutions.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

SQIM's early H2020 work (2016–2018) centered on agricultural biomass processing — biorefinery technologies, waste valorization from food and farming, and growing industrial crops like miscanthus and hemp on marginal lands. From 2018 onward, they pivoted sharply toward mycelium-based product development, coordinating projects to create fungal-grown flooring and textile fibers. Their most recent projects (2020–2025) show a mature focus on circular economy applications — sustainable flooring, biobased textiles, and alternative proteins — indicating they have moved from raw material processing into finished biobased product manufacturing.

SQIM is consolidating around fungal biotechnology as a platform for manufacturing sustainable consumer and industrial materials, making them increasingly relevant for circular economy and biobased product initiatives.

How they like to work

SQIM balances leadership and partnership roles — they coordinated their two largest-funded projects (MOGU floor and MY-FI, together over €2.3M) while contributing as a participant in five others. With 127 unique consortium partners across 21 countries, they operate in large, diverse European consortia typical of Innovation Action projects. This mix suggests they are confident enough to lead when the topic aligns with their core mycelium expertise, but flexible enough to contribute specialized capabilities in broader bioeconomy projects.

SQIM has built a broad European network of 127 unique partners across 21 countries through seven projects. Their collaborations span Western, Northern, and Southern Europe, with no narrow geographic cluster — reflecting the pan-European nature of bioeconomy and circular economy research.

What sets them apart

SQIM occupies a rare niche at the intersection of fungal biotechnology and industrial product manufacturing. While many SMEs participate in bioeconomy research, few have demonstrated the ability to take mycelium from laboratory fermentation all the way to commercial products like flooring and textiles. Their dual competence in biological processing (waste valorization, fermentation) and material application (floor coverings, fibers) makes them a uniquely practical partner for anyone looking to turn biobased research into tangible market-ready products.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MOGU floor
  Their largest project (€1.5M) as coordinator, developing natural-grown flooring from mycelium — the project that defines their core identity in fungal-based building materials.
• MY-FI
  Second coordinated project (€802K) extending their mycelium expertise from construction into textiles, demonstrating strategic expansion of their fungal biotechnology platform.
• FUNGAR
  A FET (Future and Emerging Technologies) project exploring unconventional computing with fungal architectures — shows SQIM's willingness to engage with frontier research beyond their commercial comfort zone.