Innovation
At Holcim, customer-centric innovation drives value creation. Through cutting-edge R&D, we’re expanding our offer to capture broader customer demand and grow our addressable market.
The foundation of our innovation engine is our industry-leading Holcim Innovation Center in Lyon, and our strong team of over 300 researchers at seven R&D hubs focuses on innovation accelerating decarbonization across our formulations, energy mix and advanced technologies.
Working with our local markets, Holcim’s experts pioneer new solutions and tailor innovations to respond to local challenges – launching 683 new products worldwide in 2025.
Our experts span fields from engineering and material science to artificial intelligence and life cycle analysis. Harnessing technologies from 309 patent families, they work across Building Materials and Building Solutions, developing integrated end-to-end solutions for our customers.
At Holcim, we know that innovation is permanent and fast-moving. To stay at the leading edge of our industry, we track the latest trends and innovations while continuously growing our capabilities. Our next-generation technologies and solutions are already delivering value to customers today.
7 R&D hubs
300+ scientists worldwide
40+ university partners
R&D TO MEET CUSTOMER NEEDS
We innovate to develop new products that meet our customers’ most ambitious needs: sustainable, circular, resilient, energy-efficient and smart.
For customers who want to build low-carbon, we’re developing cutting-edge formulations using new materials such as calcined clay and biochar to expand our ECOPlanet and ECOPact product lines. We are also digitizing EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) generation to get customers reliable, instantaneous and accurate product information on demand. In 2025, we generated over 1,600 EPDs covering 6,000 products in 28 countries.
At Holcim, we are scaling circular construction to build cities from cities and reduce the use of primary materials. Using ECOCycle, our proprietary circular technology, we recycle construction demolition materials (CDM) into new low-carbon building solutions, ranging from asphalt, aggregates and ready-mix to cement, precast and mortars.
Holcim’s solutions can help cities become more sustainable and resilient. We offer products ranging from Hydromedia permeable concrete for rainwater management to ZinCo green roofs that help combat the urban heat island effect and bring nature into cities.
For coastal areas, we have innovative coastal defense solutions for embankment reinforcement and bioactive Xstone concrete blocks for marine ecosystem rehabilitation.
With 80% of current buildings and infrastructure still expected to be in use by 2050, the market for energy-efficient repair and refurbishment is thriving. With leading brands ZinCo and Elevate, Holcim provides a wide range of energy-efficient, high-performance and green roofing.
Airium is an extremely lightweight mineral-based insulating foam, while PRB External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems (ETICS) can be applied to a building’s exterior to improve energy efficiency and reduce heat loss by 20-30%.
Advancing digital automation and smart design is vital as we build the NextGen cities of the future. Artificial intelligence and Building Information Modeling (BIM) allows us to use generative design to plan more sustainable, optimized urban landscapes.
Smart design allows for more accurate planning and optimized resource use, unlocking significant CO2 and material savings using technologies Holcim can offer – from the ultimate performance concrete DYNAMax and 3D concrete printing with Tector mortars, to carbon prestressed concrete and our suite of digital concrete services.
HOLCIM+ is an intuitive, AI-powered platform that empowers our customers, making it easy to manage orders, deliveries and projects with transparency and efficiency at every step.
R&D in action
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