Group

Innovation is at the heart of Saint-Gobain’s business strategy and has been embedded into all of its activities. Saint-Gobain spends €400 million annually on research and development, rolling out a series of strategic projects targeting new markets and developing synergies between its different businesses.
 

Saint-Gobain is fostering partnerships with start-ups via the NOVA External Venturing arm of the Group, whose mission is to combine leading edge start-up technologies with the industrial and commercial strengths of Saint-Gobain, enhancing the capabilities of both partners. The Group is also strengthening its partnerships with prestigious international organisations and universities to attract new talent.

The objective of the R & D function is to prepare for Saint-Gobain’s future - through new product development, the use of leading edge materials and improving the quality and performance of existing products, whilst being fully committed to protection of the environment and the promotion of health and safety.

Key Figures

• R&D budget: €400 million
• Four R&D Centre’s in Europe, North America and Asia
• 14 Research Centre’s and around 100 development units worldwide.
• 3,500 researchers (37 different nationalities)
• A portfolio of more than 700 projects
• 338 patents applied for in 2008
• 20000 current patents Worldwide
• More than one product out of five sold by the manufacturing sectors did not exist five years ago

Strategic projects

• Photovoltaics
• Lighting
• Polymer films
• High performance insulation
• Diesel particulate filters
• Solid oxide fuel cells