Industrial R&D&I investments and market analysis in advanced materials : summary report.
Date: 2024-02-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
Subjects: advanced materials, competitiveness, digital transformation, green economy, innovation, investment, market research, report, research and development, research budget, research expenditure (EU), sustainable development

Industrial R&D&I investments 
and market analysis in advanced 
materials 

Summary report 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Industrial R&D&I investments and market analysis in advanced materials 
European Commission 
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation 
Directorate E — Prosperity  
Unit E.1 — Industrial Research, Innovation and Investment Agenda 
Contact   Sanfelix Javier 
Email  

Javier.Sanfelix@@ec.europa.eu 
RTD-PUBLICATIONS@ec.europa.eu 

European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels 

Manuscript completed in November 2023  
First edition 

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Industrial R&D&I investments 
and market analysis in 
advanced materials 

Summary report 

Els Van de Velde, Nazareno Braito, Vincent Van Roy (IDEA Consult) 

Vilius Stanciauskas, Vilté Girdzijauskaité, Milan Cakić (PPMI) 

2024 

Directorate-General for Research and Innovation

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table of contents 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................... 3 

1.  Methodology and structure of the report .............................................. 6 

Methodology 

Structure of the report 

6 

6 

2.  Advanced materials technologies ......................................................... 7 

Company owned patents in advanced materials 

2.1.1. 

2.1.2. 

By technology areas 

By innovation markets 

7 

7 

10 

3.  R&D&I investments in advanced materials .......................................... 13 

R&I expenditure 

R&I investment announcements 

13 

14 

4.  Strategic autonomy and sovereignty in advanced materials .............. 17 

Distribution of companies by innovation market and geographic 
location 

Role of resident companies 

Collaborations by innovation market 

17 

20 

21 

5.  Market analysis of advanced materials ................................................. 26 

Start-ups 

Innovation leaders 

EU’s technology specialisation 

26 

28 

30 

ANNEX ................................................................................................ 31 

Identification of companies active in advanced materials 

Assignment of AM companies to innovation markets 

Databases 

31 

33 

36 

2 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

This  report  analyses  the  industrial  research  and  innovation  investments  in  Europe  and 
globally on advanced materials (AM), in alignment with the innovation markets1 identified in  
the  Materials  2030  Manifesto2.  It  provides  insights  into  the  investments  in  Research  & 
Development & Innovation (R&D&I) in advanced materials (AM); and assesses the state 
of play of the strategic objectives as outlined in the Materials 2030 Manifesto and Materials 
2030 Roadmap3. It is published in the context of the release of the Advanced Materials for 
Industry Leadership Initiative of the European Commission in March 2024, which focuses 
mainly on renewable energy, mobility, construction and electronics. This report has a broader 
scope and covers the nine material innovation markets listed in the Materials 2030 Manifesto. 

The Materials 2030 Manifesto set out a new vision to develop a strong European materials 
ecosystem  driving  the  green  and  digital  transition  of  industry,  as  well  as  a  sustainable 
inclusive European society. To achieve this vision, the Materials 2030 Roadmap presents the 
needs and challenges in selected materials innovation markets (MIM) that are of strategic 
importance 
the  EU’s 
this  background, 
competitiveness and strengths in each of the material innovation markets through a detailed 
market analysis. The methodology and structure of the report is presented in the first section.  

this  report  assesses 

the  EU.  Against 

to 

Analysis  on  worldwide  and  EU  patenting  activities  of  companies  by  technology  areas 
and  AM  innovation  markets  between  2010  and  2020 show  that  the  EU’s  number of  AM 
company owned patents remain stable over the period 2010-2019 despite increasing trends 
in  R&D  expenditures.  This  calls  for  policies  to  support  companies  through  all 
development phases of AM products, so as to fully reap the benefits of their R&D efforts. 
Some results of the patent analysis in advanced materials are: 

1 The selected innovation markets (also referred to in the report as materials innovation markets or MIM) are: 
healthcare  &  medicine,  constructions,  new  energy,  transportation,  home  &  personal  care,  packaging, 
agriculture, textiles, and electronic appliances. 

2  https://www.ami2030.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/advanced-materials-2030-manifesto-Published-on-7-

Feb-2022.pdf   

3 https://www.ami2030.eu/  

3 

 
 
 
In relation to industrial R&I investments on advanced materials, Europe is placed second 
(EUR  19.8  billion in  2020), behind  the  US  (EUR 50.3  billion).  Looking  at  the  geographical 
location of companies by innovation market contributes to a better understanding of EU’s 
strategic  autonomy  and  sovereignty  in  advanced  materials  and  its  dependency  on 
international  players.  The  geographical  analysis  evaluates  the  presence  of  headquartered 
and resident companies4 in EU based industries and assesses R&D collaboration patterns 
of companies active in advanced materials. Key insights are: 

•  Geographic location: companies in advanced materials are concentrated in the EU 

(29.3%) and the US (33.0%).  

•  Resident companies: EU has a balanced industry ecosystem in advanced materials 

• 

with a share of 13.7% resident companies. 
International  collaborations:  65%  of  R&D  collaborations  undertaken  by  EU 
companies occur with companies located outside the EU. 

Finally,  a  market  outlook  based  on  the  analysis  of  start-ups  and  innovation  leaders5  in 
advanced  materials  is  presented,  including  the  EU’s  specialisation  in  materials  innovation 
markets. The main insights include: 

•  The US has the biggest and the most diverse start-up ecosystem, both in terms of 
the share of start-ups (around 50%) in advanced materials, and in terms of the share 
of capital raised (69.7%). The EU ranks second and accounts for 18.6% of start-ups 
and 6.3% of raised capital. 

•  EU start-ups are best positioned in technology areas of  electric materials; coating 
metallic  materials;  and  technologies  or  applications  for  mitigation  or  adaptation 
against climate change. 

•  The EU has the highest share of innovation leaders (41.9%), followed by China with 

17.4%, and Japan with 11.5%, the US only has 4.5%.  

Policy recommendation for EU’s ecosystem in advanced materials 

Overall, EU’s industrial ecosystem in advanced materials  has a high potential. It can 
rely  on  a  significant  share  of  innovation  leaders  in  the  field  and  a  strong  technology 
specialisation in certain sectors. Within the EU, most of the companies’ patenting activities 
are  taking  place  in  Germany,  which  are  highly  specialised  in  transportation,  electronic 
appliances and new energy technologies. While a lion’s share of the companies active in the 
EU  are  also  headquartered  there,  they  tend  to  be  outward  oriented  and  keep  strong 
collaborative ties in R&D with companies abroad. 

4 A company is defined as resident in a certain world region if the global ultimate owner of the company is not 
located in this world region. A company is defined as headquartered in a certain world region if the global 
ultimate owner of the company is located in that world region. 

5 Innovation leaders are defined as companies that either own high-value or recent AM patents, or have been 
particularly active in patenting between 2015 and 2020, or have a high Future and Emerging Technology 
(FET) score.  The  FET score  is  assigned  by  Technote,  and captures the  extent  to  which  companies  use 
terminology related to technologies that are new or fast growing in R&I. The list of FET terminology is created 
by analysing bibliometric and patent databases. 

4 

 
 
 
 
EU’s corporate  patenting output in advanced materials falls behind the US and Japan 
and remains stable over time while other world regions report rising patent trends. In addition, 
EU’s  ecosystem  in  advanced  materials  lacks  entrepreneurial  dynamism  as  it  exhibits  a 
relatively low share of capital raised by start-ups active in advanced materials.  

This  calls  for  the  development  and  implementation  of  national  and  EU  policies  to 
strengthen the start-up scene in advanced materials in the Member States, accelerate the 
uptake of advanced materials and maximise the impact of research investments in this field. 
A comprehensive approach that encourages cooperation and integration, while simplifying 
policy implementation, is key to make the EU a global leader in this area. 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
 
1.  Methodology and structure of the report 

The aim of this report is to provide intelligence in industrial R&D&I investments on advanced 
materials  based  on  an  in-depth  market  analysis  in  the  EU  and  other  world  regions  using 
company-level data in nine innovation markets considered in the Materials 2030 Manifesto 
and Roadmap.  

Methodology 

The economic analysis presented in this report is based on a quantitative approach. It builds 
on an extensive company database with patenting and accounting information, in order to 
assess industrial ecosystems in advanced materials.  

Companies  active  in  advanced  materials  are  first  identified  as  those  that  have  patenting 
activities in Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) codes that relate to advanced materials. 
CPC  codes  define  relevant  technology  areas.  In  addition,  the  Technote  web  scraping  tool 
aims  to  identify  companies  mentioning  keywords  related  to  advanced  materials  on  their 
websites. The patent and website search resulted in a sample of 155 279 companies active 
in advanced materials (see Annex for more information about the identification procedure of 
advanced materials companies).  

The  sample  for analysis is subsequently  restricted  to  companies  active  in  one  of  the  nine 
innovation  markets.  The  assignment  of  companies  to  their  respective  MIM  is  based  on  a 
concordance table between NACE (nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans 
la Communauté européenne) 4-digit industry activities and their relevant MIM (see the annex 
for more information about the concordance table). The final sample of advanced materials 
companies  dropped  to  94 141,  as  several  NACE  4-digit  industries  are  irrelevant  to  the 
activities of the selected innovation markets.  

Various databases, such as Orbis, Technote, Dealroom and PATSTAT are combined into a 
longitudinal  company-level  database  with  accounting  information,  patenting  activities, 
investments, and collaboration patterns. More information about each database is available 
in the annex. 

Structure of the report 

This report assesses the competitiveness and strength of the EU’s industrial ecosystem in 
advanced  materials  and  compares  it  with  China  (CN),  Japan  (JP),  South  Korea  (KR),  the 
United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) along the following dimensions: 

•  Company patenting activities in advanced materials technologies for the period 

2010-2020; 

•  R&D&I investments in advanced materials and its trend over time for the period 

2016-2021; 

•  Strategic autonomy and sovereignty of R&D&I activities, obtained by analysing the 
geographical location of companies active in advanced materials technologies, the 
presence  of  headquartered  and  resident  companies  in  EU  based  industries  and 
assessing R&D collaboration patterns within and outside the EU; 

•  Market outlook of start-ups and innovation leaders in advanced materials, and the 

EU’s specialisation in materials innovation markets. 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
2.  Advanced materials technologies 

This section evaluates the impact of industrial R&D&I investments through the analysis of 
EU’s patenting activities of companies in technology areas related to advanced materials for 
the period 2010-2020. It also presents worldwide and EU patenting activities of companies 
by innovation markets. Lastly, it zooms into the patenting performances in EU Member States 
within the period 2010-2020. Only company owned patents are taken into consideration in 
this  analysis.  Patent  statistics  presented  in  this  section  are  based  on  PATSTAT  (data 
extracted in Q1 2022) and Technote. 

Company owned patents in advanced materials 

2.1.1.  By technology areas 

Table 1 shows data on EU world share of patents by technology. Overall, the EU’s share of 
company  owned  patents  amounts  to  15.5%,  behind  US  (27.6%),  Japan  (24.2%)  and 
South Korea (15.7%). These data indicate that, compared to the US and especially Asian 
countries,  the  EU  has  a  lower  concentration  of  patents  produced  in  large  and  very  large 
companies. 

Table 1. EU number and world share of patents between 2010 and 2020, by technology 

CPC class 

Total number of 
company owned 
patents 

EU world share of 
patents 

Top-3 regions 

A41 Wearing apparel 

1254 

16.0% 

A61 Medical of 
veterinary science, 
hygiene 

77913 

19.4% 

B32 Layered products 

35923 

16.2% 

B33 Additive 
manufacturing 

B65 Conveying, 
packing, storing, 
handling thin or 
filamentary material 

4197 

2053 

22.1% 

18.9% 

B82 Nanotechnology 

19774 

10.6% 

C01 Inorganic 
chemistry 

9781 

10.6% 

US (34.5%), CN 
(18.2%), EU27 
(16.0%) 

US (40.1%), EU27 
(19.4%), KR (12.2%) 

JP (37.1%), US 
(23.0%), EU27 
(16.2%) 

US (44.4%), EU27 
(22.1%), JP (13.6%) 

JP (30.4%), US 
(26.3%), EU27 
(18.9%) 

US (34.7%), KR 
(21.4%), JP (17.1%) 

KR (29.2%), US 
(24.4%), JP (22.7%) 

7 

 
 
C03 Glass, mineral or 
slag wool 

12422 

15.2% 

C04 Cements, 
concrete, stone, 
ceramics and 
refractories 

C08 Organic 
macromolecular 
compounds 

C09 Dyes, paints, 
polishes, resins, 
adhesives 

C22 Metallurgy and 
alloys 

C23 Coating metallic 
material and its 
treatment 

D21 Paper-making 
and production of 
cellulose 

E04 Building 

10581 

13.0% 

87215 

15.2% 

11585 

9.9% 

27392 

11.6% 

39536 

16.1% 

31 

21 

32.3% 

33.3% 

G02 Optics 

11443 

7.5% 

H01 Electric materials 

9012 

12.8% 

4801 

15.6% 

Y02 Technologies or 
applications for 
mitigation or 
adaptation against 
climate change 

Y10 Climate change 
mitigation 
technologies in the 
production or 
processing of goods 

JP (29.6%), US 
(29.2%), EU27 
(15.2%) 

JP (30.3%), US 
(25.6%), CN (15.8%) 

JP (30.2%), US 
(21.01%), KR 
(17.05%) 

JP (45.14%), KR 
(22.0%), US (16.7%) 

JP (32.7%), CN 
(21.8%), US (21.7%) 

JP (28.1%), US 
(26.7%), EU27 
(16.1%) 

EU27 (32.3%), CN 
(32.3%), US (29.0%) 

US (42.9%), EU27 
(33.3%), Rest of the 
world (19.1%) 

JP (37.5%), KR 
(26.2%), US (14.2%) 

JP (38.0%), US 
(17.2%), KR (16.9%) 

CN (29.3%), JP 
(22.7%), US (19.2%) 

1844 

9.5% 

US (38.3%), KR 
(28.0%), JP (13.2%) 

Total 

316859 

15.5% 

US (27.6%), JP 
(24.2%), KR (15.7%) 

Source: Compiled by the authors using  PATSTAT and Technote data; only patents granted after 2010 are 
counted. Statistics are based on a sample of 23 222 patenting companies in advanced materials. 

8 

 
 
Figure 1 and Figure 2 show the change of patent output by year and region. Overall, the EU 
has been producing a stable number of AM patents, irrespective of whether one includes 
or excludes the A61 category (i.e. health patents). During 2016-2019 the EU was ranked 5th 
overall, behind Japan and the US, and China in recent years. China saw by far the highest 
growth of patent numbers in the period 2010-2019, overtaking the EU in 2016. US and Japan 
are also showing a general upward trend, but with a higher actual number of patents. 

Figure 1. Number of AM patents by region and year (incl. A61 patents) 

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0

4465

4818

4959

4957

4894

5048

5232 5137

4768

4323

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

CN

EU-27

JP

KR

UK

US

Rest of the world

Source: Compiled by the authors using Technote and PATSTAT data; EU patent counts are revealed in the 
figure for each year. Statistics are based on a sample of 23 222 patenting companies in advanced materials. 

Figure 2. Number of AM patents by region and year (excl. A61 patents) 

9000

8000

7000

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0

3055

3358

3430

3418

3456

3576

3766

3615 3463

3131

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

CN

EU-27

JP

KR

UK

US

Rest of the world

Source: Compiled by the authors using Technote and PATSTAT data; EU patent counts are revealed in the 
figure for each year. Statistics are based on a sample of 23 222 patenting companies in advanced materials. 

9 

 
 
Using PATSTAT, the analysis of the patent distribution across companies further reveals that 
39.1% of  all  AM  patents  are  held  by  only  100  companies,  which  points  to  a  rather  strong 
degree of technological concentration. 

2.1.2.  By innovation markets 

EU and other world regions 

For  the  analyses  on  technology  market  shares,  the  data  are  derived  from  the  PATSTAT 
database. Table 2 presents the technology market share (i.e. the share of company owned 
patents) by MIM for the period 2010-2020 in the world and within the EU. Overall, the table 
indicates  that  most  advanced  materials  patents  are  concentrated  in  electronic  appliances 
(28.6%),  agriculture  (22.7%),  and  healthcare  &  medicine  (18.0%).  Patents  in  all  other 
materials markets remain more limited. While the materials market of packaging accounts for 
one tenth of the patents, the patent share in other MIM falls around or below 5%. Within the 
EU,  a  similar  distribution  can  be  identified.  Most  advanced  materials  patents  are  again 
concentrated  in  agriculture  (24.1%),  healthcare  &  medicine  (20.6%)  and  electronic 
appliances (15.9%).  

Table 2. Technology share by MIM for the period 2010-2020 

Innovation materials market 

Technology share 
worldwide 

Technology share 
within EU 

Healthcare & medicine 

Constructions 

New energy 

Transportation 

Home & personal care 

Packaging 

Agriculture 

Textiles 

Electronic appliances 

18.0% 

5.1% 

2.6% 

7.3% 

4.7% 

9.5% 

22.7% 

1.4% 

28.6% 

20.6% 

6.6% 

3.0% 

3.7% 

10.2% 

14.1% 

24.1% 

1.8% 

15.9% 

Source: Compiled by the authors using Technote and PATSTAT data. Statistics are based on a sample of 23 
222 patenting companies in advanced materials. The technology share worldwide is defined as the number of 
company owned AM patents in the world by MIM divided by the total company owned AM patents in the world 
in all MIM. The technology share within EU is defined as the number of company owned AM patents in the EU 
by MIM divided by the total company owned AM patents in the EU in all MIM. 

10 

 
 
 
Figure 3 shows that the concentration of patents across companies varies according to the 
MIM considered. More specifically, it can be noted that the top 100 companies by number of 
patents  operating  in  electronic  appliances,  constructions  and  home  &  personal  care  are 
responsible for more than 50% of all the patents produced by companies in these MIM. For 
textiles and healthcare & medicine, the share is much lower, around 18%.  

Figure 3. Share of patents for which the top 100 companies are responsible for by MIM 

60,0%

50,0%

40,0%

30,0%

20,0%

10,0%

0,0%

Source: Compiled by the authors using PATSTAT data. The innovation market of new energy is not presented 
in the figure as the top-100 patenting companies do not include companies active in this market. 

EU Member States 

This section presents AM patenting activities of advanced materials companies active in EU 
Member States in four priority innovation markets: constructions, new energy, transportation 
and electronic appliances. Table 3 presents patent counts and shares for the period 2010-
2020 in the four selected MIM by Member States. In all MIM, most of the company owned 
patents  in  the  EU  are  concentrated  in  a  handful  of  countries:  Germany,  France  and  Italy. 
Together these countries hold most of the patents, which ranges between 60% to 90% of the 
patents  depending  on  the  MIM.  For  the  transportation  market,  the  share  of  these  three 
countries is even higher and close to 95%, with a lion’s share for Germany (75.7%), given its 
high  specialisation  in  the  transportation  sector.  Germany’s  share  remains  high  in  other 
markets as well, with half of the patents in the new energy and electronic appliances market. 
By contrast, in the construction market, Germany’s share is noticeably lower (36.5%). In this 
market, Belgium is taking up a share of 7%.

11 

 
 
Table 3. Patent counts and shares for the period 2010-2020 in selected MIM by Member States 

Country 

Constructions 

New energy 

Transportation 

Electronic appliances 

AT 
BE 
BG 
CY 
CZ 
DE 
DK 
EE 
ES 
FI 
FR 
GR 
HR 
HU 
IE 
IT 
LT 
LU 
LV 
MT 
NL 
PL 
PT 
RO 
SE 
SI 
SK 
Total 

26 
149 
1 
0 
6 
769 
7 
1 
15 
19 
804 
5 
3 
15 
0 
158 
1 
5 
4 
0 
33 
43 
7 
0 
34 
1 
3 
2106 

1.21% 
7.08% 
0.05% 
0.00% 
0.26% 
36.54% 
0.33% 
0.05% 
0.70% 
0.88% 
38.16% 
0.24% 
0.14% 
0.71% 
0.00% 
7.51% 
0.05% 
0.21% 
0.19% 
0.00% 
1.54% 
2.03% 
0.31% 
0.00% 
1.62% 
0.05% 
0.12% 

12 
10 
1 
1 
7 
478 
11 
7 
59 
10 
99 
0 
0 
4 
4 
135 
0 
0 
0 
0 
50 
42 
3 
0 
19 
0 
1 
952 

1.31% 
1.03% 
0.11% 
0.11% 
0.74% 
50.19% 
1.14% 
0.68% 
6.20% 
1.00% 
10.37% 
0.00% 
0.00% 
0.42% 
0.44% 
14.17% 
0.00% 
0.00% 
0.00% 
0.00% 
5.24% 
4.41% 
0.32% 
0.00% 
2.00% 
0.00% 
0.11% 

0 
2 
0 
0 
1 
898 
1 
0 
9 
2 
199 
1 
1 
12 
0 
23 
0 
0 
0 
0 
10 
1 
0 
22 
4 
0 
1 
1186 

0.00% 
0.13% 
0.00% 
0.00% 
0.08% 
75.72% 
0.04% 
0.00% 
0.76% 
0.17% 
16.80% 
0.08% 
0.08% 
1.01% 
0.00% 
1.91% 
0.00% 
0.00% 
0.00% 
0.00% 
0.84% 
0.08% 
0.00% 
1.85% 
0.34% 
0.00% 
0.08% 

122 
94 
0 
0 
14 
2696 
14 
1 
19 
198 
1484 
1 
0 
1 
0 
273 
5 
4 
0 
0 
48 
11 
5 
1 
58 
1 
1 
5051 

2.41% 
1.87% 
0.00% 
0.00% 
0.29% 
53.37% 
0.27% 
0.02% 
0.37% 
3.92% 
29.39% 
0.02% 
0.00% 
0.02% 
0.00% 
5.41% 
0.10% 
0.07% 
0.00% 
0.00% 
0.95% 
0.22% 
0.10% 
0.02% 
1.16% 
0.02% 
0.02% 

Source: Compiled by the authors using Technote and PATSTAT data. Two digits after the decimal separator are displayed in this table to avoid too many zeros due to 
the rounding to the nearest decimal. 

12 

 
  
  
  
  
 
3.  R&D&I investments in advanced materials 

(expenditure  and 
This  section  provides 
announcements) in advanced materials. It aims to assess EU’s recent industry investment 
and announcements in research and development in technology areas related to advanced 
materials and to compare EU’s position with other world regions.  

information  about  R&D&I 

investments 

R&I expenditure 

Figure 4 and Figure 5 present the total R&D expenditures by MIM and by country, respectively, 
taking into account companies active in a MIM. Pharmaceutical companies are not included in this 
analysis. The majority of R&D expenditures are concentrated in the electronic appliances MIM. 
Geographically, companies in the US are responsible for the majority of total R&D expenditures, 
followed by companies in the EU and in South Korea.  

Table 4 provides an overview of total R&D expenditures of companies in 2020 by MIM and by 
country. Total R&D expenditures in new energy and textiles are the highest for companies based 
in China. US leads in healthcare & medicine, home & personal care and  electronic appliances, 
while Japan leads in construction. In transportation, packaging and agriculture, the EU is in the 
lead. 

Figure  4  Total  R&D  expenditures  (billion  euros)  by  MIM  in  2020  –  Pharmaceutical 
companies excluded 

s
e
r
u
t
i
d
n
e
p
x
e
D
&
R

l

a
t
o
T

)
s
o
r
u
e
n
o

i
l
l
i

b
(

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

60,7

22,9

16,2

4,4

1,2

1,5

4,3

4,4

0,5

Source: Compiled by the authors using Orbis data. 

13 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Innovation 
materials 
market 

Healthcare & 
medicine 

Constructions 

New energy 

Figure 5 Total R&D expenditures (billion euros) by country in 2020 – Pharmaceutical 
companies excluded 

s
e
r
u
t
i
d
n
e
p
x
e
D
&
R

l

a
t
o
T

)
s
o
r
u
e
n
o

i
l
l
i

b
(

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

50,3

19,8

19,6

14,0

7,7

CN

EU-27

JP

KR

2,6

UK

2,0

US

Rest of the
world

Source: Compiled by the authors using Orbis data. 

Table 4 Total R&D expenditures (million euros) by MIM and country in 2020 

CN 

EU 

JP 

KR 

UK 

US 

Rest of 
the 
world 

178.5 

131.8 

6.7 

27.6 

37.8 

3940.8 

51.0 

240.7 

1163.3 

65.7 

40.3 

426.1 

7.4 

2.5 

5.5 

275.5 

190.7 

12.2 

5.0 

262.2 

9.7 

4.2 

Transportation 

501.9 

8711.7 

6006.2 

784.9 

1325.7 

5583.2 

Home & personal 
care 

Packaging 

Agriculture 

Textiles 

Electronic 
appliances 

76.9 

998.0 

281.6 

97.7 

57.8 

2178.5 

608.6 

1010.3 

1410.0 

1070.0 

105.5 

227.3 

519.5 

40.2 

1739.5 

6178.7 

2796.1 

608.6 

239.8 

3483.3 

1106.1 

155.4 

148.8 

104.1 

17.0 

27.8 

54.7 

7.1 

2619.0 

2114.1 

3284.9 

17984.5 

391.6 

34127.3 

194.9 

Source: Compiled by the authors using Orbis data. 

R&I investment announcements 

Table 5 presents the total amount of R&I investments announced in 2022-Q3, 2022-Q4, 2023-Q1, 
and 2023-Q2 by country/region and CPC class. With R&I investment announcements totalling 26 
billion euros, the EU is ranked second behind the US (40 billion euros). The bulk of investment 
announcements  comes  from  companies  linked  to  A61  class  (Medical  or  veterinary  science, 
hygiene). Besides this class, significant investments are announced by companies linked to C23 
(coating metallic material and its treatment) and C08 Organic macromolecular compounds. 

14 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table 5. Total investment by CPC class in the period 2022-Q3 to 2023-Q2, (million euro) 

CPC class 

EU 27 

United 
States 

United 
Kingdom 

China 

Japan  South 
Korea 

Rest of 
the 
world 
858.4 

A41 Wearing 
apparel 
A61 Medical or 
veterinary 
science, hygiene 

B32 Layered 
products 

B33 Additive 
manufacturing 

B65 Conveying, 
packing, storing, 
handling thin or 
filamentary 
material 
B82 
Nanotechnology 
C01 Inorganic 
chemistry 

C03 Glass, 
mineral or slag 
wool 
C04 Cements, 
concrete, stone, 
ceramics and 
refractories 

C08 Organic 
macromolecular 
compounds 

C09 Dyes, paints, 
polishes, resins, 
adhesives 

C22 Metallurgy 
and alloys 

C23 Coating 
metallic material 
and its treatment 

D21 Paper-
making and 
production of 
cellulose 
E04 Building 

G02 Optics 

H01 Electric 
materials 

608.9 

2691.3 

393.8 

39.5 

274.0 

42.0 

13417.0 

24421.0 

18813.0 

5459.9 

571.0 

282.2 

11753.3 

2872.7 

4159.0 

2055.9 

904.6 

3965.2 

79.5 

1841.7 

595.1 

3031.3 

46.9 

2.7 

0.9 

42.0 

13.0 

1984.6 

965.9 

1105.1 

12.9 

351.2 

42.0 

279.5 

1277.7 

9864.8 

574.7 

765.2 

3965.5 

179.1 

628.7 

357.5 

2873.8 

1410.3 

195.1 

21.2 

42.0 

994.1 

783.1 

1137.5 

1723.6 

23.9 

19.2 

79.5 

667.2 

3924.9 

2536.3 

188.5 

3017.8 

77.2 

42.0 

614.4 

4946.7 

6098.3 

625.7 

374.9 

3970.2 

750.7 

2463.4 

107.1 

1.4 

40.2 

154.0 

32.3 

42.0 

0.0 

2911.9 

1353.5 

165.9 

703.7 

0.9 

42.8 

5260.3 

5284.1 

6437.5 

1533.9 

1122.6 

3976.6 

630.2 

2528.3 

17.0 

26.7 

0.8 

5.3 

n/a 

n/a 

1.4 

73.1 

212.7 

160.3 

378.2 

2295.9 

119.6 

28.5 

48.8 

28.9 

n/a 

9.1 

n/a 

3908.9 

170.2 

0.9 

22.3 

42.0 

42.0 

2.5 

154.5 

421.4 

15 

 
Y02 Technologies 
or applications for 
mitigation or 
adaptation 
against climate 
change 
Y10 Climate 
change mitigation 
technologies in 
the production or 
processing of 
goods 
Total 

233.3 

288.3 

665.5 

99.5 

473.3 

42.0 

57.7 

611.4 

3419.0 

263.1 

176.6 

3591.8 

42.0 

827.3 

26051 

40172 

25714 

11327 

4348 

1639 

23035 

Source: Compiled by the authors using Technote data (n/a implies that no R&I investment data is available). 

16 

 
 
 
4.  Strategic autonomy and sovereignty in advanced materials 

One of the key objectives of the Materials 2030 Roadmap6 is to strengthen Europe’s strategic 
sovereignty in advanced materials. Strategic sovereignty is the ability to act autonomously, 
to  rely  on  one's  own  resources  in  key  strategic  areas  and  to  cooperate  with  partners 
whenever necessary.7 In line with this definition, the geographical location of companies in 
advanced materials is presented by world region and within the EU, in order to assess its 
own resources. The analysis of EU’s distribution of companies in priority innovation markets 
aims to evaluate the EU’s strength in key strategic areas. In a second section, the presence 
of headquartered and resident companies in EU based industries is evaluated. The share of 
foreign players in EU’s industrial ecosystem in advanced materials provides useful insights 
on EU’s dependency and ability to act autonomously. In the last section, R&D collaboration 
patterns of companies active in advanced materials and EU’s connection with international 
industry  players  are  analysed.  Statistics  on  the  distribution  of  companies  by  innovation 
market and geographical location, and on the role of resident and headquartered companies, 
are  based  on  Orbis  data.  Statistics  about  R&D  collaborations  make  use  of  the  Technote 
database. 

Distribution  of  companies  by 

innovation  market  and 

geographic location 

This section presents an overview of the distribution of companies by innovation market and 
geographic location. It provides insights on EU’s resources in terms of industrial players in 
advanced materials and its position compared to other world regions. 

EU and other world regions 

Figure  6  and  Figure  7  present  the  distribution  of  companies  active  in  AM  technologies  by 
innovation  market  and  country.  Most  companies  are  operating  in  construction  (29.4%), 
packaging (22.1%), agriculture (13.9), and healthcare and medicine (13.1%). Together these 
markets account for almost 80 percent of the worldwide sample8. Less represented markets 
include textiles, transportation and new energy. In terms of geographical location, both the 
EU and the US take up around one third of the sample each. Other countries are less well 
represented. In the category “Rest of the world”, the most represented countries are Russia, 
Brazil, Canada and India. 

Looking  at  the  geographical  distribution  of  companies  within  each  innovation  market  (not 
presented  in  the  figures),  the  United  States  shows  high  shares  in  healthcare  &  medicine, 
construction and agriculture. On the other hand, the EU is most represented in new energy, 
transportation, packaging, textiles and electronic appliances. Finally, the UK leads in terms 
of number of companies active in home & personal care. 

The geographical distribution of companies by innovation markets provides useful insights 
on  the  market  strengths  for  each  world  region  and  complements  the  findings  of  previous 
sections.  The  high  share  of  US  companies  in  healthcare  &  medicine,  construction  and 

6 https://www.ami2030.eu/roadmap/ 

7 See https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/652069/EPRS_BRI(2020)652069_EN.pdf.  

8  The  worldwide  sample  contains  56 355  companies  active  in  advanced  materials,  with  geographical 

information from Orbis and allocated to one of the nine innovation markets. 

17 

 
 
 
 
agriculture  is  reflected  in  the  high  R&D&I  investments  of  US  companies  in  technologies 
related  to  these  markets.  Similarly,  the  higher  shares  of  EU  companies  in  the  electronic 
appliance market is linked to higher R&D&I investments in metallurgy and electric materials 
compared to other regions. A similar pattern is observed for the EU’s packaging market, while 
higher shares of EU companies in new energy, transportation and textiles do not seem to 
translate into higher EU company R&D&I investments in these markets. 

Figure 6. Distribution of companies across MIM 

13,9%

9,4%

3,2%

22,1%

13,1%

Healthcare & medicine

Constructions

New energy

Transportation

Home & personal care

Packaging

Agriculture

Textiles

Electronics appliance

29,4%

4,1%

2,3%

2,5%

Source:  Compiled  by  the  authors  using  Orbis  data.  Statistics  are  based  on  56  355  companies  active  in 
advanced  materials,  available  in  the  Orbis  database  and  allocated  to  one  of  the  nine  innovation  markets.

18 

 
 
 
Figure 7. Distribution of companies by country 

6,7%

14,1%

29,3%

33,0%

5,4%

6,6%

5,0%

CN

EU-27

JP

KR

UK

US

Rest of the world

Source:  Compiled  by  the  authors  using  Orbis  data.  Statistics  are  based  on  56  355  companies  active  in 
advanced materials, available in the Orbis database and allocated to one of the nine innovation markets. 

EU Member States 

Figure 8 shows the distribution of companies by Member State. Most companies are based 
in  Germany  (28.1%),  Italy  (20.6%)  and  France  (9.5%).  Companies  located  in  all  other 
Member States are less well represented in the sample.  

Figure 8. Distribution of companies by Member State 

Source:  Compiled  by  the  authors  using  Orbis  data.  Statistics  are  based  on  16  501  companies  active  in 
advanced materials, available in the Orbis database and allocated to one of the nine innovation markets. 

19 

 
Role of resident companies 

This section analyses the share and performance of resident and headquartered companies9 
in the EU and other world regions. Monitoring the presence of foreign industry players in the 
EU  is  important  in  assessing  the  EU’s  self-sufficiency  and  independence  in  advanced 
materials. 

EU and other world regions 

The sample of companies active in a materials innovation market and present in the Orbis 
database consists of 26 577 headquartered companies and 7 669 resident companies.10 

Figure 9 presents the share of resident companies for each country in the global landscape. 
With more than one third of its companies being headquartered outside the country, the UK 
shows  the  highest  share.  Around  36%  of  the  companies  active  in  the  UK  have  their 
headquarters  outside  the  UK.  It  is  followed  by  the  US,  with  slightly  less  than  one  third  of 
resident companies. Other countries such as EU, China and South Korea have remarkably 
lower shares within the range of 11% to 15%. Finally, Japan has the lowest share with only 
4.9%  of  resident  companies,  i.e.,  most  companies  active  in  Japan  also  have  their 
headquarters in Japan. 

Figure 9. Share of resident companies in each country 

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

CN

EU-27

JP

KR

UK

US

Source:  Compiled  by  the  authors  using  Orbis  data.  Statistics  are  based  on  56  355  companies  active  in 
advanced materials, available in the Orbis database and allocated to one of the nine innovation markets. 

9 A company is defined as resident in a certain world region if the global ultimate owner of the company is not 
located in this world region. A company is defined as headquartered in a certain world region if the global 
ultimate owner of the company is located in that world region. 

10 Not all 56 355 companies could be allocated as a headquarter or resident company due to missing data 
about the country of the global ultimate owner or when the global ultimate owner country was different from 
any of the six world regions that are included in this section (CN, EU, JP, KR, UK, and US).  

20 

 
 
 
 
 
Table  6  provides  more  insights  into  the  employment  and  turnover  differences  between 
headquartered  and  resident  companies  active  in  advanced  materials.  Headquartered 
companies  in  the  EU  and  the  United  States  report  the  highest  employment  and  turnover 
values.  With  1450  billion  euros,  US  headquartered  companies  record  a  slightly  higher 
turnover  level  than  the  EU.  Similarly,  the  employment  level  for  US-based  headquartered 
companies  is  slightly  higher  than  in  the  EU.  Turnover  and  employment  levels  in  other 
countries are significantly lower.  

Headquartered  companies  outperform  their  resident  counterparts  both  in  terms  of 
employment  and  turnover.  The  largest  employment  and  turnover  differences  between 
headquartered and resident companies are observed in the United States, South Korea and 
Japan.  While  turnover  and  employment  levels  of  resident  companies  remain  significantly 
lower than in headquartered companies, they are important economic actors in the country 
in which they operate.  

Table 6. Total employment (thousands of employees) and turnover (billion euros) for 2020 
in headquartered and resident companies by country 

Headquartered companies 

Resident companies 

Country 

Employment 

Turnover 

Employment 

Turnover 

in thousands 

in billion euros 

in thousands 

in billion euros 

CN 

EU 

JP 

KR 

UK 

US 

2232.9 (1869) 

446.5 (1971) 

100.1 (188) 

20.6 (115) 

3596.5 (8852) 

1126.8 (6992) 

257.3 (1064) 

130.4 (979) 

983.9 (740) 

426 (593) 

498.7 (807) 

363.4 (785) 

16.5 (30) 

20.1 (68) 

581.3 (1083) 

145.6 (410) 

105.5 (378) 

3676 (6867) 

1449.6 (6906) 

45.4 (157) 

14.8 (32) 

12.4 (72) 

21.7 (299) 

11.8 (159) 

Source: Compiled by the authors using Orbis data. Numbers in brackets present the number of companies for 
which there is data available.  

Overall, the analysis shows that the EU’s industry ecosystem in advanced materials has a 
strong  presence  of  headquartered  companies  in  the  EU,  which  spurs  EU’s  strategic 
sovereignty in this field.  

Collaborations by innovation market 

Industrial collaboration is key to foster innovations in advanced materials.  As stated in the 
Materials 2030 Roadmap, inclusive cooperation across the entire value chain is necessary 
to  overcome  the  current  fragmentation  of  Europe’s  R&D&I  environment  and  the  ever-
increasing  complexity  of  developing  new  materials  and  processes.  Hence,  this  section 
provides more insights into the collaborations across companies and organisations active in 
the various MIM, by exploiting collaborations captured by Technote data. Using web scraping 
tools,  the  Technote  database  collects  collaboration  across  companies  as  mentioned  on 
companies’  websites.  While  the  Technote  database  captures  collaboration  events  and 
collaborative  partners  of  companies  active  in  advanced  materials,  it  does  not  provide 
information about the timing of the collaboration, nor whether it relates to the field of advanced 
materials. As many companies in the sample belong to a single company group, they may 
use  the  same  company  website.  Therefore,  the  sample  of  companies  in  this  section  is 

21 

 
 
 
 
 
significantly lower than in previous sections (9 114). Given the limited sample, results should 
be interpreted with caution.  

EU and other world regions 

Table  7  shows  the  total  number of  worldwide  collaborations  between  companies  active  in 
MIM and the corresponding share of collaborations in which at least one EU-based company 
is  involved.  It  can  be  noted  that  most  collaborations  occur  between  companies  active  in 
healthcare  &  medicine,  construction,  and  packaging.  Collaborations  in  other  materials 
innovation  markets  are  significantly  lower.  The  markets  of  transportation  and  home  & 
personal  care  record  the  lowest  collaboration  levels.  European  companies  active  in  new 
energy and packaging are responsible for a large share of collaborations (47.5% and 41.8% 
respectively)  while  EU  collaborations  are  less  represented  in  healthcare  &  medicine  and 
construction (18.9% in both markets).  

Table 7. Number of worldwide collaborations by MIM 

Materials Innovation market 

Total number of 
collaborations 

Share of collaborations 
with at least one EU 
company 

Healthcare & medicine 

Constructions 

New energy 

Transportation 

Home & personal care 

Packaging 

Agriculture 

Textiles 

Electronic appliances 

3765 

2778 

1277 

545 

782 

2325 

1215 

1038 

1906 

18.9% 

18.9% 

47.5% 

29.0% 

33.5% 

41.8% 

34.9% 

22.4% 

28.6% 

Source:  Compiled  by the  authors  using  Technote  data.  Statistics  are  based  on  9  114  companies  active  in 
advanced materials for which collaboration announcements could be retrieved on their website. 

The US records more than half of its collaborations (53.3%) within its borders (see Figure 
10). In comparison, EU and UK based companies tend to collaborate more with companies 
located  abroad,  reaching  shares  of  around  65  and  71%  respectively.  The  same  holds  for 
companies in Japan, South Korea, and China, where more than 90% of collaborations are 
cross-border. Again, data coverage for these countries may affect the results. 

22 

 
Figure 10. Share of collaborations within the country 

CN

EU-27

JP

KR

UK

US

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Share of collaborations within the country

Share of collaborations outside the country

Source:  Compiled  by the  authors  using  Technote  data.  Statistics  are  based  on  9  114  companies  active  in 
advanced materials for which collaboration announcements could be retrieved on their website. 

Setting  up  strategic  collaborations  between  EU  companies  and  international  partners  is 
crucial in getting access to advanced knowledge and skills and in creating more sustainable 
and  cutting-edge  materials-based  technologies  and  products.  However, at  the  same  time, 
being too dependent on international partners may hamper the EU’s strategic sovereignty. 
This calls for balanced policies that support international collaborations and protect where 
necessary the EU’s competitive advantage in key strategic areas. 

EU Member States 

Table 8 presents the number of collaborations within and between Member States. Looking 
at the collaborations occurring between companies active in the same Member State, it can 
be  noted  that  the  top  five  are  Germany,  Italy,  France, Spain  and  The  Netherlands. These 
countries also record the highest number of companies active in advanced materials within 
the EU, e.g. Germany and Italy record the highest number of collaborations (189 and 170 
respectively), while collaborations in France (140), Spain (84) and the Netherlands (81) are 
significantly  lower.  Other  countries  included  in  the  top-10  list  are  concentrated  in 
Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Finland and Denmark) and Western-Europe (Belgium and 
Austria). Germany is also among the top performing countries with respect to inter Member 
State collaborations (see Table 9). Germany is listed seven times in the top-20 ranking of the 
highest  number of  collaborations  between  Member States.  Companies  active  in  Germany 
tend to collaborate mostly with companies in Italy, France, Spain and Belgium. France is also 
well  represented  in  the  ranking.  Besides  Germany,  companies  active  in  France  strongly 
collaborate with companies in Belgium, Italy and Spain. 

23 

 
 
Table 8. Number of collaborations within Member States 

Within Member States 

Country 

Number of collaborations 

DE 

IT 

FR 

ES 

NL 

BE 

SE 

FI 

AT 

DK 

IE 

CZ 

PL 

PT 

EE 

GR 

BG 

LV 

CY 

SK 

SI 

189 

170 

140 

84 

81 

54 

50 

32 

28 

13 

13 

12 

12 

11 

4 

4 

3 

3 

2 

2 

1 

Source:  Compiled  by the  authors  using  Technote  data.  Statistics  are  based  on  2  088  companies  active  in 
advanced materials in the EU for which collaboration announcements could be retrieved on their website. 

Table 9. Top 20 pair of Member States by number of collaborations 

Country 

Country 

Number of collaborations 

Between Member States 

DE 

DE 

DE 

DE 

DE 

FR 

DE 

IT 

FR 

ES 

BE 

NL 

BE 

AT 

63 

50 

41 

30 

27 

25 

24 

24 

 
 
FR 

FR 

DE 

DE 

ES 

IT 

NL 

SE 

FR 

DE 

FR 

FR 

IT 

IT 

ES 

SE 

FI 

AT 

BE 

BE 

DK 

NL 

DK 

FI 

SE 

PL 

22 

18 

16 

15 

14 

13 

12 

10 

10 

8 

8 

8 

8 

Source:  Compiled  by the  authors  using  Technote  data.  Statistics  are  based  on  2  088  companies  active  in 
advanced materials in the EU for which collaboration announcements could be retrieved on their website. 

25 

 
 
 
5.  Market analysis of advanced materials 

This  section  provides  a  market  analysis  by  innovation  market  and  evaluates  the  market 
outlook and its competitiveness. The market outlook presents an analysis of start-ups and 
innovation  leaders  in  advanced  materials,  and  EU’s  specialisation  in  materials  innovation 
markets. This section relies on PATSTAT, with data on patent inventions and patent citations, 
and Technote, with data on technologies, investment and collaborations between companies, 
to assign companies to the analysed technologies. Technote adopts algorithms and protocols 
that link companies and patents between different data sources and reduce duplication of the 
data. 

Start-ups 

The United States dominate when looking at the share of capital raised by start-ups for the 
period  2012-2022  by  CPC  class  in  Table  10.  The  US  is  ranked  first  in  17  out  of  19  AM 
technologies, and it holds a total share of 67.9% in AM start-ups. The share of EU is ten times 
lower (6.3%), amounting at 9.1 billion euros of capital raised by start-ups.  

The EU’s relatively low share in capital raised by start-ups calls for policies to strengthen the 
start-up ecosystem in advanced materials. This could be realised through dedicated funding 
programmes  to  support  young  and  innovative  players  in  the  market.  Other  policies  could 
nurture the European start-up scene by increasing networking opportunities between start-
ups, investors, accelerators, corporate networks and universities. This may help start-ups in 
accessing finance and attracting promising talent. 

Table  10.  EU’s  amount  and  world  share  of  capital  raised  by  start-ups  in  the  period 
2012-2022, by CPC class 

CPC class 

EU amount of 
capital raised, 
million euros 

EU share of 
capital 
raised, % 

World shares 

A41 Wearing apparel 

16.3 

5.6% 

US (74.6%), UK (9.8%), CN (8.2%) 

A61 Medical of 
veterinary science, 
hygiene 

7616.3 

6.5% 

US (70.7%), Rest of the world 
(10.2%), EU (6.5%) 

B32 Layered products 

356.7 

13.2% 

US (48.8%), UK (30.9%), EU (13.2%) 

B33 Additive 
manufacturing 

B65 Conveying, 
packing, storing, 
handling thin or 
filamentary material 

B82 Nanotechnology 

C01 Inorganic 
chemistry 

160.7 

13.0% 

197.4 

10.7% 

US (61.3%), Rest of the world 
(14.9%), EU (13.0%) 

US (64.6%), Rest of the world 
(20.4%), EU (10.7%) 

363.9 

346.0 

5.3% 

US (66.3%), UK (15.2%), CN (5.9%) 

9.1% 

US (50.2%), Rest of the world 
(36.5%), EU (9.1%) 

26 

 
 
C03 Glass, mineral or 
slag wool 

85.9 

4.1% 

US (85.2%), Rest of the world (5.6%), 
EU (4.1%) 

C04 Cements, 
concrete, stone, 
ceramics and 
refractories 

C08 Organic 
macromolecular 
compounds 

C09 Dyes, paints, 
polishes, resins, 
adhesives 

C22 Metallurgy and 
alloys 

C23 Coating metallic 
material and its 
treatment 

125.3 

6.2% 

US (51.4%), Rest of the world 
(23.9%), CN (9.6%) 

523.6 

4.3% 

US (53.7%), Rest of the world 
(37.9%), EU (4.3%) 

0.1 

0.0% 

US (84.6%), UK (10.1%), Rest of the 
world (5.3%) 

99.0 

5.1% 

US (71.8%), CN (17.9%), EU (5.1%) 

165.9 

7.2% 

US (57.8%), Rest of the world 
(31.8%), EU (7.2%) 

D21 Paper-making and 
production of cellulose 

14.5 

29.2% 

Rest of the world (57.3%), EU 
(29.2%), US (11.8%) 

E04 Building 

0.1 

0.0% 

G02 Optics 

45.2 

15.5% 

H01 Electric materials 

40.1 

4.8% 

US (60.9%), CN (35.2%), Rest of the 
world (3.8%) 

US (52.4%), Rest of the world 
(17.1%), EU (15.5%) 

US (91.5%), EU (4.8%), Rest of the 
world (2.1%) 

Y02 Technologies or 
applications for 
mitigation or 
adaptation against 
climate change 

Y10 Climate change 
mitigation technologies 
in the production or 
processing of goods 

123.0 

13.0% 

Rest of the world (44.6%), US 
(29.9%), EU (13.0%) 

111.8 

2.8% 

US (78.3%), UK (9.0%), CN (4.4%) 

Total: 

9177 

6.3% 

US (67.9%), Rest of the world 
(13.5%), EU (6.3%) 

Source: Compiled by the authors using Dealroom and Technote. Statistics for the EU based on 638 start-ups. 

27 

 
 
 
Innovation leaders 

Table  11  shows  that  27  314  companies  active  in  advanced  materials  are  identified  as 
innovation  leaders11,  representing  17.6%  of  all  analysed  advanced  materials  companies. 
Within these companies, the EU has visibly the highest share of 41.9%, followed by China 
with 17.4%, and Japan with 11.5%. This indicates that the EU has a lower volume of patents 
compared to its main competitors, but these patents are more often of high value. 

These data are also used to measure market crowdedness of the 19 CPC classes. The most 
crowded  technologies  are  B33  Additive  manufacturing  with  a  49.9%  share  of  innovation 
leaders,  closely  followed  by  C01  Inorganic  chemistry,  H01  Electric  materials,  and  B82 
Nanotechnology,  with  respective  shares  of  46%,  42.3%,  and  42.3%,  while  all  other 
technologies remain under the 40% threshold.  

A higher market crowdedness indicates a more concentrated market with relatively less high-
return investment opportunities, since they are usually already dominated by large players. 
In some cases, very high market crowdedness tends to  lead to oligopolies. Therefore, it is 
likely that these markets are not attractive for investors, particularly the ones that are looking 
to enter the market for the first time or start from a relatively weak position. This can also 
serve as a guiding principle for the EU’s policy actions, in terms of which CPC classes should 
be in focus in the coming years. 

Table  11.  Share  of  innovation  leaders  by  country  and  technology  (patents  data 
between 2015 and 2020, FET score data as of Q4 of 2022) 

CPC class 

CN  EU 

Innovation 
leaders  
number 
(share) 

A41 Wearing apparel 

A61 Medical of 
veterinary science, 
hygiene 

332 (9.7%) 

13101 (28.1%) 

B32 Layered products 

3538 (13.9%) 

B33 Additive 
manufacturing 

944 (49.9%) 

16.3
% 

13.2
% 

23.0
% 

23.3
% 

36.1
% 

43.1
% 

37.9
% 

48.8
% 

B65 Conveying, 
packing, storing, 

2345 (32.4%) 

18.5
% 

56.9
% 

JP  KR  UK  US  Res
t of 
the 
wor
ld 

4.8
% 

10.8
% 

11.7
% 

10.5
% 

9.6% 

18.6
% 

4.5
% 

2.9
% 

3.0
% 

3.0
% 

9.2
% 

6.2
% 

3.7
% 

2.2
% 

8.2
% 

4.0
% 

3.5
% 

2.9
% 

15.5
% 

9.9
% 

3.4
% 

2.9
% 

8.9% 

11.2
% 

11.5
% 

11 Innovation leaders are defined as companies that either own high-value or recent AM patents, or have been 
particularly active in patenting between 2015 and 2020, or have a high Future and Emerging Technology 
(FET) score.  The  FET score  is  assigned  by  Technote,  and captures the  extent  to  which  companies  use 
terminology related to technologies that are new or fast growing in R&I. The list of FET terminology is created 
by analysing bibliometric and patent databases. 

28 

 
 
 
handling thin or 
filamentary material 

B82 Nanotechnology 

1578 (42.3%) 

C01 Inorganic 
chemistry 

2224 (46%) 

C03 Glass, mineral or 
slag wool 

1962 (12.9%) 

C04 Cements, 
concrete, stone, 
ceramics and 
refractories 

C08 Organic 
macromolecular 
compounds 

C09 Dyes, paints, 
polishes, resins, 
adhesives 

1549 (7.2%) 

6308 (23.3%) 

334 (14.9%) 

17.9
% 

16.9
% 

42.3
% 

51.5
% 

17.9
% 

44.1
% 

26.1
% 

35.4
% 

5.8
% 

4.6
% 

6.6
% 

4.5
% 

7.9
% 

5.1
% 

8.2
% 

11.3
% 

9.1
% 

4.4
% 

5.7
% 

5.9
% 

7.5
% 

4.2
% 

5.6
% 

6.6
% 

9.5% 

13.3
% 

12.0
% 

10.3
% 

16.1
% 

46.8
% 

3.7
% 

11.5
% 

5.3
% 

6.9
% 

9.7% 

16.5
% 

21.6
% 

3.0
% 

15.3
% 

16.5
% 

21.0
% 

6.3% 

C22 Metallurgy and 
alloys 

1738 (11.4%) 

C23 Coating metallic 
material and its 
treatment 

3353 (14.6%) 

32.4
% 

18.5
% 

22.2
% 

37.2
% 

3.2
% 

3.1
% 

21.3
% 

10.7
% 

D21 Paper-making and 
production of cellulose 

82 (5.4%) 

22.0
% 

25.6
% 

11.0
% 

8.5
% 

9.8
% 

16.4
% 

17.8
% 

19.6
% 

45.1
% 

24.4
% 

51.4
% 

26.3
% 

11.8
% 

2.7
% 

3.2
% 

9.7
% 

13.7
% 

12.9
% 

7.1
% 

16.4
% 

E04 Building 

51 (1.5%) 

G02 Optics 

742 (28%) 

H01 Electric materials 

1853 (42.3%) 

Y02 Technologies or 
applications for 
mitigation or adaptation 
against climate change 

Y10 Climate change 
mitigation technologies 
in the production or 
processing of goods 

917 (26.5%) 

656 (37.2%) 

7.1
% 

8.2
% 

6.1
% 

2.0
% 

5.1
% 

8.6
% 

6.1
% 

2.0
% 

12.4
% 

9.9% 

20.7
% 

15.7
% 

19.9
% 

17.0
% 

6.6% 

3.9
% 

9.9
% 

3.8
% 

7.3
% 

12.8
% 

10.8
% 

20.9
% 

36.6
% 

5.6
% 

3.8
% 

13.1
% 

7.6
% 

12.3
% 

29 

 
Total: 

27314 (17.6%) 

17.4
% 

41.9
% 

11.5
% 

8.1
% 

3.3
% 

4.5
% 

13.2
% 

Source: Compiled by the authors using PATSTAT and Technote data. The colour scheme helps to identify for 
each CPC class, the countries with the higher  shares of innovation leaders. The greener the colour is, the 
higher is the share of innovation leaders in the country. 

EU’s technology specialisation 

Table  12  provides  insights  into  the  EU’s  technology  specialisation12  by  MIM  in  the  period 
2010-2020.  As  yearly  patenting  activities  within  a  MIM  may  vary  considerably  over  time, 
specialisation indices have been averaged over several time periods to smoothen the time 
trend.  The  table  reveals  EU’s  growing  specialisation  in  construction  and  its  strong  –  and 
steadily  growing  –  position  in  home  &  personal  care.  EU’s  specialisation  in  healthcare  & 
medicine,  packaging  and  textiles  remains  relatively  stable,  while  its  specialisation  in 
agriculture is slightly increasing in 2019-2020. In the market of new energy, the EU is losing 
momentum  with  a  specialisation  score  that  drops  down  to  0.5  in  2019-2020  while  being 
around  1.5  in  the  period  2010-2012.  Finally,  the  EU  remains  under  specialised  both  in 
transportation and electronic appliances.13  

Table 12. Evolution of EU's technology specialisation by MIM in the period 2010-2020 

Innovation materials 
market 

Period 

2010-2012 

2013-2015  2016-2018  2019-2020 

Healthcare & medicine 

Constructions 

New energy 

Transportation 

Home & personal care 

Packaging 

Agriculture 

Textiles 

Electronic appliances 

1.1 

0.9 

1.5 

0.4 

2.0 

1.4 

1.1 

1.5 

0.6 

1.1 

1.3 

1.4 

0.4 

1.9 

1.5 

1.0 

1.4 

0.6 

1.1 

1.5 

1.0 

0.6 

2.3 

1.6 

1.1 

1.2 

0.5 

1.1 

2.7 

0.6 

1.9 

2.6 

1.6 

1.7 

1.2 

0.4 

Source: Compiled by the authors using Technote and PATSTAT data. The greener the colour is, the higher is 
the technology specialisation. Statistics are based on a sample of 23 222 patenting companies in advanced 
materials. 

12 The index measures the specialisation of each country for the MIM under consideration and it is calculated 
as the ratio between the share of patents in a certain MIM and in a certain country and the share of patents 
in that MIM worldwide. 

13 The sharp increase of EU’s specialisation in transportation in 2019-2020 may be biased due to a sudden 

decline in country patents in the most recent period.   

30 

 
 
 
 
 
 
ANNEX 

This  annex  presents  the  methodology  and  databases  used  for  the  economic  analysis 
presented in the current report. In particular, it provides more information about: 

•  The methodology to identify companies active in advanced materials; 
•  The methodology to assign AM companies to materials innovation markets (MIM); 
•  The  databases  used  for  the  analysis,  containing  accounting,  financial,  patent  and 

collaboration information, at industry and firm level. 

Identification of companies active in advanced materials 

Companies  active  in  advanced  materials  are  first  identified  as  those  that  have  patenting 
activities in Cooperative Patent Classifications (CPC) that relate to advanced materials. The 
identification  of  relevant  CPC  codes  for  advanced  materials  builds  upon  the  material 
specifications  mentioned  in  the  Materials  2030  Manifesto  and  complement  it  with  own 
research efforts. The list of CPC codes used by the Advanced Technologies for Industry (ATI) 
project of DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW) is employed 
as a starting point, to capture advanced materials and nanotechnology. This is complemented 
with  own  research  efforts,  in  order  to  identify  relevant  CPC  codes  covering  the  entire 
secondary  matrix,  as  mentioned  in  the  Materials  2030  Manifesto,  detailing  the  material 
specifications and the related innovation needs. For example, alternative active ingredients 
are not covered in the selection of patent codes of the ATI study, while it is part of the material 
specifications mentioned in the Materials 2030 Manifesto.  

As such, 5481 CPC codes could be linked to advanced materials technologies, a result that 
has  been  validated  by  DG  Research  &  Innovation  (RTD).  The  list  of  selected  CPC  patent 
families is presented in Table 13. This study focuses on company owned patents.  

In addition to the patent search, companies were also identified as being active in advanced 
materials, if their websites mention keywords related to advanced materials, as collected by 
the Technote database (see also Section 1.3). Overall, the following criteria were applied to 
identify  companies  as  being  active  in  advanced  materials,  either  through  their  patent 
information or a keyword-based assessment of their websites:  

•  Criterion 1: a company is linked to AM if it has at least 5% of its total patent stock in an 

AM related technology, as defined by patent codes linked to AM since 2010. 

•  Criterion  2:  a  company  is  linked  to  AM  if  it  has  at  least 100  patents  in  an  AM  related 
technology  since  2010.  This  criterion  is  added,  to  account  for  the  fact  that  very  large 
companies tend to have very diverse patent portfolios, and  that very few technologies 
would reach the 5% threshold. 

•  Criterion 3: a company is linked to AM if it has a strong technology keyword overlap with 
an AM related technology based on Technote data. This criterion links companies to AM 
technologies that do not patent but are otherwise active in the technologies. 

31 

 
 
Table 13. Overview of CPC patent families linked to advanced materials 

CPC patent classes 

A41 Wearing apparel 

A61 Medical of veterinary science, hygiene 

B32 Layered products 

B33 Additive manufacturing 

B65 Conveying, packing, storing, handling thin or filamentary material 

B82 Nanotechnology 

C01 Inorganic chemistry 

C03 Glass, mineral or slag wool 

C04 Cements, concrete, stone, ceramics and refractories 

C08 Organic macromolecular compounds 

C09 Dyes, paints, polishes, resins, adhesives 

C22 Metallurgy and alloys 

C23 Coating metallic material and its treatment 

D21 Paper-making and production of cellulose 

E04 Building 

G02 Optics 

H01 Electric materials 

Y02 Technologies or applications for mitigation or adaptation against climate change 

Y10 Climate change mitigation technologies in the production or processing of goods 

32 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Assignment of AM companies to innovation markets 

The  Materials  2030  roadmap  identifies  nine  materials  innovation  markets  (MIM,  also 
shortened to “innovation market” in the current report) which represent the ‘market pull’ to 
address the long-term societal needs and challenges in a way that benefits both citizens and 
the  environment.  The  concept  of  MIM  revolves  on  the  development  and  use  of  advanced 
materials that can meet the demands of specific value chains and markets which are likely to 
emerge by 2030, using sustainable and collaborative business models. The nine MIM are: 

•  Healthcare & medicine 
•  Construction 
•  New energy 
•  Transportation 
•  Home & personal care 
•  Packaging 
•  Agriculture 
•  Textiles 
•  Electronic appliances 

In  close  collaboration  with  the  Commission,  a  list  of  NACE  4-digit  classes  has  been 
developed  to  link  economic  activities  to  each  innovation  market.  As  such,  AM  companies 
could be assigned to a specific MIM based on the primary NACE 4-digit industry classes in 
which they are active: 

Healthcare & medicine 
•  C2110 - Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products 
•  C2120 - Manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations 
•  C3250 - Manufacture of medical and dental instruments and supplies 

F4110 - Development of building projects 
F4120 - Construction of residential and non-residential buildings 
F4211 - Construction of roads and motorways 
F4212 - Construction of railways and underground railways 
F4213 - Construction of bridges and tunnels 
F4221 - Construction of utility projects for fluids 
F4222 - Construction of utility projects for electricity and telecommunications 
F4291 - Construction of water projects 
F4299 - Construction of other civil engineering projects nec 
F4311 – Demolition 
F4312 - Site preparation 
F4313 - Test drilling and boring 
F4321 - Electrical installation 
F4322 - Plumbing, heat and air-conditioning installation 
F4329 - Other construction installation 
F4331 – Plastering 
F4332 - Joinery installation 
F4333 - Floor and wall covering 
F4334 - Painting and glazing 
F4339 - Other building completion and finishing 
F4391 - Roofing activities 
F4399 - Other specialised construction activities nec 

Constructions 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•  M7111 - Architectural activities 
•  C2344 - Manufacture of other technical ceramic products 
•  C2351 - Manufacture of cement 
•  C2362 - Manufacture of plaster products for construction purposes 

33 

 
 
 
•  C2314 - Manufacture of glass fibres 

New energy 
•  D3511 - Production of electricity 
•  D3512 - Transmission of electricity 
•  D3513 - Distribution of electricity 
•  D3521 - Manufacture of gas 
•  D3522 - Distribution of gaseous fuels through mains 
•  D3530 - Steam and air conditioning supply 
•  C2711 - Manufacture of electric motors, generators and transformers 
•  C2712 - Manufacture of electricity distribution and control apparatus 
•  C2720 - Manufacture of batteries and accumulators 
•  C2731 - Manufacture of fibre optic cables 
•  C2732 - Manufacture of other electronic and electric wires and cables 
•  C2733 - Manufacture of wiring devices 
•  C2740 - Manufacture of electric lighting equipment 
•  C2751 - Manufacture of electric domestic appliances 
•  C2752 - Manufacture of non-electric domestic appliances 
•  C2790 - Manufacture of other electrical equipment 

Transportation 
• 
• 

C2910 - Manufacture of motor vehicles 
C2920 - Manufacture of bodies (coachwork) for motor vehicles; manufacture of trailers and semi-
trailers 
C2931 - Manufacture of electrical and electronic equipment for motor vehicles 
C2932 - Manufacture of other parts and accessories for motor vehicles 
C3011 - Building of ships and floating structures 
C3012 - Building of pleasure and sporting boats 
C3020 - Manufacture of railway locomotives and rolling stock 
C3030 - Manufacture of air and spacecraft and related machinery 
C3040 - Manufacture of military fighting vehicles 
C3091 - Manufacture of motorcycles 
C3092 - Manufacture of bicycles and invalid carriages 
C3099 - Manufacture of other transport equipment nec 
H4910 - Passenger rail transport, interurban 
H4920 - Freight rail transport 
H4931 - Urban and suburban passenger land transport 
H4932 - Taxi operation 
H4939 - Other passenger land transport nec 
H4941 - Freight transport by road 
H4942 - Removal services 
H4950 - Transport via pipeline 
H5010 - Sea and coastal passenger water transport 
H5020 - Sea and coastal freight water transport 
H5030 - Inland passenger water transport 
H5040 - Inland freight water transport 
H5110 - Passenger air transport 
H5121 - Freight air transport 
H5122 - Space transport 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Home & personal care 
• 
• 
• 

C2041 - Manufacture of soap and detergents, cleaning and polishing preparations 
C2042 - Manufacture of perfumes and toilet preparations 
C1722 - Manufacture of household and sanitary goods and of toilet requisites 

34 

 
 
 
 
 
Packaging 
• 
• 

N8292 - Packaging activities 
C1721  -  Manufacture  of  corrugated  paper  and  paperboard  and  of  containers  of  paper  and 
paperboard 
C2222 - Manufacture of plastic packing goods 
C2313 - Manufacture of hollow glass 
C1712 - Manufacture of paper and paperboard 
C2221 - Manufacture of plastic plates, sheets, tubes and profiles 
C2319 - Manufacture and processing of other glass, including technical glassware 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Agriculture 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

C2013 - Manufacture of other inorganic basic chemicals 
C2014 - Manufacture of other organic basic chemicals 
C2015 - Manufacture of fertilisers and nitrogen compounds 
C2020 - Manufacture of pesticides and other agrochemical products 
E3600 - Water collection, treatment and supply 

Textiles 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

C1310 - Preparation and spinning of textile fibres 
C1320 - Weaving of textiles 
C1330 - Finishing of textiles 
C1392 - Manufacture of made-up textile articles, except apparel 
C1394 - Manufacture of cordage, rope, twine and netting 
C1395 - Manufacture of non-wovens and articles made from non-wovens, except apparel 
C1396 - Manufacture of other technical and industrial textiles 
C1399 - Manufacture of other textiles nec 
C1411 - Manufacture of leather clothes 
C1412 - Manufacture of workwear 
C1413 - Manufacture of other outerwear 
C1419 - Manufacture of other wearing apparel and accessories 
C1511 - Tanning and dressing of leather; dressing and dyeing of fur 
C1512 - Manufacture of luggage, handbags and the like, saddlery and harness 
C1520 - Manufacture of footwear 

Electronic appliances 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

C2611 - Manufacture of electronic components 
C2612 - Manufacture of loaded electronic boards 
C2620 - Manufacture of computers and peripheral equipment 
C2630 - Manufacture of communication equipment 
C2640 - Manufacture of consumer electronics 
C2651 - Manufacture of instruments and appliances for measuring, testing and navigation 
C2652 - Manufacture of watches and clocks 
C2660 - Manufacture of irradiation, electromedical and electrotherapeutic equipment 
C2670 - Manufacture of optical instruments and photographic equipment 
C2680 - Manufacture of magnetic and optical media 
C2811 - Manufacture of engines and turbines, except aircraft, vehicle and cycle engines 
C2812 - Manufacture of fluid power equipment 
C2813 - Manufacture of other pumps and compressors 
C2814 - Manufacture of other taps and valves 
C2815 - Manufacture of bearings, gears, gearing and driving elements 
C2821 - Manufacture of ovens, furnaces and furnace burners 
C2822 - Manufacture of lifting and handling equipment 
C2823  -  Manufacture  of  office  machinery  and  equipment  (except  computers  and  peripheral 
equipment) 
C2824 - Manufacture of power-driven hand tools 

• 

35 

 
 
 
 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

C2825 - Manufacture of non-domestic cooling and ventilation equipment 
C2829 - Manufacture of other general-purpose machinery nec 
C2830 - Manufacture of agricultural and forestry machinery 
C2841 - Manufacture of metal forming machinery 
C2849 - Manufacture of other machine tools 
C2891 - Manufacture of machinery for metallurgy 
C2892 - Manufacture of machinery for mining, quarrying and construction 
C2893 - Manufacture of machinery for food, beverage and tobacco processing 
C2894 - Manufacture of machinery for textile, apparel and leather production 
C2895 - Manufacture of machinery for paper and paperboard production 
C2896 - Manufacture of plastics and rubber machinery 
C2899 - Manufacture of other special-purpose machinery nec 

Databases 

This report is based on the analysis of Orbis, Technote, Dealroom and PATSTAT data.  

•  Orbis is a source for company financial data, such as turnover, employment, profitability 
and other data derived from company financial statements. In addition, Orbis provides 
data on R&D&I investment data for more than 2500 very large companies, i.e. companies 
that,  according  to  Orbis,  are  the  main  R&D  spenders  in  the  world.  The  study  team 
selected all companies that have at least EUR 1 million of turnover, EUR 1 million of total 
assets, or at least 10 employees, in 2020 or 2021. 

•  Technote  provides  data  on  technologies,  investment  and  collaborations  between 
companies. It is the main vehicle through which companies are assigned to the analysed 
technologies.  Technote  also  adopts  algorithms  and  protocols  that  link  companies  and 
patents between different data sources and reduce duplication of data. 

•  Dealroom  provides  data  on  start-ups  and  capital  raised.  In  this  study,  a  company  is 
considered a start-up if it comes from the Dealroom database and is younger than 10 
years. 

•  PATSTAT provides data on patent inventions and patent citations. The current analysis 
is  based  on  the  entire  PATSTAT  database  (more  than  45  million  patents)  which  is 
extracted in Q1 2022. 

36 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
GETTING IN TOUCH WITH THE EU 

In person 
All over the European Union there are hundreds of Europe Direct centres. You can find the 
address of the centre nearest you online (european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/meet-us_en). 

On the phone or in writing 
Europe Direct is a service that answers your questions about the European Union. 
You can contact this service: 
  by freephone: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (certain operators may charge for these calls), 
  at the following standard number: +32 22999696,  
  via the following form: european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/write-us_en. 

FINDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE EU 

Online 
Information about the European Union in all the official languages of the EU is available on 
the Europa website (european-union.europa.eu). 

EU publications 
You can view or order EU publications at op.europa.eu/en/publications. Multiple copies of free 
publications can be obtained by contacting Europe Direct or your local documentation centre 
(european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/meet-us_en). 

EU law and related documents 
For access to legal information from the EU, including all EU law since 1951 in all the official 
language versions, go to EUR-Lex (eur-lex.europa.eu). 

EU open data 
The portal data.europa.eu provides access to open datasets from the EU institutions, bodies 
and agencies. These can be downloaded and reused for free, for both commercial and non-
commercial purposes. The portal also provides access to a wealth of datasets from European 
countries. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This report is being prepared in the framework of the 
“Analysis of EU industrial R&I investments on advanced 
materials in alignment with the innovation markets of the 
Materials 2030 Manifesto and in the context of their 
competitive sustainability in line with the European Green 
Deal initiative”. It provides insights on EU’s competitiveness 
and industrial R&D&I investments in advanced materials 
(AM) to assess the state of play of the strategic objectives 
as outlined in the Materials 2030 Manifesto and Roadmap.  

Studies and reports