2025: The top 5 trends in research and development
What will shape R&D developments in 2025? How will trends such as sustainability, hyperautomation, and data-driven innovation change the way teams work? And what role do next-generation materials play in solving tomorrow's challenges? The answers to these pressing questions paint an exciting picture of change and opportunities.
2025 marks the middle of a decade marked by technological, political and social upheavals. Germany plays a key role in this. With the High-Tech Strategy 2025, politicians are focusing on a research and innovation policy that is intended to provide new impetus for business and science. According to the website, the goal is “to put Germany at the forefront of the next technological revolutions in order to retain jobs in Germany and secure prosperity.” At the same time, it aims to strengthen competitiveness in a global context and to provide answers to the pressing challenges of our time.
Research and development (R&D) play a central role in this change. They form the basis for sustainable innovations, open up next-generation technologies and strengthen economic resilience. But increasing pressure to innovate and growing complexity require R&D teams to rethink their working methods and processes. In this article, we take a look at five key trends that will shape the R&D landscape in 2025. From developing sustainable materials to using data-driven strategies, we cover key trends in research and development.
Trend #1: Sustainability
Sustainability will remain a key driving force for innovation in research and development in 2025. Companies are faced with the challenge of meeting stricter regulations while meeting the growing demand for resource-saving, environmentally friendly products. Sectors such as automotive, construction and packaging are increasingly relying on circular economy models.
Approaches that use and recycle materials multiple times are becoming increasingly important in order to reduce waste and counteract the scarcity of raw materials. An illustrative example from the automotive sector is the increased use of recycled plastics. These materials not only reduce environmental impact, but also dependence on critical resources such as lithium or aluminum. The packaging industry is also focusing on sustainable alternatives: From biodegradable plastics to reusable packaging systems, they are increasingly replacing traditional single-use materials.
Another focus is on technologies to reduce emissions. Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) enables companies not only to sequester CO2, but to use it as a resource. One example is Covestro, which uses separated CO2 to produce polyols — a key component of polyurethanes, which are used in foams, for example. This approach saves fossil resources and reduces the CO₂ footprint of the products. However, these developments also illustrate that sustainability goes far beyond ecological aspects: It also opens up economic opportunities by reducing costs and creating access to new markets.
For R&D teams, this means a fundamental change. Digital tools such as material data platforms or AI-based analyses play a central role in making the life cycle of materials more efficient and implementing innovative approaches more quickly. The focus on environmental sustainability is thus evolving from a regulatory requirement to a strategic driver for long-term success.
Trend #2: Next generation materials
Innovative next-generation materials open up completely new opportunities for the development, use and recycling of products. New technologies that go far beyond the limits of conventional materials make it possible to specifically design properties and develop sustainable solutions.
So-called “Engineered Living Materials” (ELMs) are a particularly promising approach. These materials are based on living cells that act like “material factories”: They produce biopolymer-based building blocks and create structures that can regenerate or adapt themselves. A specific example of ELMs is the self-healing concrete developed by scientists from the University of Delft.
This material contains bacterial spores and calcium lactate as nutrients. As soon as cracks occur in the concrete and water penetrates, the bacteria are activated. They produce calcium carbonate (limestone), which fills and seals the cracks. Applications such as these range from the construction industry to biocompatible implants in medicine. They show how interdisciplinary research from biotechnology, genetics and engineering sciences is revolutionizing the world of materials.
Programmable materials, which can specifically adjust their physical properties, are another groundbreaking development. These innovative materials react, for example, to electrical impulses or environmental influences such as temperature and adapt accordingly. Their applications range from robotics and aerospace to electronics, where they adapt to extreme conditions and enable new functionalities. In addition, research focuses on metamaterials. These materials are characterized by specially designed internal structures that offer exceptional properties such as extreme lightness, soundproofing or impact resistance. Bio-inspired designs, such as spinodoid structures, not only make these materials more resilient but also more sustainable — a decisive advantage, particularly for the mobility and energy industries, which are constantly looking for more efficient solutions.
Smart materials, which react dynamically to environmental influences such as light or moisture, will also continue to gain in importance in 2025. They help to extend the life of products, reduce energy consumption and are used in self-regulating building systems or energy-efficient processes. Living Material Systems, inspired by natural processes, is another visionary approach. These materials adapt autonomously to their environment, harvest clean energy or repair damage independently. Initiatives such as LivMatS initiative of the University of Freiburg show that these developments not only solve technological challenges, but also take social aspects such as acceptance and sustainability into account.
For R&D teams, these developments represent enormous potential — not only to open up new fields of research, but also to fundamentally transform the way in which products are developed. With the help of digital tools and AI-based analyses, material properties can be precisely designed and simulated, resulting in tailor-made solutions for specific applications. Next-generation materials are redefining the limits of what is feasible and driving the innovative push that will shape tomorrow's technologies.
Trend #3: Hyperautomation
Hyperautomation marks a new era of increasing efficiency in research and development. Unlike classic automation, it integrates advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA) and machine learning to fully automate time-consuming and repetitive tasks.
Hyperautomation develops its potential particularly in data-intensive areas, such as when planning and carrying out material tests: Processes can be significantly accelerated, sources of error minimized and capacities released for more demanding tasks.
A central aspect of hyperautomation is the seamless integration of different data sources and systems. This allows R&D teams to fully automate tasks such as merging test results from different laboratory systems or automatically generating reports. Such consistent workflows not only save time, but also ensure greater transparency and traceability within projects — a decisive advantage in complex research and development processes.
Hyperautomation also opens up new opportunities in material development through the use of AI-based algorithms. In this way, simulations and analyses can be carried out automatically based on historical data in order to identify optimal test strategies. These technologies relieve R&D teams by carrying out routine tasks efficiently and reliably in the background, while at the same time creating space for creative and strategic work.
The extensive use of intelligent technologies therefore makes hyperautomation a central lever for shortening development times, increasing quality and bringing innovations to market more quickly. For R&D teams, this means a fundamental transformation towards processes that are more efficient, flexible and sustainable.
Trend #4: Data-driven material development
The ability to systematically analyze and utilize data will become a decisive success factor in research and development in 2025. The constantly growing amounts of data from material tests, simulations and production processes offer enormous potential for making well-founded decisions and making development processes more efficient.
A central component of data-driven development is the integration of various data sources into a central platform. Historical test results, production parameters and simulation results can be linked together in such a way that a comprehensive picture of the material properties and their potential applications is created. These material intelligence platforms not only create transparency, but also enable precise data-based predictions — for example about the optimal formulation or behavior of a material under specific conditions.
In addition, AI-based analyses open up a new dimension of decision-making. Patterns that would be barely recognizable manually in data volumes can be identified automatically to accelerate innovation processes. In material development, this means gaining valuable insights from previous projects and planning the next generation of materials in a targeted manner.
Real-world testing can be replaced by simulations, which significantly shortens development cycles, minimizes risks and creates space for innovative solutions.
But data-driven development doesn't end with analysis. Technologies such as the digital twin — a virtual replica of a physical object — make it possible to replace real tests with simulations. This significantly shortens development cycles, minimizes risks and creates space for more sustainable and innovative solutions. For R&D teams, this offers a decisive advantage to respond more quickly to tomorrow's challenges.
With data-driven development, the raw material “data” becomes a key factor for success in R&D. Teams that use data strategically and efficiently can not only react more quickly to changes, but also strengthen the innovative strength of their organization in the long term and secure competitive advantages.
Trend #5: Cooperation & Interdisciplinarity
Material development requirements will continue to become more and more complex in 2025, while the boundaries between laboratory, production and research are becoming increasingly blurred. In order to meet these challenges, R&D teams will increasingly rely on interdisciplinary collaboration and digital networking.
Modern research and development projects require the continuous exchange of knowledge and data across specialist and departmental boundaries. Chemists, engineers, data scientists, and sustainability and regulation experts work together on solutions that are not only technologically compelling, but also sustainable and marketable.
Digital platforms are a central component of this new form of collaboration. They enable teams to work together on a common basis across departments and locations. Material tests, simulation results and production parameters are therefore no longer considered in isolation, but embedded in a holistic context. These approaches help R&D teams overcome complex challenges, such as developing sustainable materials or integrating new technologies, more efficiently.
A practical example shows how interdisciplinary teams are working together to advance innovative solutions: In a research project to reduce CO₂ emissions, chemists developed a novel catalyst, engineers tested its scalability for production, and data scientists used simulation models to optimize the efficiency of the process. This close collaboration has not only led to faster results, but also enabled a successful market launch.
In addition to technological advances, the importance of soft skills is increasingly coming into focus. Companies promote collaboration across disciplines through agile working methods and an open communication culture. Teams that effectively share knowledge and work together to solve problems benefit from shorter development cycles and increased innovative capacity.
Cooperation and interdisciplinarity are therefore much more than just a trend for 2025 — they mark a fundamental change in the research and development of materials. For R&D teams, this approach is crucial to successfully meet the increasing demands of the market and society.
Conclusion — the five R&D trends in 2025
The five trends presented for 2025 — from sustainability and hyperautomation to data-driven development and interdisciplinary collaboration — show how dynamically the world of research and development will continue to change. But in the midst of all these developments, there is a common denominator: material intelligence.
Material intelligence stands for the ability to intelligently connect data, technologies and people to make better decisions and bring innovative materials to market faster. It is more than just a technological solution — it is a strategic approach that makes challenges in material development manageable. Through the targeted use of modern platforms, AI-powered analytics, and integrated workflows, data becomes real knowledge that helps R&D teams achieve more sustainable, efficient and accurate results.
Teams that take this approach not only meet today's challenges, but also shape tomorrow's materials research. Material intelligence is therefore not a vision, but a reality for a long time — and in 2025 more than ever the key technology for the R&D landscape of the future.
