Research and Development

We are a diversified science and technology company with a leading position in the life science, healthcare and electronics industries. In line with our vision “Sparking Discovery, Elevating Humanity”, we are striving for innovation in all three business sectors in order to make our growth plans a reality. We conduct research and development (R&D) worldwide to develop new products, services and solutions to improve the quality of life of patients and meet the needs of our customers. Further optimizing the relevance and efficiency of our R&D activities – either on our own or in collaboration with third parties – is one of our top priorities. In addition, we are continuously improving the fulfilment of our sustainability criteria and integrating them into our R&D processes as early as the product development stage (see (Group-) Sustainability Statement).

Around 6,500 employees (2024: approximately 6,400) worked in R&D and related support functions in 2025. They dealt with innovations to address long-term health and technology trends in both established and growth markets.

Expenditure for R&D amounted to € 2.4 billion in 2025 (2024: € 2.3 billion).

In the Life Science business sector, we drive scientific breakthroughs with innovative technologies for applications in natural sciences and pharmaceutical research that enable life-saving novel therapies and treatments for diseases such as cancer and diabetes. In the Healthcare business sector, we develop innovative therapies, leveraging internal discoveries and external partnerships. In the Electronics business sector, we are accelerating the development of the next generation of microchips to enable innovations in the semiconductor and display industries that are needed for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and the digital world of the future.

At Group level, we want to create synergies both within and between our business sectors and continuously develop new areas of innovation. One of our key objectives is to further expand the scope of our innovation by looking into new technologies, markets and digital business models as well as by leveraging existing assets and capabilities, combining them with data and digital technologies. Our efforts in this area include Syntropy^® and Athinia^®, which are partnerships with Palantir Technologies, Inc., USA, that enable secure AI data flows and data-sharing ecosystems. These platforms help increase efficiencies while ensuring that stakeholders maintain control of their intellectual property.

We launched M-Trust™, a secure cyber-physical trust platform, to strengthen product safety, traceability and authenticity. Unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show 2025 and released in beta for global business-to-business users, it immutably links physical products to digital identities using multi-patented crypto anchors, thus enabling digital twins and machine-to-machine quality control. Delivered as a Platform-as-a-Service, M-Trust™ integrates software, adaptable anchors and reader hardware, while supporting smart contracts to automate assurances across supply chains. Built in-house, it is designed to align with evolving standards and regulations, including the European Union Digital Product Passport. We further enhanced M-Trust™ through a collaboration with Zebra Technologies Corporation, USA, (Zebra), creating the first cyber-physical digital trust platform with mobile computer scanning capabilities. The partnership combines Zebra’s TC58 mobile computer with our patented authentication technologies to deliver a handheld reader prototype, enabling frontline workers to verify products and share high-quality data for AI model training.

Furthermore, we completed the spin-out of EdiMembre, Inc., USA, in collaboration with mantro GmbH, Munich, thus creating an independent deep-tech company in the alternative protein sector to commercialize our edible membrane technology for sustainable, scalable structured cultured meat. Building on our patent portfolio, the platform enables complex tissue structures and has also been explored for high-protein, plant-based pasta. We contributed intellectual property and expertise and continue to support the market with cell culture media and co-creation in structured meat production.

In addition, we are continuing to develop opportunities at the intersection of our business sectors and converging technologies to develop solutions that enable our three business sectors to bring value to the industries they serve:

• We are continuing to build our automated design-make-test-analyze platform powered by lab automation and AIDDISON™, our generative AI-powered active ingredient discovery platform. In addition to external commercialization, we also use it internally in our Healthcare business sector in early stages of drug discovery. Our AI in drug discovery program will accelerate the discovery of new and better drug candidates, making new therapies available to patients faster.

• We are using our capabilities across our business sectors in messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) synthesis, lipid nanoparticle (LNP) synthesis and formulation, targeted delivery, and AI to enable the development of “smart” LNPs that can more effectively target different tissue types, including hard-to-reach biological targets, to treat various diseases.

• We formed a strategic partnership with Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre, Belgium, (imec), a leading research and innovation center in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, to develop a disruptive microphysiological systems platform that integrates our induced pluripotent stem cells and patient-derived organoids with advanced semiconductor hardware featuring unprecedented biosensor capabilities. This modular, scalable platform generates high-quality biological training data for AI-driven drug discovery while enabling real-time, label-free measurements from single to multi-organ configurations. The collaboration aims to enhance predictive validity of preclinical models, accelerate drug candidate development and progressively reduce animal testing.

In fiscal 2025, we made progress in advancing our “Smartfacturing” program, expanding deployment of our highly adaptable, modular smart factories and scaling the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) automation technology that enables equipment connectivity through module type packages. Building on the successful pilot projects completed in 2024, we are now applying this technology across broader pharmaceutical and chemical production while exploring applications in additional manufacturing industries. We continued our strategic partnership with Siemens AG, Germany, (Siemens) in fiscal 2025, with transformative projects across our three business sectors, integrating our expertise in Life Science, Healthcare and Electronics with Siemens’ advanced hardware and software capabilities to deliver measurably faster, more cost-effective and more sustainable manufacturing processes.

The following table depicts R&D costs of the business sectors in fiscal 2025 and 2024:

The ratio of research expenditure to Group sales was 11.4% (2024: 10.8%). It has increased due to additional R&D costs resulting from the acquisition of SpringWorks Therapeutics, Inc., USA, as well as the decline in sales.