About Us

AboutMaterialZ started as one of 300 projects selected from 3,000 submissions for project funding in the DATIpilot Innovation Sprint program of the then Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The idea: to build an open-source web portal that would make materials made from renewable resources more familiar, accessible, and transparent. Generation Z (hence the "Z" in AboutMaterialZ) was involved in the entire development process of the web portal:

• Together with students from the Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium in Freiberg, a survey was created and conducted. The aim was to determine what information about a material is particularly important to the average citizen, a shopper, and Generation Z. The results of this survey form the basis of the portal's current content.

• A comic about next-generation materials was created in collaboration with Emely Otto to raise awareness of these materials.

FILK Freiberg Institute gGmbH is an independent, non-university research institution with an accredited testing laboratory.

We can draw on many years of expertise in the field of flexible synthetic and natural polymer materials and leather. Thanks to our in-house technical facilities, we are also familiar with the process steps involved in manufacturing these materials. Our accredited testing laboratory complements this expertise with a broad portfolio of physical and chemical testing methods.

Consolidating material data – presenting it scientifically sound, independently, and in a structured manner

Our Goals:

• Making materials more visible, measurable, and comparable

• Visibility for everyone: Providing material manufacturers/brands with a platform for their materials (including materials in the development stage)

• Real key performance indicators for everyone: Raising awareness among buyers, sustainability teams, processors, and designers about new materials with measurable key performance indicators

• Transparency for everyone: Offering everyday consumers the opportunity to learn about materials and products made from them

Our Vision:

• Transparent materials – start with data!

• Evaluate materials based on real key performance indicators!

• Therefore, we want to continuously develop new and standardized testing methods that enable genuine comparability between materials

• Continuous feedback with industry to align information needs

• What key performance indicators are still missing?