A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO LEAD GLOBAL BIOPOLYMER INNOVATION CE PoliMaT® is a nonprofit center of excellence for polymer materials and technologies established in 2010 in Slovenia by a group of businesses and academic institutions. CE PoliMaT® ensures the transfer of research excellence into products and services in high-tech niche markets, supporting job creation, new business, new value chains formation and the transition to a sustainable low-carbon society. RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS CE PoliMaT® facilitates research excellence by bringing together leading scientists and engineers from different disciplines, such as chemistry, physics, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medicine, and mechanical engineering. Research focuses on the development of advanced multifunctional materials with the help of nanotechnology, biotechnology and the use of renewable resources. The center is developing applications for the use in industry, food security, health, agriculture, building materials and renewable energy. MEMBERSHIPS • member of the European Commission Expert Group for Bio-based Product • member of the Biobased Industries Consortium (BIC) LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT* • Developing business models that integrate industry and academia along the value chain, creating new cross-sector interconnections and supporting cross-industry clusters • Facilitating international partnerships and networks • Offering services in the field of innovation, business development and capacity building • Playing an important role in the exploitation of research results • Proving that investments of European structural funds are an efficient tool to support innovation *Benchmarking results conducting according to European Management Excellence Initiative, 2013