Meraxis Transforms R&D with AI for Sustainable Innovation

Meraxis, one of Europe’s leading plastic distributors, achieved a major leap in sustainable materials development. By integratingAI into their R&D, Meraxis has doubled their innovation speed, and reduced its cost by 30.

With the support of Start2 Group, Meraxis was helped to prioritize problem statements, define the collaboration scope, screen the most promising solutions, and ultimately select Polymerize as their innovation partner. This collaboration accelerated Meraxis’ sustainability journey.

The Challenge

Meraxis faced growing pressure to innovate sustainably while maintaining efficiency. Their R&D cycles were not fully databased and optimized to develop and test new materials.

Key challenges included:

• Lengthy physical testing and material validation cycles

• Fragmented material knowledge spread across teams

• Increasing regulatory requirements around sustainability

• Rising operational costs from inefficiencies

These barriers delayed the company’s ability to bring new, sustainable materials to market.

The AI-Powered Transformation

With the objective of partnering with startups to co-develop solutions to tackle Meraxis’ challenges and through the support of Start2Group, Meraxis:

1. Defined critical problem statements related to their R&D bottlenecks

2. Scoped a digital transformation project focused on predictive intelligence in material science

3. Identified and partnered with Polymerize, a deep-tech startup specializing in AI-driven material innovation.

Polymerize’s AI platform predicts material properties with up to 95% accuracy, significantly reducing the need for physical testing. This helped Meraxis reduce months-long R&D cycles and streamline knowledge sharing across global teams.

The Impact

The results of Meraxis’ AI-powered transformation speak for themselves:

• 2x faster innovation cycles

• 30% reduction in operational costs

• 95% prediction accuracy

• Reduction in material waste

• Increase the share of recycled content in selected recycling compounds

• Enhanced global collaboration across teams

• Leadership in sustainable materials development

• One centralized combined system of record & system of intelligence for material R&D

By harnessing AI-driven predictive intelligence, Meraxis strengthened its global position as a sustainable leader in the plastics industry.

"The AI software allows polymer converters & producers to considerably shorten their material innovation cycles and accelerate sustainable product development."

— Dr. Stefan Girschik, CEO of Meraxis Group

The Role of Start2 Group

Start2 Group supported Meraxis to move from challenge to collaboration:

• Guided problem definition and project scoping to ensure alignment with sustainability goals.

• Facilitated the startup discovery and selection process, matching Meraxis with Polymerize

• Supported the initial connection and collaboration setup between Meraxis and Polymerize, enabling a smooth transition into their co-innovation journey.

Through this collaboration, Start2Group helped Meraxis turn R&D challenges into a blueprint for sustainable, AI-powered transformation.

Interested in Exploring the Case orEmbracing AI for your R&D?

If you’d like to learn more about this project or explore how AI can accelerate your own R&D process, Polymerize is happy to connect: Michael Grysczyk

 And if you’re a corporate leader looking to collaborate with startups to solve real business needs, Start2 Group is here to help you make it happen. Reach out to us to start your innovation journey.

Start2 Group: Bridging innovation and industry impact empowering startups and corporates to co-create the future of technology-driven sustainability.

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