Dr Debora Eiler
Project Leader, Sika Technology AG
Debora Eiler is a Project Leader in R&D for adhesives and sealants at Sika Technology AG in Zurich, where she leads interdisciplinary development projects from early laboratory concepts through scale up to market introduction. Her work focuses on innovative, competitive adhesive and sealant technologies based on silane terminated polymer systems, and combines technical expertise with close interaction across disciplines, stakeholders, and customers.
She earned her PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from ETH Zurich, where her research centered on the synthesis and application of novel phosphorus based photoinitiators for UV curing acrylate systems. Within her doctoral thesis, these photoinitiators were evaluated across a broad range of applications, including adhesive formulations as well as medically relevant curing processes used in surgical contexts. This background enables her to bridge fundamental chemistry with applied product development, driving innovation in adhesive technologies.
Driving Innovation with Purpose at Sika
Innovation in the adhesive and sealant industry is not solely driven by technical expertise, nor just by incremental improvements in formulation design or performance metrics, but increasingly by the way materials are explored, evaluated, and translated into products. Effective innovation requires an environment that enables early-stage experimentation, protected exploratory time, and the scientific courage to question established development paradigms.
Beyond culture, structured innovation requires enabling tools that translate creativity into actionable experimentation. We highlight the role of digital innovation frameworks that support rapid exploration of “crazy ideas” and early stage feasibility testing before formal development pathways are entered. Special emphasis is placed on AI supported databases capable of handling large formulation and measurement datasets. Such platforms allow systematic identification of correlations, accelerated screening of material combinations, easier visualization of complex datasets, and data-driven guidance for material selection and property prediction, thereby significantly lowering experimental barriers in the exploration phase.
Selected development examples will be presented to illustrate how innovation culture, structured processes, and digital tools converge in practice. These cases demonstrate how Sika leverages protected exploration spaces, data driven decision support, and cross functional collaboration to elevate promising concepts beyond early feasibility toward robust, scalable solutions. By systematically combining courageous experimentation with AI supported analysis and disciplined development frameworks, innovation is translated into next generation adhesive technologies capable of addressing future performance, sustainability, and complexity challenges.
Breakout Session XIII – Data-Driven Innovation in Adhesives – 18 September 2026 – 12:00 – 12:30 – Room Fleming – F3