{"id":14106,"date":"2024-03-28T21:31:21","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T20:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smarter-habitat.com\/company\/firmenportraet\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T20:25:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T18:25:35","slug":"company-portrait","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/smarter-habitat.com\/en\/company\/company-portrait\/","title":{"rendered":"Company portrait"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Company portrait<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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SMARTER HABITAT: From hemp to popcorn to the house<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A sustainable building material for global climate change<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSMARTER HABITAT’s mission to create affordable housing for millions of people around the world can be summed up as simply and succinctly as possible. The triad of ecological, economic and social-humanitarian responsibility defines the roadmap of the Munich-based company, which was founded in 2019. The goal: to create a building material from “green” bio-based materials and agricultural waste that can be produced regionally in large quantities in a cost-effective and energy-saving manner and can also be installed there quickly and easily. The product: \"\" – a plant-based and completely sustainable lightweight panel developed in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute IMWS and the University of G\u00f6ttingen – meets all of these requirements. SMARTER HABITAT will license the know-how worldwide and thus contribute to solving one of the most pressing problems on this planet.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In the beginning was the \"Awakening\"<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhen Datty Ruth, CEO of SMARTER HABITAT, visited Haiti in 2012, two years after the devastating earthquake, he was struck by the inhumane housing and the disastrous rubble in which many people had lost their lives and was driven by the vision of providing people with a decent roof over their heads. In view of the increasing number of trouble spots around the world – whether due to natural and\nclimate disasters, poverty or wars and the resulting streams of refugees – but also the increasing need for housing, this vision became a mission. As early as 2013, he took on this major social-humanitarian challenge and decided to do everything in his power to make affordable, safe and environmentally friendly accommodation available to everyone, everywhere. According to estimates by UN-Habitat and the World Bank, there is already a shortage of around 300 million homes for over two billion homeless people, and this number is set to double by 2030 – not including the estimated 80 million refugees worldwide.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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 - from the idea to the product<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSMARTER HABITAT has now come a big step closer to this goal with its composite panels \"\". After years of research and development and supported by a network of experts from science, technology and industry, a building material has been created that will not only revolutionize the construction industry in the future as a “green” alternative, but will also accelerate the paradigm shift towards responsible sustainability in construction. The \"\" sandwich panels consist of two basic components: Natural fiber laminates as the top layer and a core material made from popped corn granules, which can be produced in a wide variety of different versions. The Natural Composite Laminates (NCL) can be made from natural materials such as hemp, flax, sisal or rice straw and other long-fiber agricultural waste, which are processed into fleece felt and pressed with special resin under high pressure.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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From natural fibers to<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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-panel<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Natural fiber<\/h2>\n
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Natural fiber fleece<\/h2>\n
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Natural fiber­laminate<\/h2>\n
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Panel<\/h2>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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Panel variations<\/h2>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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Popcorn as the core material<\/h2>\n <\/div> \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS, a research institute of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Halle (Saale), and C3 Technologies Gmbh, which is also based there, the material and process engineering foundations for the industrial production of \"\"-laminates.\nSince 2016, there has been a show house on the institute’s premises that proves how sustainable, simple, cost-effective and infinitely scalable construction can be in the future. By acquiring a stake in C3 Technologies GmbH, SMARTER HABITAT is securing this innovative knowledge for the transfer of the process from laboratory scale to the production-ready industrial manufacture of composite panels.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Show house of the Fraunhofer Institute in Halle (Saale), which was built from NCL panels in 2016 and still shows no signs of weathering today.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Material technology made in Germany<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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At the same time, the “Chemistry and Process Engineering of Composite Materials” working group at the Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology at the University of G\u00f6ttingen, which has been conducting research into renewable raw materials for many years, has developed a popcorn granulate as a composite material for laminates made from hemp and flax, which could replace the PU foam previously used for panels in the future. The head of the research group, Prof. Dr. Alireza Kharazipour – often referred to as the “Popcorn Professor” – sees this unique process as an outstanding opportunity to replace the raw material and energy-intensive products made of cement, gypsum or petroleum-based products used in the construction industry to date with a cost-efficient, almost 100% natural product. Prof. Kharazipour has obtained several patent rights in 14 years of research work.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Popcorn granules - the ideal core material for panels made from natural fiber laminates<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn addition to its outstanding physical properties, this building material is also reusable, recyclable and compostable and embodies a holistic sustainability claim like no other product thanks to the cradle-to-cradle principle.\nSMARTER HABITAT has concluded a license agreement with the University of G\u00f6ttingen, which secures the company the worldwide commercial rights to use the patents for the distribution and production of the \"\" panels.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Synonym for a building material that is profitable at all levels<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn ecological, economic and humanitarian terms, the innovative \"\"-panels have an outstanding balance in terms of raw material, material and production efficiency compared to conventional building materials:\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Sustainability targets are met<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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