UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State's patent-pending LionGlass continues to move from the laboratory toward commercial applications with support from the Cocoziello Institute of Real Estate Innovation.
Moving basic research discoveries from a university laboratory to commercial production requires resources, partnerships and strategic investment. Penn State's Cocoziello Institute of Real Estate Innovation helped provide that bridge through seed grant funding designed to help promising researchers test ideas and reduce risk to attract follow-on investments.
More than five years after LionGlass was first conceived, the team has attracted partnerships with major glass manufacturers in the United States and Europe, including Vitro, one of North America’s largest flat-glass producers, as well as Italy-based Bormioli Luigi and France-based Verallia. The project has also helped secure a $1.37 million award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, to advance next-generation, energy-efficient window technologies.
What is LionGlass?
Invented by John Mauro, the interim John Leone Dean in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State, and Nicholas Clark, assistant research professor of materials science and engineering, LionGlass is designed as a sustainable alternative to conventional soda-lime glass, which accounts for about 90% of global glass manufacturing.
The compositional family of glass compositions significantly reduces energy use in manufacturing by lowering the glass melting temperature by up to 400 degrees Celsius, or 752 degrees Fahrenheit; eliminates a key source of carbon dioxide emissions during production; and can cut the carbon footprint of architectural glass production by more than 50%. At the same time, it offers approximately 10 times greater damage resistance than conventional glass.
Seed grant funding by Cocoziello Institute of Real Estate Innovation
The Cocoziello Institute awarded LionGlass two seed grants, with Mauro as principal investigator and Julian Wang, professor of architectural engineering, as co-principal investigator. The first grant helped the pair develop prototype samples of LionGlass for use in energy-efficient windows, with the goal of evaluating its performance compared to standard soda lime silicate glass.
“The seed funding from the Cocoziello Institute was the first support LionGlass received to explore its application as an innovative material for the built environment, and it was essential in demonstrating that the technology had real architectural potential and commercial viability,” Mauro said.
He explained that the support helped demonstrate the technology's viability, strengthen relationships with industry partners and establish the cross-discipline collaboration with Wang that contributed to the team's industrial partners and external funding.
The second seed grant from the Cocoziello Institute focused on advancing LionGlass’ technology into a commercially viable, low-carbon window product with the goal of cutting glass-manufacturing emissions by more than half while also improving the performance and durability of energy-efficient buildings.
"Seed funding is essential for validating these early-stage new and innovative ideas to prove to industrial sponsors and funding agencies that these ideas are worth investing in,” Wang said.
Penn State secures ARPA-E award
Building on the momentum created by the seed grants, Mauro and Wang were awarded a $1.37 million ARPA-E award in collaboration with industry partner Vitro and lead institution Alfred University. This new project focuses on advancing next-generation, vacuum-insulated glazing systems, which the goal of improving building energy efficiency.
According to the researchers, unlike traditional double-pane windows, which typically use gases such as argon between two panes of glass, vacuum-insulated glazing removes nearly all material between the panes to minimize heat transfer between the inside and outside of a building. The challenge is that the pressure difference created by the vacuum can cause the glass to warp or fail under stress.
The project is still in its early stages. Researchers will initially use glass compositions developed at Alfred University to establish the vacuum-insulated glazing system, with LionGlass expected to be incorporated and evaluated in future phases of the research.
LionGlass European partnerships and interdisciplinary collaboration
LionGlass has also expanded its commercial reach through partnerships with European manufacturers. Bormioli Luigi in Italy is working with Penn State to scale LionGlass for beauty and perfume packaging applications, while France-based Verallia is exploring its use in spirits bottles. Mauro said these partnerships provide an opportunity to evaluate how LionGlass performs in real-world manufacturing environments while advancing the technology toward commercialization.
The partnerships also highlight another key factor in the progress of LionGlass: interdisciplinary collaboration, which is one of the central goals of the Cocoziello Institute and their seed grant program, said Scarlett Miller, Advance Realty Investors Director of the Cocoziello Institute of Real Estate Innovation.
"Moving a new material from the laboratory to the built environment requires expertise that extends far beyond materials science alone," Miller said. "The most impactful innovations happen when researchers from different disciplines come together to tackle a shared challenge.”
LionGlass has also served as a catalyst for interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together Mauro and Wang, researchers from different fields who combined their expertise in glass science and building performance. Mauro said working alongside Wang has helped him see the technology from a different perspective and better understand how LionGlass could be applied in real-world building systems, while identifying new opportunities beyond traditional materials science research.
The progress of LionGlass also underscores the value of early-stage partnerships between universities and industry, according to Mauro. The Cocoziello Institute’s seed grant program is designed to support this type of collaboration by helping researchers test ideas, reduce technical risk and position technologies for commercial adoption. A new round of seed grant proposals will open in February 2027, providing another opportunity for industry-engaged research to take shape.
As LionGlass continues its multiple paths toward commercialization, Miller noted that it serves as a model for how strategic seed funding, interdisciplinary collaboration and industry partnerships can help move promising research beyond the laboratory and into real-world applications.
About the Cocoziello Institute of Real Estate Innovation
The Penn State Cocoziello Institute of Real Estate Innovation is dedicated to advancing research and collaboration across disciplines to address the challenges facing the real estate industry. Through innovative programs and partnerships, the institute aims to develop solutions that will positively impact the built environment and promote sustainable practices.
Visit the Cocoziello Institute of Real Estate Innovation website to learn more.