With combinatorial materials research (CMR), a new research approach toward the development and optimization of materials has been established at BASF. While adopting the basic ideas of combinatorial chemistry, CMR faces a whole bunch of challenges throughout the entire combinatorial process loop. New concepts for sample preparation on a smaller scale, i.e. synthesis and formulation, for parallel or fast sequential screening and characterization, and for appropriate management of yet unknown amounts of data have been developed. The integration of as many as possible workflow steps and the interplay of experts from various relevant fields, such as chemistry, engineering, robotics, informatics, and physics, are necessary. First results in the fields of polymer synthesis and coatings formulation give an impression of the innovative power and efficiency of this new kind of research. magnified image