BASF broke ground on the second phase of its Innovation Campus Asia Pacific at its Pudong site in Shanghai, China. The €90 million expansion consists of an additional regional research and development (R&D) building and auxiliary facilities. It will be completed by the end of 2015.
The Innovation Campus is BASF’s most important R&D center in the region and is expected to become one of its largest R&D sites outside of Germany. With the expansion, BASF’s regional research capabilities will be strengthened, focusing primarily on advanced materials and systems as well as adding new areas such as formulations and chemical process and engineering serving growth industries such as automotive, construction, health and nutrition, and home and personal care.
Eighteen months after its inauguration, the Innovation Campus Asia Pacific has partnered with customers in the region from the construction, automotive, paint and coatings, home and personal care and packaging industries. Leveraging local market insights and BASF’s global R&D network, the teams focus on innovative solutions to address the market needs in various industries across the region. For example, the co-extrudable Ultradur (polybutylene terephthalate) for the reinforcement of thermally insulated polyvinyl chloride (PVC) window profile, was developed together with Dalian Shide Group.
In Asia, BASF also has R&D centers in Japan, Singapore and Korea. An Innovation Campus in India is planned. BASF increased global spending on research and development to €1.8 billion in 2013 (2012: €1.7 billion), with around 10,650 scientists and researchers working in 3,000 research projects. With 1,300 patents filed last year and about 151,000 registrations and intellectual property rights worldwide, BASF is at the top of the global Patent Asset Index for the fifth time in succession, according to the company.
For more information, visit: www.basf.com
