BASF increased spending on research and development to €1.8 billion in 2013 from €1.7 billion in 2012, the company announced. BASF has a workforce of around 10,650 employees working in international and interdisciplinary teams on approximately 3,000 research projects.
Last year, sales of new products (introduced in the last five years) amounted to around €8 billion. In 2013, the company launched more than 300 new products on the market and filed 1,300 patents. BASF has about 151,000 registrations and intellectual property rights worldwide, according to the company.
By 2020, 50 percent of its research activities are to be conducted outside Europe, according to the company. In 2013, BASF increased the proportion of its research outside Europe to 28 percent. The company has established six new laboratories at locations in Asia and the United States. BASF founded the California Research Alliance by BASF (CARA) focused on biosciences and new inorganic materials for energy, electronics and renewable resources. In Asia, the company joined forces with universities from China, Japan and Korea to found the research initiative, Network for Advanced Materials Open Research (NAO). Research is underway on materials for the automotive, construction and water industries and for the wind energy sector.
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