BASF broadens R&D initiatives in Asia

A series of initiatives expands the scope of BASF research and development (R&D) capabilities in Asia Pacific as it targets to locate around a quarter of its global R&D activities in Asia Pacific.
The first of these initiatives is the opening of the second phase of the BASF Innovation Campus Asia Pacific. The second phase was expanded at an investment of €90 million and located at BASF’s Greater China headquarters in Pudong, Shanghai.

The Innovation Campus is BASF’s largest R&D center in the region and an important location in BASF’s global research and development network, according to Dr. Martin Brudermüller, Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors and Chief Technology Officer, BASF. Focusing primarily on advanced materials and systems, the expansion adds new areas such as formulations and chemical processes and engineering.

With close proximity to the R&D community in China and in Asia Pacific, BASF’s Pudong site covers R&D, production and marketing functions, serving as an integrated platform to co-create innovations and applications together with customers in the region.

The new facilities will enable BASF to better serve growth industries such as automotive, construction, health and nutrition, and home and personal care in the region, according to Sanjeev Gandhi, member of BASF’s Board of Executive Directors and responsible for the region Asia Pacific.

Researchers at the Innovation Campus are already bringing new applications to the region that serve the needs of local markets. One example is new utility poles developed at the site, made with BASF’s polyurethane system Elastolit® together with local customers. Based on filament winding technology, the utility poles are at least 2.5 times more wind-resistant than concrete utility poles, but weigh only 250 kg each, about one fourth the weight of concrete poles. In 2014, when typhoon Rammasun hit Guangdong province, they proved their superior wind resistance when more than 70,000 concrete and metal utility poles were destroyed while the polyurethane poles remained standing.

In order to expand BASF’s research footprint in Asia Pacific, the headquarters of Advanced Materials & Systems Research, as one of three global research platforms, will be established in Shanghai at the Innovation Campus, effective January 1, 2016. With that move, its President, Dr. Harald Lauke, will also assume responsibility as Regional Research Representative for Asia Pacific, BASF.

In addition to the Innovation Campus in Shanghai, R&D centers in India, Japan, Korea and Singapore will also contribute to developing innovative solutions that address the region’s challenges of resource efficiency, food and nutrition, and quality of life. BASF is investing an additional  €50 million to construct a new Innovation Campus in Navi Mumbai, India, which will be operational in 2017. The facility will accommodate around 300 scientists investigating areas as crop protection, process development and polymer research.   

Another initiative is the gathering of 300 leading scientists together in Shanghai for a high-level collaboration event, the BASF Creator Space Science Symposium Shanghai on Urban Living. Scientists and entrepreneurs around the world will come together to look into key aspects of sustainable urban living, and identify solutions to improve water management, mobility, buildings and quality of life in general. This global event, taking place on November 10-11, 2015, is the final in a series of three global science symposia held by BASF on the occasion of its 150th anniversary. At the Creator Space Science Symposium, speakers including Nobel Prize winner Professor Jean-Marie Lehn will address potential solutions for the challenges of urban living, with a special focus on China.