BASF expands Innovation Campus in China

LUDWIGSHAFEN, GERMANY; SHANGHAI, CHINA–BASF has started construction of the second phase of its Innovation Campus Asia Pacific located 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 and it will be completed by the end of 2015. By 2020, 25% of BASF’s R&D employees will be located in Asia Pacific and the expansion strengthens the company’s commitment to globalising its R&D activities and capturing growth opportunities in China and Asia Pacific, according to  Dr. Andreas Kreimeyer, member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE and Research Executive Director.

 The Innovation Campus is BASF’s most important R&D centre 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 further 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 strengthened BASF’s position as the preferred innovation partner for customers in the region, for example from the construction, automotive, paint and coatings, home and personal care and packaging industries. Leveraging local market insights and BASF’s strong global R&D network, the teams focus on innovative solutions to address the market needs in various industries across the region. For example, the world’s first co-extrudable Ultradur? (polybutylene terephthalate) for the reinforcement of thermally insulated polyvinyl chloride (PVC) window profile, was developed together with Dalian Shide Group. Steel in a PVC window profile is replaced with co-extrudable Ultradur to provide high strength but lightweight reinforcement with mechanical properties required to withstand strong winds and excellent thermal insulation, which enables energy-efficient construction.

In Asia, in addition to the Innovation Campus in Shanghai, BASF also has R&D centres in Japan, Singapore and Korea.