Arkema opens its first R&D centre in China

Arkema, the France-based chemicals producer, has inaugurated its first R&D centre in China on the Changshu industrial site. The new centre will provide development capacities as well as ideal local support for the Group’s customers in China and South-East Asia. Along with the Group’s KTC (Kyoto Technical Center) in Japan, it bolsters Arkema’s growth ambition in Asia, with the Group looking forward to achieving almost 30% of its sales in fast growing regions by 2016.
 
The Changshu Research and Development Center (CRDC) offers geographic and technical complementarity with the Group’s nine other R&D centres, in particular the Kyoto Center in Japan, which this year celebrates its 20 years of existence. It helps speed up the development of customised products and solutions for Arkema’s customers in China and South-East Asia in fast-growing markets, namely batteries, photovoltaics, electronics packaging, automotive, cable, sports and paint.
 
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The CRDC will enable Arkema, which has already established many contacts and collaborations with the Changshu and Shanghai Universities, to strengthen its links with the Chinese scientific community at large. With a team of top researchers, most of whom young graduates from leading universities, Arkema provides genuine expertise and first-rate customer support on the Group’s products, in particular high performance materials, fluorinated polymers, organic peroxides, and performance coatings.
 
Finally, the CRDC boasts state-of-the-art equipment, including application laboratories for batteries, membranes and coatings, a centre of excellence for thermoplastics (extrusion, injection, etc), a process expertise centre (pilot reactor systems, polymerisation, distillation), as well as a training centre for customers.