BASF to set up Rs 360 cr innovation campus in Navi Mumbai

German chemical giant BASF is setting up a new innovation campus with an investment of Euro 50 million (about Rs 360 crores) in Navi Mumbai. The facility, to be built byBASF Chemicals India Private Limited (a 100 percent subsidiary of BASF SE), will accommodate around 300 scientists investigating areas such as crop protection, process development and polymer research.The BASF Innovation Campus (Mumbai) will begin operation in 2017 and will include synthesis, application, process, and analytical laboratories.
 
BASF Innovation Campus (Mumbai) will be a key hub of its global research and development (R&D) network, and, next to Shanghai, the company’s second major R&D location in Asia Pacific, which started operation in 2012. This investment is part of BASF’s ‘grow smartly’ strategy in Asia Pacific and it aims to locate 25 percent of its global R&D in Asia Pacific by 2020 to develop innovative solutions that address the region’s challenges of resource efficiency, food and nutrition, and quality of life.
 
Martin Brudermuller, Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, BASF SE, and responsible for the Asia Pacific region, said, “BASF is bullish about India’s growth story and the investment in Innovation Campus (Mumbai) is a testimony to it. We will not only serve our customers in all industries in the region but also in other regions with global research projects that will be led out of Mumbai. Along with this important new investment in Mumbai, we are also establishing specialised research facilities in Asia Pacific in the areas of electronic materials, battery materials, catalysis, mining, water treatment, polymers and materials. Step by step, Asia Pacific thus becomes an integral part of our global innovation power.”
 
The innovation campus in Navi Mumbai, which will host global research activities and regional and local development activities, will serve BASF’s Performance Chemicals, Care Chemicals, and Pigments & Dispersions businesses. It will also lead to consolidation of BASF’s R&D activities in India, where it has at present two R&D centres in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.
 
Harald Lauke, designated President of Advanced Materials & Systems Research, added, “The BASF Innovation Campus (Mumbai) will bring the best international scientists from India and other parts of the world together into the global BASF R&D Verbund. BASF’s global major research platforms, from beginning of 2015 namely advanced materials & systems research, bioscience research, and process research & chemical engineering, will be active in Mumbai.”
 
“A stronger R&D presence in India will create new opportunities for building up and expanding customer relationships and scientific cooperation programs that will benefit both BASF and the India R&D community. Additionally, the BASF Innovation Campus (Mumbai) will open up career opportunities for local scientific talent,” said Dr Raman Ramachandran, Chairman and Managing Director, BASF India Limited & Head South Asia.