Evonik expands its R&D center in Shanghai, China

• New Investment of € 18 million with a footprint of more than 10,000 square meters
• Adding up to 40 standard labs, additional conference facilities and show room demonstrating Evonik products and solutions
• The new R&D building will be LEED certified and is scheduled to be inaugurated in mid 2013

Evonik plans to expand its Research & Development (R&D) center in Shanghai Xinzhuang with an investment of € 18 million. The expansion includes the construction of a four-storey R&D building with footprint of more than 10,000 square meters. The new building is scheduled to be inaugurated in mid 2013.

“This is the third expansion of our R&D center in Shanghai since its opening in 2004. The rapidly increasing demand for R&D facilities in Shanghai reflects our strong focus on ‘innovation in China for China’, which is one of our key success factors for our growth in Asia, especially in the Greater China region,” said Dr. Dahai Yu, member of the Executive Board of Evonik Industries.

As a global leader in specialty chemicals, Evonik focuses on innovation and proximity to customers in the Greater China region as elsewhere. Alongside our applications technology laboratories at several sites, the R&D center in Shanghai-Xinzhuang plays a key role in Evonik’s R&D strategy. “We continue to enhance the local R&D capacity and is expanding our activities from technical service to product development,” said Dr. Hans-Josef Ritzert, President Evonik Greater China region. After the expansion, the R&D Center has a total of 35,000 square meters of space, housing state-of-the-art laboratories for research and development, application technology, and technical service, with aims to develop product applications and provide technology service for customers throughout Greater China and Asia.

In addition, a wide variety of Evonik products are applied in the new R&D building, ranging from external wall, balustrade, lab flooring to interior decoration. The approach is to make the new R&D building a real-life showroom for our customers and visitors, using the Evonik products and solutions. What’s more, the new R&D building will also be the first LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certified building for Evonik worldwide. LEED is a concept of design and construction of building that meet specified standards, resolving much of the negative impact of buildings on their occupants, as well as the environment.

Evonik Industries sees research, development and innovation as pivotal to the company’s business growth. Therefore, we endeavor to strengthen our R&D efforts in the Greater China region by boosting local innovation, through developing and establishing the R&D collaborations with Chinese research institutions and making use of Chinese scientific research strength for our new products, applications or process development. For example, we hold the Evonik Meets Science workshop every year, while experts in chemicals area are invited to share their latest research developments in one specific area with Evonik's R&D experts. In China, we have also set up a network of scientific leaders, i.e. Evonik Scientific Advisory Board for the knowledge sharing and cooperation between Evonik and the leading Chinese chemical scientists. Moreover, Evonik is also planning to carry out fundamental research in China for the best development of local intelligence.