BUSIN ESS
German giant seeks to work with the best researchers in North America and Asia in EMERGING SCIENTIFIC FIELDS U.S. and China and apply them in Europe, he said. 25% of BASF’s research budget and scienRobert Schlögl, director of the inorganic tists by 2020 under a plan being advanced chemistry department at the Fritz Haber by Andreas Kreimeyer, BASF’s board memInstitute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin ber responsible for research. The company and a collaborator with BASF in a number of now conducts most of its research in scientific fields including electrocatalysis, Europe, but to get closer to its customers spoke up at the meeting. He said that a lack and work with the world’s best scientists, of government funding in Germany in some it must venture outside the Continent, acresearch fields is also a reason BASF may be cording to Kreimeyer. looking to build its science base outside EuKreimeyer disclosed the shift in focus rope. Heterogeneous catalysis has a variety earlier this month at BASF’s annual inof potential industrial applications, but it’s novation day at its headquarters in Ludexpensive to research and German univerwigshafen, Germany. The company, the sities are struggling to secure the funding, world’s largest chemical maker, uses the Schlögl said. “This is why event to give journalists a peek at BASF has got to go to the what is going on in its labs and how it POWER PLAY BASF is U.S. and Asia,” he added. is spending its research dollars. developing composite BASF already inIn addition to remaking the geomaterials graphic footprint of its R&D organiza- engineered like this to make more creased its R&D spending outside Europe by 3% tion, BASF is investigating new fields robust rotor blades in 2012 with the openof research, with greater emphasis on for wind turbines. chemistry relating to resources such as water and energy, the environment and climate, food and nutrition, and quality of life, Kreimeyer said. The battery materials field is a good illustration of the type of area in which BASF wants to develop a leading technology position, Kreimeyer told journalists at the meeting. BASF’s battery materials research program is aimed at major challenges such as storing renewable energy and supplying the growing world population with power, he said. Even though BASF is establishing a bigger research presence outside Europe, it does not intend to scale back its R&D hub in Ludwigshafen or ing of seven new labs and the extension of elsewhere in Europe, Kreimeyer insisted. existing labs in Asia-Pacific and the U.S. BASF spent 73% of its $2.2 billion R&D For example, the firm launched its Innovabudget in Europe last year, and fully half of tion Campus Asia Pacific in Shanghai for the firm’s 10,500 researchers are based in up to 450 scientists. It’s also rolling out a Ludwigshafen. research center for battery materials in The strategy “is not about cheaper sciAmagasaki, Japan, opening a mining R&D ence or cheaper scientists but better scicenter in Perth, Australia, and has plans to ence,” Kreimeyer told C&EN. “It’s about introduce an R&D center in India. getting closer to the customer and gaining BASF has “substantially strengthened” access to talent pools in R&D organizaits R&D efforts in the Americas, Kreimeyer tions.” The firm also wants to take innovasaid. Notable U.S. projects include a new tions germinated in countries such as the THE AMERICAS AND ASIA will each get
CEN.ACS.ORG
22
MAY 20, 2013
THE PARTNERS ALSO hope to embark on
a second phase of research that includes the development of lightweight materials for wind turbine and transportation applications. The longest of today’s wind turbines have blades that are 75 meters long and at their ends rotate at 300 km per hour. The huge forces created mean that the turbines require frequent repairs. BASF is already cooperating with academic partners in the U.S., Europe, and Asia to develop more robust wind turbines, Holger Ruckdäschel, head of BASF’s wind energy research group, told reporters at the meeting. BASF is using polyester foam and composite engineered materials for the interior of the rotor blades in association with epoxy systems that can withstand permanent high stress. Currently, about one-third of BASF’s R&D budget is devoted to projects relating to energy efficiency and climate protection. The company reminded reporters that it hasn’t forgotten Europe. One of BASF’s recent European research initiatives is a collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research to develop applications for carbon-based materials, including graphene. The Carbon Materials Innovation Center that the partners have set up in Ludwigshafen marks the first time BASF has operated a research program with a partner on a BASF site. BASF already spends more than any other chemical company on R&D. It was recently ranked by Boston Consulting Group as number 23 among the world’s 50 most important innovators and ahead of any other chemical firm. Kreimeyer is confident that by working closely with the best scientists—whatever continent they are on—the firm’s potential to innovate will become even stronger.—ALEX SCOTT BASF
R&D SHIFTS AT BASF
lab in Wyandotte, Mich., for developing thermoplastic polyurethanes in cooperation with customers in the automotive, building, construction, and sports industries across North America. Also in the U.S., BASF, in association with Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Massachusetts, recently inaugurated the American Center for Research on Advanced Materials. Over the next five years, the partners aim to develop microstructures and nanostructured polymers with new properties and come up with bioinspired materials.
