Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) will launch four new technology and innovation centers in 2013, two in Saudi Arabia and one each in India and China. Total investment amounted to half a billion US dollars, according to the company. Mohamed Al-Mady, SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO, said, “These four new facilities will further empower our global technology and innovation centers to build on their innovative systems to develop new technologies, improve manufacturing processes, and contribute to a sustainable environment for our communities.”
The two centers in Saudi Arabia are the Corporate Research & Innovation Center (CRI) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal and the other, the SABIC Plastic Applications Development Center (SPADC) in Riyadh Techno Valley at King Saud University (KSU) in Riyadh. Ernesto Occhiello, SABIC Executive Vice President, Technology and Innovation, explained that the CRI, scheduled for an April opening, “will seek to exchange experience and knowledge between the researchers at SABIC and KAUST, opening access to new technical competencies, blending academia with industry, tapping into new inventions made by academia, sourcing top talent and fresh ideas, and developing a community of excellence in upstream research.”
The SPADC, which is set to open in the second quarter of the year, aims to develop new applications for automotive, packaging, consumer, construction, signage, and compounding. The Bangalore research center is scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2013. The center in Shanghai will open in the third quarter of 2013.
