MUMBAI, INDIA/LUDWIGSHAFEN, GERMANY: BASF broke ground on a new Innovation Campus in Navi Mumbai, India. The company will invest approximately €50 million via BASF Chemicals India Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF SE. The facility will accommodate around 300 scientists investigating areas such as crop protection, process development and polymer research.
The BASF Innovation Campus (Mumbai) will host global research activities and regional and local development activities. Development activities will serve BASF’s Performance Chemicals, Care Chemicals, and Pigments & Dispersions businesses. By combining development activities with global research, the campus will foster exchange of know-how and ideas about latest technologies and methods, ensure access to state-of-the-art equipment, and create synergies.
The BASF Innovation Campus (Mumbai) will begin operation in 2017 and will include synthesis, application, process, and analytical laboratories. Along with scientific facilities, the 20,000 square meter site includes technical facilities, logistics areas, a full-scale auditorium and canteen, and employee amenities areas.
The new building will include multiple features designed to minimize energy use, including a secondary façade, a reflective roof, water chillers for air conditioning, and photovoltaic panels. Drinking water will be supplied through dispensers using a filter technology, eliminating the need for disposable bottles. The building will also maximize use of natural light through a glass-roofed atrium that directs daylight into the building core.
“The Asia Pacific region faces enormous challenges that we address with innovation from chemistry. BASF operates a strong global R&D network, which we will further strengthen with investments in innovation capacities in Asia Pacific. 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,” said Martin Brudermuller, Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, BASF SE, and responsible for the Asia Pacific region.
“Along with this important new investment in the BASF Innovation Campus (Mumbai), we are also establishing specialized 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,” added Brudermuller.
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