Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), today opened one of its biggest technology center in Bangalore. The state of the art SABIC Technology Center (STC) was built with a $100 million investment and is one of the top technology center among 17 other centers located globally included the U.S., Europe, Middle East and Asia.
The STC is spread in an area of 187,000 sq.meter and over 300 scientists, engineers and supporting staff from India are involved in product and process research and innovating new solutions. Though the center was operational ready since July 15 this year, it was formally inaugurated today in presence of top officials and dignitaries. Among the 300 staff, over half are holding doctorate – Ph.D degrees.
This latest center focuses primarily on diverse areas of research in chemistry, material, science, process engineering, analytical and application technology. It supports business as a strategic center of excellence to cater to global and regional needs. Company also a large size center in Shanghai,China.
“As per our strategy, by 2025 we want to grow business globally including emerging markets like India. As emerging markets drive growth, India is a key market and country that drives growth. Bangalore is the place where most top companies have innovation centers and not having our center here we cannot innovate and grow our business,” said Mohamed H. Al-Mady, Vice Chairman & CEO, SABIC.
“We care for our customers and this center is dedicated to customers and their interactions with SABIC. The center is built keeping sustainability in mind,” added Al- Mady. With this new center, company has a strong pool of 2000 technologists driving innovation.
“SABIC is a truly global company with 17 R&D centers. Geographically we are present in the U.S., Europe, Middle East and Asia including Japan and Korea. We have 2000 scientists and with total 10,000 patents awarded or applied to SABIC and are having a double digit growth yearly,” said Dr. Ernesto Occhiello, EVP Technology & Innovation, SABIC.
“We are targeting growth in Asia excluding Middle East with tripling the number of people in R&D centers. Bangalore is very important for as its the biggest center in Asia with 300 staff, which we are expecting to double it over next year or so,” added Occhiello.
The center was inaugurated in presence of H H Prince of Saudi Arabia Saud Bin Abdullah Bin Thenayan Al-Saud, Governor of Karnataka Dr. Hans Raj Bhardwaj, Minister of Minority Affairs K Rahman Khan, Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Statistics & Program Implementation Srikant Kumar Jena.