BASF has laid the foundation stone for the second phase of its Innovation Campus Asia Pacific at Shanghai Pudong, China location down. The expansion for € 90 million (Rs 726 crore) includes an additional building for regional R&D as well as additional equipment and will be completed by end-2015.

"By 2020, about 25 percent of R & D employees of BASF will work in the Asia-Pacific region. The expansion confirms the commitment of BASF to globalize their R&D activities and to capitalise on growth opportunities in China and Asia-Pacific,” said Dr Andreas Kreimeyer, board member of BASF SE and Research.

The Innovation Campus is the main R&D centre of BASF in the region and is one of the largest R&D facilities outside of Germany and services growth industries such as automotive.  

"The Innovation Campus Asia Pacific in Shanghai has shown that he is an effective platform that responds not only quickly to market needs in China and Asia-Pacific, but BASF combines well with the scientific community in Asia-Pacific,” said Dr Martin Müller, deputy chairman of BASF SE, responsible for Asia-Pacific.

In addition to the Innovation Campus in Shanghai, BASF’s R&D centres in Asia include those in Japan, Singapore and Korea. An Innovation Campus in India is also planned. In 2013, BASF’s global spend on R&D was € 1.8 billion (Rs 14,520 crore). It employs around 10,650 scientists and researchers working on 3,000 research projects. Last year, the company filed 1,300 patents and approximately 151,000 applications and proprietary rights worldwide.