In 2010, BASF again intends to maintain its research budget at the previous years' high level, with an overall target of EUR1.38 billion (US$1.91 billion).

 

For the previous year 2009, BASF's research allocations reached almost EUR1.4 billion (US$1.94 billion), slightly above the EUR1.35 billion (US$1.87 billion) of the previous year 2008.

 

''Only with a continuous flow of innovations can we consistently use competitive advantages to achieve above-market organic growth. Continuity of research strategy is important both in good times and also in times of crisis,'' said Dr. Andreas Kreimeyer, Member of the Board of Executive Directors and Research Executive Director, explaining BASF's long-term commitment.

 

The company's R&D strategy aims to enhance the existing portfolio, develop customer-specific system solutions and deliver solutions to the challenges of the future arising from global megatrends, he continued. The complex issues to be addressed include supplying a growing world population with water, food, energy or mobility. Reflecting these technology and chemistry-relevant global trends, BASF has defined five Growth Clusters for strategic corporate research: Plant Biotechnology, White (Industrial) Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, Energy Management and Raw Material Change.

 

The company's 9,300-large R&D team is dedicated to transforming a pipeline brimming with about 3,300 projects into new business, said Kreimeyer.

 

It will also be necessary to respond to the paradigm shift currently underway in chemistry, whereby success will no longer be determined merely by new molecules but by new effects, new systems and system solutions, new components and functional materials.

 

''We can only successfully tackle these complex problems through international and interdisciplinary cooperations,'' he explained.

 

The importance of international knowledge networks in tackling the challenges of the future was demonstrated by presenting three of BASF's particularly successful research cooperations. These were the Joint Innovation Lab at Ludwigshafen site which is pushing forward organic electronics, the research initiative at Harvard University in the USA devoted to preventing biofilms, and the Catalysis Research Laboratory (CaRLa) at Heidelberg University.

 

The joint laboratory of BASF and Heidelberg University has become a prime research location attracting catalysis researchers from around the world. Following a successful evaluation, the run time and funding of the Catalysis Research Laboratory, CaRLa for short, was extended by another five years at the beginning of the year by BASF, Heidelberg University and the State of Baden-Württemberg. At this centre, corporate researchers and the university are jointly addressing basic and industrial research topics in the field of homogeneous catalysis.

 

BASF is the world's leading chemical company, with its portfolio ranging from chemicals, plastics and performance products to agricultural products, fine chemicals as well as oil and gas.