BASF Highlights Research Priorities for 2012, Plans Strong Focus on Consumer “Health and Nutrition”

BASF will be concentrating further in future is the branch “Health and Nutrition”. BASF already supplies numerous products for this market. With the introduction of new photostable UV filters for instance the company has established itself as a global technology and market leader.

30 Mar 2012 --- BASF is realigning its research and is focusing even more strongly on the market and the global customer industries. Alongside the further development of the established business portfolio, the main research emphasis is being placed on growth and technology fields that address social challenges and offer BASF relevant business potential.

This new orientation is based on BASF's ”We create chemistry” strategy through which the company is intensifying its focus on sustainability and innovation as growth drivers. For 2012, BASF is planning to increase its research and development spending to €1.7 billion (previous year 2011: €1.6 billion). “To seize growth opportunities we are systematically expanding our product and technology portfolio, establishing an even more global presence and increasing our efforts to develop solutions for a sustainable future,” said Dr. Andreas Kreimeyer, member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF and Research Executive Director at the Research Press Conference in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

In 2020, BASF wants to achieve sales of around €30 billion with products that have not been on the market for longer than ten years. To accomplish this, BASF is strengthening its collaboration with key industries and concentrating on growth fields relevant to society such as “heat management”, “water treatment” and “organic electronics”. These are new business areas for BASF with high growth potential. At the same time, enabling technologies have been defined – such as raw material change, material systems and nanotechnology as well as white biotechnology – which are needed to generate solutions for the growth fields.

In order to implement the new orientation most effectively, the research platforms have been tailored to the various business and technology areas and assigned specific topics. Thus, the activities of the platform “Process Research & Chemical Engineering” concentrate on new technologies, processes and catalysis. The topics crop protection, organic electronics and white biotechnology are being pursued in the research division “Biological & Effect Systems Research”. In the research platform “Advanced Materials & Systems Research”, activities are focused mainly on new polymeric materials and system solutions and the fourth platform “Plant Science”, is continuing its research into plant biotechnology.

One of the customer industries on which BASF will be concentrating further in future is the branch “Health and Nutrition”. BASF already supplies numerous products for this market. With the introduction of new photostable UV filters for instance the company has established itself as a global technology and market leader. About every second sunscreen product contains BASF's UV absorbers. Two important innovations are the broadband UV filters Tinosorb  S and Tinosorb  M, which protect the skin against both UVA and UVB rays. Tinosorb S is an oil-soluble, organic UV absorber which is also used in daily care products. With Tinosorb M, BASF has the first and only insoluble, organic UV absorber on the market. It is often used in products with a high sunscreen factor and in sun creams for children.

An important asset for globalized research is an international network of outstanding external researchers. BASF is already working in around 1,950 cooperations worldwide with universities, research institutes, start-ups and partners from industry. One example is the “Joint Research Network in Advanced Materials and Systems” (JONAS), a new initiative for researching functional materials in partnership with the universities of Strasbourg and Freiburg as well as ETH Zurich. “An extensive network of this type is indispensable to rapidly develop and market products that are durable, suitable for everyday use and affordable,” emphasized Kreimeyer.