Research and Development in the BASF group

The innovative chemistry of BASF is the driving force for many industries and provides an important impetus for new products, technologies and processes. Our know-how and our products offer solutions for key societal concerns and enable our customers to be successful in the long term. Their success ensures profitable growth and sustainable commercial success for BASF.

Our four global technology platforms, Polymer Research, Specialty Chemicals Research, Chemicals Research and Engineering, and Plant Biotechnology Research act as knowledge and competence centers. Here our researchers develop the chemistry of the future together with customers, startup companies, research institutes and universities.

Customer needs and technological progress are the main innovation drivers of our research. Once again in 2007, we further expanded our activities in research and development. The results are diverse: ranging from the new refinery catalyst NaphthaMax^®, the binder COL.9^® for dirt resistant façade coatings with a nanostructured surface, to Ludiflash^®, an excipient for the rapid disintegration of medicines in tablet form.

Our Plant Biotechnology Research has benefited from new, valuable inputs through its collaboration with Monsanto. Over the life of the collaboration, crops are to be developed and commercialized that are, for example, more tolerant to drought and higher yielding. BASF is also active in additional future markets such as organic photovoltaics and lithium-ion batteries for power storage. We have started research alliances together with partner companies in this domain. A global network with industrial partners and reputable universities are also important success factors for efficient and future-oriented research. Our network includes 1,800 collaborative partnerships with universities, research institutes, startup companies and industrial partners. In this regard we have established an interdisciplinary research initiative with Harvard University mainly to research innovative products in the field of medical technology.

In 2007, BASF had more than 8,600 employees in research and development worldwide. We spent €1,380 million on research and development, compared with €1,277 million in 2006. In 2008 we are planning expenditures of €1,450 million - no other company in the world spends more on chemical research. One third will be invested in products and technologies for increased energy efficiency and climate protection. In 2007, BASF filed 1,140 patents.

From 2010, we expect product innovations alone to generate annual sales of more than €4 billion. Of this amount, up to 20% of sales will be additional – in other words, not generated by replacing existing products. Of the amount spent on research and development in 2007, almost 80% fell under the operational responsibility of the operating divisions. Over 20% was accounted for by corporate research, which has a longer time horizon.

In recent years, we have introduced new methods for our project and portfolio management, such as the Phase Gate process, to continually improve the efficiency of our research processes. As a result of a research pact for the future, we expect higher efficiency from research and development at the Ludwigshafen and Limburgerhof sites. This pact further improves leadership and personnel tools as well as workflow and competence management.

Corporate research, which is cross-divisional, has enabled us to establish a strategic tool with which we can develop growth clusters and ensure the long-term technical and methodical competence of BASF. In so doing, we focus on five growth clusters that cover the most important approaches for future challenges: energy management, nanotechnology, white (industrial) biotechnology, plant biotechnology, and raw material change. As part of our strategy “We innovate for growth” we link chemistry with the related natural sciences. Consequently, the clusters represent a cross-section of various technologies and mirror the breadth of our know-how. From the years 2006 to 2008, we will be investing over €900 million in our growth clusters. Starting in 2015, we expect additional annual sales of between €2 billion and €4 billion from innovations based on projects in the growth clusters.

In the area of energy management, we are focusing on developing new technologies and materials for energy storage and conversion. Our new laboratory for organic electronics in Singapore as well as our research cooperations in the field of organic photovoltaics and lithium-ion batteries for power storage strengthen our activities in this cluster. PEMEAS, a leading supplier of fuel cell components, was completely integrated into our research in the field of fuel cells.

Nanostructured surfaces and molecular architecture create new possibilities for products and solutions. The diverse areas of application include for example dirt repellent textiles and architectural coatings, rapidly processible plastic components as well as sun protection pigments. The first products from this growth cluster are already being launched.

We consider biotechnology and genetic engineering to be an additional key technology of the 21st century. It enables numerous product and process innovations that would be mostly unachievable by conventional means.

Our white (industrial) biotechnology research concentrates on three areas: enzyme catalysis for the production of specialty chemicals, fermentation based on renewable raw materials as well as industrial proteins and other biopolymers. In collaboration with our customers, we are currently testing various applications for Hydrophobin, a protein obtained from fungi that in the future can be used to make car windshields and other surfaces water repellent.

In the growth cluster plant biotechnology, we are developing plants for more efficiency in agriculture, healthier nutrition and for use as renewable raw materials. The success of our research in this area is underlined by our cooperation with Monsanto, the leading company in plant biotechnology, as well as the pending approval for the starch potato Amflora.

In the raw materials change growth cluster, we aim to expand the range of starting materials for our value-adding chains; examples include renewable raw materials and natural gas. More information can be found in the section “BASF Segments”.