BASF to Boost Technology Funding

Corporate Research

BASF plans to spend $1.35 billion on R&D next year—an 18% increase over 2004—and focus research on the five “growth clusters” of energy management, raw material change, nanotechnology, plant biotechnology, and industrial biotechnology.

About $940 million will be allocated for these growth clusters between 2006 and 2008. The research expansion will boost BASF’s R&D staff by 10%, or some 180 positions.

The company plans to open a new laboratory for nanostructured surfaces in Singapore next year. It will increase staffing at labs in Evans City, Pa.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Thane, India, and is doubling positions in its lab at Strasbourg University, in France.

About $315 million will be dedicated to plant biotechnology between 2006 and 2008. Much of the research will focus on the output traits of plants, such as creating plants that produce natural oils with high levels of w-3 fatty acids and potatoes with starch compositions that can be used in adhesives.

In industrial biotechnology, BASF will spend $175 million to apply its “wide-ranging expertise in enzyme catalysis and the fermentative production of amino acids and vitamins” to new fields.

Some $105 million will be dedicated to energy management, including organic solar cells, hydrogen storage, and membrane electrode assemblies for fuel cells. BASF will spend roughly $120 million to study new raw materials such as renewable feedstocks.

Separately, BASF is taking out a license from the University of Alabama for the use of ionic liquids to dissolve cellulose. The company says the lack of suitable solvents has limited cellulose’s use as a renewable feedstock.