In line with the celebration of the UAE Innovation Week, Borouge, a leading petrochemical company that provides innovative, value-creating plastics solutions, officially opened on Tuesday its Innovation Centre in Abu Dhabi which plays a vital role in the Company’s commitment to deliver sustainable, creative and value-added plastics to global customers.
Borouge
The inauguration ceremony of the Borouge Innovation Centre was attended by His Highness Sheikh Nayhan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, and other members of royalty, high-ranking dignitaries from the oil and gas and petrochemical industries as well as prominent figures of the Abu Dhabi Government and business community.
Located at Sas Al Nakhl in Abu Dhabi, the new hi-tech facility serves as the focal point of innovation and research in the field of polymer development and application technology. Reflecting the organisation’s corporate mission of ‘Value Creation through Innovation’, the Borouge Innovation Centre provides value-added plastics solutions for customers worldwide, focusing on infrastructure, automotive and advanced packaging industries.
"We are honoured with the presence of His Highness Sheikh Nayhan bin Zayed Al Nahyan to inaugurate our Borouge Innovation Centre which is truly an embodiment of the vision of the UAE leadership who have sought to promote innovation as the basis of our sustainable economy," said Abdulaziz Alhajri, CEO of Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge). "The Centre is a very important milestone in the history of Borouge and, indeed, in the development of a knowledge-
based economy in the UAE.
"The Borouge mission is ‘Value Creation through Innovation’ and the Abu Dhabi Innovation Centre is a cornerstone in delivering our strategy to provide sustainable high-value plastic solutions. We are proud to play a leading role in the industry through responding to the fast-growing demand for advanced, value-add plastics. And as manufacturers are investing in improving their products while adhering to consumer tastes and new regulations, we too must be at the cutting edge of innovation and work together with our partners to find solutions to market needs while also addressing global challenges such water scarcity, food security, affordable healthcare and climate change."
Since the inception of research and development operations two year ago, the Borouge Innovation Centre has filed over 200 patents – accounting for about 30 per cent of all patents registered in the World Intellectual Property Organisation database filed by UAE applicants. Around 15 per cent of products currently produced by Borouge have been developed at the Innovation Centre. It is expected that within the next five years the Innovation Centre will have filed around 750 patents, with new products accounting for around 1 million tonnes, or 25 per cent, of annual sales.
The Borouge Innovation Centre includes extensive laboratory and application development resources, supporting Borouge’s unique capability in providing expertise in polymer analysis, processing, and application testing. With over 70 researchers, scientists and technicians, including more than 25 UAE nationals, the Borouge Innovation Centre works closely with the European innovation centres of Borealis, a joint-venture partner of the Company along with ADNOC. The Innovation Centre also collaborates with leading international and local educational bodies such as the Petroleum Institute and Masdar Institute in Abu Dhabi to further develop the competence of polymer science in the UAE.
"Innovation at Borouge is very much industry-driven,” said Wim Roels, CEO of Borouge Pte Ltd, the Company’s marketing arm. “With this outstanding hub of business creativity, Borouge enhances its innovation capabilities to better support our customers and respond to their increasingly complex requirements by continuously developing new sustainable and innovative product offerings and applications."
Roels added that the Centre works closely with the Company’s Applications Centre in Shanghai to develop new products that are now being introduced by some of the world’s biggest car manufacturers.
The new Innovation Centre strongly supports Borouge’s expansion and growth strategies especially now that its new mega Borouge 3 plant has come on stream, increasing the Company’s total production capacity to 4.5 million tonnes per year, and making Borouge the largest integrated, single-sited polyolefins complex in the world.