UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Borouge inaugurates innovation centre in Abu Dhabi

The Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge) formally opened its high-tech innovation centre at SAS Al Nakhl, Abu Dhabi, on 24 Nov 2015. The inauguration of the centre, which has filed more than 200 patents over the past two years, was attended by Shaikh Nahyan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Board at Zayed Foundation for Charity and Humanitarian Works, other shaikhs and high-ranking officials.

“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,” said Abdul Aziz Al Hajri, CEO of Borouge.

Around 15 % 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 200 patents filed so far account for 30 % of all patents registered in the World Intellectual Property Organisation database filed by UAE applicants.

“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.”

The 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.

Source: Daily “Gulf News”, Dubai; 24 Nov 2015
(Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)