22 June 2023, China: BASF and South China University of Technology (SCUT) today signed a strategic partnership framework agreement, covering various fields including innovative technology development, university-industry collaboration, and talent development.
Through this partnership, BASF and SCUT aim to deepening the cooperation and building an innovation eco-system with the focus on chemicals, materials, and industrial intelligence solutions. Both parties will identify the research directions based on technologies, products, and markets in various segments, and carry out industry-university collaboration in fundamental research, application-driven fundamental research, technology research and development, and forward-looking technology reserves. BASF and SCUT will also leverage this opportunity to enhance talent development for the chemical industry, as talents play a key role in driving innovations.
“BASF started our collaboration with SCUT since 2019. We are impressed by SCUT’s leading education and research capabilities, advanced school management philosophy, as well as its remarkable education and scientific research achievements,” said Dr. Jeffrey Lou, President and Chairman of BASF Greater China. “With this agreement, we will enhance the strategic cooperation with SCUT and build up a role model in university-enterprise cooperation. I hope that our win-win partnership will inspire more innovative ideas and achieve larger success.”
Zhang Liqun, President of South China University of Technology commented: “BASF’s expertise in material and chemicals is a perfect match with SCUT’s strength, which is also one of our focuses to support and develop. With this partnership, we can drive synergy to lead the market-oriented research and in-depth exploration. Our collective efforts will also contribute to original, disruptive, and impactful research results, as well as foster more innovative talents, in order empower the development of the region.”
This strategic cooperation also marks a new milestone in the innovation drive for school-enterprise cooperation at BASF’s new Verbund site in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province. As BASF’s largest investment to date, the Zhanjiang Verbund site is committed to bringing added value to its customers and communities with its innovative process technologies and high-end product portfolio. Under the framework of this strategic cooperation, the Zhanjiang Verbund site and SCUT have signed several scientific research projects. In the future, the site will continue to enhance its scientific research cooperation, while promoting the scientific innovation and cultivating talents jointly with universities and research institutions including SCUT.
In 2014, BASF established the Network for Asian Open Research (NAO), a joint platform steered by BASF and leading universities and institutes in the Asia Pacific Region. Since then, BASF and its partners have completed more than 135 joint research projects. With NAO, BASF and SCUT started the cooperation since 2019, focusing on cutting-edge research in plastics recycling, bio-based materials, polymer materials and engineering.
