Sabic has opened the Sabic Plastics Application Development Center (SPADC), a 42,000sqm research facility at the Riyadh Techno Valley in King Saud University (KSU).
Built at a cost of SR472m ($126m), the centre will house more than 200 Sabic scientists, engineers and technicians, who will work with customers and with academic and industrial research communities within Sabic’s Technology & Innovation global network.
Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Thenayan Al-Saud, chairman of Sabic and the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu, said SPADC aims to meet customers’ needs and collaborate with them to create dependable technical solutions.
“It is the newest among Sabic’s research centres,” he said. “It comes close on the heels of the recent launch of two research facilities in China and India.”
Initiated by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources with strong support from King Saud University, the new centre was backed by the government in its determination to make Saudi Arabia a world leader in petrochemical research, he said.
Mohamed Al-Mady, Sabic vice chairman and CEO, also spoke at the inauguration. “The new centre is yet another important step for Sabic to evolve further as an innovation-driven company, besides being an important driver of economic growth within Saudi Arabia’s efforts to become a knowledge-based economy,” he said. “SPADC’s role will be to introduce innovative plastics solutions to Saudi Arabia’s entrepreneurs, delivering new applications for businesses.
“Our plans call for further strengthening our innovation footprint. We have just set up a new research facility at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; and we now have about 2,000 researchers worldwide, with the number growing rapidly.”
Sabic claims to be growing to achieve one of the highest figures for patents per researcher among chemical companies. SPADC will be augmented over time by the establishment of a Home of Innovation, a meeting ground for specifiers, customers and businessmen for growing new opportunities, in areas such as construction materials and consumer goods, added Al-Mady.
Prince Faisal bin Turki bin Abdulaziz, advisor at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, said the research facility would have an important role for Saudi Arabia’s downstream development and for the Kingdom’s overall energy value chain by adding value to its hydrocarbon resources and enabling further diversification of its economy.
He said he hoped the centre would be an addition to Sabic’s research and development investments in KSU, and hoped that Saudi universities would attract research and development investments and programmes by Saudi and international companies.