BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) has officially opened its new EUR 55m innovation campus at Shanghai / China as part of its Greater China headquarters. The new site, called its “most important” in the People’s Republic to date, will ultimately employ more than 2,500 people. By 2020, about 25% of the group’s global R&D headcount will work at the site, said managing board member Martin Brudermüller.

In the first phase, some 450 R&D personnel in technical teams from 17 BASF business units will cooperate in interdisciplinary development groups. The focus of research will be on advanced materials such as biopolymers for home and personal care applications, custom binders for waterproofing in varying climate conditions, thermally conductive plastics for energy-efficient lighting and advance polyurethane formulations for footwear. China is the German group’s third largest market.