French chemical company Rhodia has opened its new international research and development center in Shanghai to help the Group to achieve its ambitious growth and development objectives in Asia.
Dedicated to the Asian market, Rhodia says that the center will focus on the development of high technology innovations which respect the principles of sustainable development.
The center will leverage Rhodia's expertise in chemical engineering process improvement in a number of areas including: the development of engineering plastics for the electrical, electronics, and automotive markets; the design of high performance formulations to serve the detergent, cosmetics, and industrial applications markets; and the design of rare earth-based products for use in low energy consumption lamps and in the high precision polishing of electronic components such as LCD screens and glass hard disks.
Since the new center's foundations were laid in spring 2008, Rhodia has already built up a team of 70 researchers who has contributed to some fifteen inventions which are about to be registered as patents. In 2010, the center will cover 6,500 square meters and employ a total of 150 research scientists.
