Lanxess Steps Up Research and Development Activities

Specialty chemicals group Lanxess AG is stepping up its research and development activities, increasing its 2009 investment budget to around EUR 110 million, up 10 percent from 2008, and expanding the number of staff. At the beginning of this year, Lanxess also created an independent innovation group function for centralized coordination of its research and development activities.  

"Our aim is to translate all innovations and product enhancements into marketable products as quickly as possible," explains, LANXESS AG Board of Management member, Werner Breuers. "We are planning to have 80 percent of our current R&D projects ready for the market within two years."

The company has more than 450 employees working on new ideas at research centers around the globe. This figure is 11 percent higher than in 2007, and is set to rise. In 2008, Lanxess completed 110 research and development projects, and currently has 100 projects in the pipeline. The number of new patents secured by the company quadrupled between 2006 and 2008, and the Group currently holds around 6,300 patents in total.

In China, Lanxess has established research, development and technical centers for rubber and semi-crystalline products, leather chemicals and material protection products in the cities of Wuxi, Shanghai, Beijing and Qingdao. It also maintains a rubber chemicals technical center in Thane, Mumbai  and a microbiology laboratory for material protection in Singapore.