Evonik to invest over €4bn in R&D over next 10 years
27 Mar 2015
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Wesseling, Germany – German speciality chemical company Evonik has announced that it will be investing €4 billion in research and development over the next decade.
"Our intention is to turn Evonik into one of the world's most innovative companies," said CEO Klaus Engel in an R&D press conference on 26 March.
"Innovations open up new business areas and strengthen our leading market and technology positions," added Engel.
In fiscal year 2014, Evonik's R&D spending amounted to €413 million, an increase of 5 percent over the previous year (€394 million).
Also, Ulrich Küsthardt, who was appointed chief innovation officer at Evonik earlier this year, presented a three-point plan for this purpose.
A detailed breakdown of the investment plan was not disclosed but Evonik said that some 80 percent would go to activities within the “operative businesses, which are specifically aligned with their respective core technologies and markets.”
Another ten percent is to be used by the operative units to research and develop new business, said the company. The remaining ten percent is earmarked for strategic research at Evonik's innovation unit, Creavis: establishing new high-tech activities outside of the existing group portfolio.
According to Evonik, the company is at the forefront of speciality chemicals sector in terms of the number of first-time patent applications filed in 2014.
“The company held over 25,000 patents and patent applications in 2014. Some 250 new patents were filed last year… with some 2,600 Evonik employees working in research at 35 sites,” added the release.
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