On September 4, the world’s top chemical company BASF opened a new R&D center at SKKU’s Natural Sciences Campus.

“We hope to make this into the electric materials research hub for the Asia-Pacific region, by combining BASF’s technological expertise with SKKU’s materials development prowess that derives from its specialized departments in semiconductors, cellphone, soft wear and collaboration with SAMSUNG," said BASF’s Executive Vice President Dr. Lothar Laupichler who attended the opening ceremony.

BASF chose SKKU for its R&D center because it saw the potential in the university’s IT expertise coming together with its reasonable costs in utilizing facilities and research equipment. Forecasting that there will be a huge growth in sales in Korea (in 2013 KRW 140 million) Laupichler said, “We are hiring 42 graduate students and will build a manufacturing factory as well.”

Last year BASF sent four researchers to work with ten graduate students on a joint development project for flexible display, investing KRW 4 billion. “This is an opportunity for our school to develop its research capacity as well as its global recognition,” said SKKU President Kim Jun Young.

“Collaboration between global companies and local universities can be considered a good example of the ‘creative economy’ because it brings about technological advancements locally and creates jobs," said Professor Yi Gi-ra of the Chemical Engineering Department. “In this respect, there should be more efforts from universities and more support form the government to attract companies.”