Kr8 Guest Author
Huang Zhen: An observer and researcher of Open Innovation. Currently working for a world-renowned enterprise in the automotive industry, responsible for strategic and external cooperation; He was Director of Operations at the Roland Berger Cloud Innovation Center and studied open innovation with mentors during his time at the University of Mannheim Business School (MBS) in Germany.
Dr. Shen, a scientist at BASF, is about to undergo a career change within the company, and she remembers the moment she and BASF became friends on the Tsinghua campus a few years ago.
While studying at the Polymer Research Institute of the Department of Chemical Engineering of Tsinghua University, Dr. Shen, who studied under Professor Kan Chengyou, a top researcher in China, was selected for BASF's postdoctoral research project in the Asia-Pacific region for his research on breathable coatings for wood. Under the joint guidance of Professor Kan and BASF scientists, Dr. Shen's research results have made positive progress and have been well received by BASF's R&D experts in Asia Pacific. After his postdoctoral departure, Dr. Shen joined BASF's R&D team to continue his research into advanced materials and systems.
Dr. Shen's postdoctoral project is an important part of BASF's NAO: Network for Asian Open Research, through which BASF connects with academia in the Asia-Pacific region and forms an active platform for collaboration.
In fact, BASF's cooperation with university research institutions can be traced back to more than 100 years ago...
<h3>Alizarin and synthetic ammonia</h3>
Founded in 1865 by BASF, the first head of research, chemist Heinrich Caro, successfully synthesized the natural dye "Alizarin" in 1869 through collaboration with two professors from Berlin, Carl Graebe and Carl Liebermann, which became BASF's first global successful sales case. Since then, BASF's R&D team has maintained communication with the academic community and developed great synthetic ammonia in the process.
Sample book from around 1900: cotton alizarin dye
Fritz Hubble, winner of the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, gained the attention of BASF in his studies on the synthesis of ammonia and the conversion of nitrogen oxides from 1904 to 1907, and later received investment. Based on the Haber Laboratory's ammonia synthesis method, BASF's Research Director Carl Bosch expanded to industrial mass production and eventually developed a complete set of high-pressure large-scale reaction equipment to complete the industrial production of ammonia synthesis. Karl Bosch was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1931.
The synthetic ammonia process is named after these two people: Fritz Hubble (left) invented the process in the laboratory; Carl Bosch (right) successfully applied it to industrial production
The industrial production of nitrogen fertilizers by synthetic ammonia has completely changed the pattern of agriculture, and with it has brought about agricultural development and population growth worldwide. BASF's ammonia industry is also growing rapidly and driving the company to become the world's leading chemical company. The close collaboration between a university chemist and a corporate engineer is a classic example of how bringing together expertise in different fields, both internally and externally, can lead to success.
<h3>From Europe, North America to Asia</h3>
BASF has been actively cooperating with university research institutions in Europe, and in 2011 established the Joint Research Network for Advanced Materials and Systems (JONAS) to jointly study nanotechnology and polymer chemistry with the University of Strasbourg in France and the University of Freiburg in Germany. After that, in 2013, BASF established the North American Advanced Materials Research Center (NORA) in the United States to jointly research materials and polymers with Harvard University and MIT.
In the process of rapid urbanization, the Asian region represented by China has put forward higher requirements for urban infrastructure, transportation and travel, building construction, and living consumption. And innovation is already being driven by Asia in certain industries, such as electric vehicles and footwear. How can chemical innovation help urbanization? BASF built the Innovation Innovation Park in Shanghai as early as 1994, and in 2012 expanded and established the Asia-Pacific Innovation Park, becoming an R&D hub in the Asia-Pacific region and one of the company's largest R&D bases outside Germany.
BASF Innovation Campus Shanghai is BASF's largest R&D facility in Asia Pacific and the global headquarters of BASF's Advanced Materials and Systems Research Technology Platform
At the same time, more and more universities and research institutions in China, Japan and South Korea have vigorously developed in many fields, and the number of patents has also increased greatly.
In order to better understand and serve the Chinese and Asia-Pacific markets, to contact, exchange and cooperate with top universities and research institutes in the region, and to industrialize more academic research results, BASF established the "Advanced Materials Open Research Network" (NAO) in Shanghai in 2014, and the first batch of academic partners to join the network include Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Kyoto University in Japan, Hanyang University and other top academic institutions in the Asia-Pacific region.
In 2014, NAO's A stands for Advanced Materials. Due to the rapid development of the Asia-Pacific market and the positive praise of the business units, in 2017 A became Asia (Asia), expanding from the field of advanced materials to covering all research topics of BASF's three global technology platforms, including advanced materials and systems research, bioscience research and process research and chemical engineering platforms. Currently, NAO projects cover R&D areas such as new monomers and polymers, surface and interface chemistry, catalysis, agricultural protection products, coatings, and digitalization.
The Asia Open Research Network (NAO) partners include 12 top academic institutions from China, Japan, South Korea and India
<h3>Postdoctoral fellows, young scholars and university students</h3>
NAO's Postdoctoral Program (PostDoc) is an important part of BASF's networking with top academic institutions in the Asia-Pacific region. Every year, the NAO team will propose a number of topics with professors or researchers in academia according to the needs of the R&D team and business departments, plus research on cutting-edge technology development, and recruit postdoctoral fellows from cooperative academic institutions for research.
After the postdoctoral selection, BASF will provide financial support, and a scientist and a professor from an academic institution will jointly guide the postdoc and provide insight into market trends. Based on the postdoctoral research, the NAO team will help match BASF's R&D team to verify the research results and accelerate the process of transforming R&D into products.
Through postdoctoral projects, scientists at universities and research institutions can combine market dynamics and end-consumer demand to revise research directions and facilitate research into industrial processes. At the same time, BASF's R&D team can also access the most cutting-edge technologies and business areas, and quickly verify the research direction.
Based on the NAO postdoctoral program, BASF also organizes the annual "NAO Innovation Hub" event, inviting postdoctoral fellows to collaborate with BASF researchers, business colleagues and professors from top universities in the region. In addition, BASF has also established the "Chinese Chemical Society-BASF Youth Knowledge Innovation Award" through cooperation with the Chinese Chemical Society to provide scientific research grants to more young scientists.
The "Innovation Hub" event organized by the Asia Open Research Network (NAO).
In addition to collaborating with young scholars and postdocs, BASF has also set up courses and numerous activities for university students to show them the discipline of chemistry. NAO and Peking University have jointly launched an elective course designed for non-chemistry freshmen, "Charismatic Chemistry". This year, BASF also promoted the popular science course to many universities such as East China University of Science and Technology and Tongji University. In 2019, BASF also joined hands with Tsinghua University's innovation and entrepreneurship education platform x-lab to launch the Innovate (48) 48-hour Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project Challenge, and the winning teams also have the opportunity to directly enter the NAO postdoctoral program.
It is through postdoctoral programs and numerous activities and courses for university students that BASF has established partnerships with universities and research institutes through NAO in the Asia-Pacific region, promoting open innovation and attracting many outstanding talents to join BASF after graduation, many of whom have chosen to join BASF.
<h3>Where did Dr. Shen go? </h3>
Dr. Shen, who is about to usher in a career change within the company, her next stop is NAO. As the FIELD of NAO research expands, the NAO team also needs more professionals. From professional researchers to NAO technical experts, Dr. Shen is no longer limited to her own research field, she often communicates with the R&D partners of the business department to understand their technical needs and expectations.
In addition, Dr. Shen needs to continue to dig deeper into his own advanced materials field to understand the development trend of technology and the latest developments in academia. And she also needs to use her expertise and resources in the academic field to expand more academic exchange partners for NAO.
The NAO is also accompanied by the addition of more and more professionals like Dr. Shen, bringing together more top scientists and chemistry expertise for BASF in the Asia-Pacific region!
The cooperation between enterprises and university research institutions has a long history, and it is also the origin of open innovation theory research. Through cooperation, the academic community can understand the dynamics of the market and accelerate the industrialization of research and development; at the same time, the business community can understand the latest academic dynamics and leading technologies, and at the same time quickly verify their own research and development ideas, and achieve win-win development through this multi-faceted cooperation.
However, it is easier said than done, and in the actual development process, there is still a huge gap between the research results of universities and commercial applications, which requires huge investment and time accumulation. Is it possible to continuously collaborate with academia between the ups and downs of the business environment and push the boundaries of research? In the face of market pressure, the affirmative answer will become hesitant.
In addition, the localization demand brought about by the rapid development of the Asian market and the growing R&D capabilities of research institutions in the region are also asking many foreign-funded enterprises operating in China: whether the cooperation between Europe and the United States and academia can also be extended to China, and whether China's research and development strength can be enhanced, or even fed back to the European and American headquarters?
These are the many challenges that enterprises will face in the process of cooperation with academic institutions, especially in China. In this sense, BASF's NAO may become an excellent example for many companies to study and explore!
What are some excellent examples of open innovation practiced by domestic and foreign enterprises in China? What are the difficulties in practicing open innovation? And what are the breakthroughs? We, to be continued...
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