By Issa Quirante / Special to the BusinessMirror
MAKING great progress toward transforming itself into a higher value, higher growth science company, DuPont recently revealed it will put up a new business research and development (R&D) hub in Singapore, which will start operations in 2016.
The combined business and R&D center, an 11,000-square-meter facility with state-of-the-art laboratory and business complex, will house about 200 scientists, engineers and business leaders.
Drawing on DuPont’s leading position in agriculture and nutrition, advanced materials and bio-based industrials, the new DuPont Singapore Asean headquarters will focus on delivering new innovations tailored to meet the unique needs of the Asean market.
“Asean is a key growth region for DuPont. And we chose Singapore because it is an ‘air hub’ for Asean, where there are direct nonstop flights [from countries in Asean to Singapore]. We see that as an advantage so that the customer can, for example, come to meet our scientists in the lab, or our scientists can easily travel to meet with the customers in their home country. Singapore is an ideal location for the DuPont Asean headquarters because of its close proximity to our Asean customers, the region’s diverse talent pool, and policies that stimulate collaboration and innovation,” said Hsing Ho, DuPont Asean Group managing director. Hsing added that DuPont has invested consistently in Asean over the past 40 years, with recent investments for a hybrid-corn seed-production plant in Lamphun, Thailand; a new DuPont Myanmar office that opened in Yangon; and a new site in Singapore supplying products to agriculture and electronics customers.
Douglas Muzyka, DuPont senior vice president and chief science and technology officer, said, “DuPont’s powerful innovation pipeline is driven by our unique combination of science and engineering, strong execution and global reach. The DuPont Singapore Asean headquarters will bring us closer than ever to our Asean customers so that, together, we can more quickly develop and deliver innovative solutions for the region and the world.”
DuPont is present in eight Asean countries and has operated in Singapore since 1973. With the establishment of this new Asean business and R&D headquarters, DuPont’s total work force in Singapore will grow significantly. The facility is expected to expand to over 300 employees by 2020. It will be part of DuPont’s global network of 13 innovation centers and 150 R&D centers worldwide, focusing on bringing new science-based innovations to customers everywhere.
