SABIC signs off on new global application development center in Riyadh

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) has signed a construction contract to build an 80,000m² application development center, including about 43,000m² of building space, at the Riyadh Techno Valley research complex inside the King Saud University (KSU) campus. The SABIC Plastics Application Development Center (SPADC) is part of the company's 2020 strategy, which it says emphasizes the importance of scientific research to serve industries and the process of innovation, and for the creation of new industries.

SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO, Mohamed Al-Mady, said the center will support the continued expansion of his company's product portfolio, especially in the areas of packaging, automotive materials, and compounding. Ultimately, he said that the new research facility will encourage growth of downstream industries, collaborating with customers to develop new plastic applications and provide technical support to SABIC's customers, locally and across the world.

Without specifying, Al-Mady noted that the center would be equipped with more than 300 pieces of research equipment operated by more than 150 expert researchers. It will become part of the company's Global Technology Center network, joining centers in Pittsfield, MA; Bergen op Zoom and Geleen, The Netherlands; Bangalore, India; Shanghai, China; Seoul, South Korea; and Moka, Japan. The center will also house the current Polymer Technical Support Center now located in Riyadh II Industrial City. SABIC said the center will be a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified building and is expected to be operational by the beginning of the third quarter of 2012.

KSU, which is billed as the Kingdom's oldest university, was founded in 1957 and for a time called Riyadh University, before reverting back to KSU in 1982. Including graduate students, the university had more than 36,000 students for the 2008-2009 academic year, with nearly 5000 instructors, one-third of whom come from outside Saudi Arabia.