True to its mission call of “value creation through innovation”, Borealis (Vienna / Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) on 20 November opened the doors of its new Innovation Headquarters in Linz / Austria. The EUR 50m project is to become the work space of 350 Borealis workers from around the globe, who will develop what the group calls “plastic materials of the future”.

Just 50 years earlier, Stickstoffwerke Linz had laid the groundwork for plastics production in the region when it began manufacturing its “Daplen” polypropylene. Today 35,000 people in the area are working in the plastics industry – “that’s 5% of all people employed altogether in Upper Austria”, remarked Gerhard Roiss, chairman of Borealis’ supervisory board.

“Plastics are the material of the future,” Roiss said at the centre’s inauguration ceremony, “and with a global production volume of 245m t, it is a real growth sector.” The Borealis supervisory board chairman pointed out that the competition “is not located a mere 100 km away but in China.” He cautioned that Chinese capacities were much larger and development there proceeds much faster.

Research at the Innovation Headquarters will fall under the categories “basic polymer research”, “mobility” and “general application”. Borealis operates three other innovation centres – in Stenungsund / Sweden (wire & cable), Porvoo / Finland (catalyser technology) and, together with affiliate Borouge, in Abu Dhabi / UAE (applications for the Middle Eastern and Asian markets).

The new five-story structure not only houses state-of-the-art plastics processing equipment and the accompanying laboratory and analysis tools, it also includes a polymerisation lab where researchers can produce samples of new grades that meet specific customer needs. Borealis chief executive Mark Garret explained that, “In Linz, we offer our customers direct access to cutting-edge plastic processing equipment, the expertise of international specialists and scientists, and years of experience in the field of process and product development, at one single site.”

The Innovation Headquarters is not the only investment the group has made in Upper Austria’s plastics sector. Thanks to Borealis’ support, the Johannes-Kepler University (JKU, Linz / Austria; www.jku.at) now offers a new Plastics Engineering programme, where some 100 students already have enrolled for a bachelor's degree programme. The university plans to offer English-language master's degree studies in the future as well.