German engineering plastics producer Covestro (Leverkusen; www.covestro.com) is launching a programme to drive digital technologies in research and development (R&D). To provide support for the digital upgrade, computing hardware at Leverkusen headquarters is to be significantly increased over the course of 2019. The digitalisation strategy being developed, in collaboration with external partners such as RWTH Aachen University (Aachen / Germany; www.rwth-aachen.de) and established companies from the IT sector, will allow complex processes to be accelerated with test series able to be computer simulated to a much greater extent, the company said. As the technology enables energy and material consumption in experimental work to be reduced, time-to-market for innovative products can also be shortened and processes made more sustainable.

Simulations for industrial catalysts are a good example of how digital chemistry can improve product developments, the engineering plastics producer said. Computer chemistry can now be used to select catalysts more quickly, better understand response mechanisms and discover new response pathways. Together with RWTH Aachen, Covestro is analysing the digitally obtained results of R&D experiments at the university’s CAT Catalytic Center (www.catalyticcenter.rwth-aachen.de). This approach will allow it to virtually recreate experiments faster by reducing process steps, while at the same time conserving resources.

Over the next several years, Covestro said it will also invest increasingly in the consolidation of global research data in a company-wide network. With this, all of its research locations worldwide will be able to share all existing available knowledge on the data platform and thus improve the efficiency of R&D projects.