— Further deepen cooperation with Tongji University
— Building an Industry-University-Research Platform from Incubation to Commercialization
Tongji-Covestro Innovation Institute: an industry-university-research platform that promotes open innovation.
China is one of Covestro’s fastest-growing markets, where digital transformation is in full swing, the electric vehicle market is booming, and the government’s focus on sustainable development continues to increase. In order to comply with these development trends and meet market demands, Covestro is further deepening its cooperation with Tongji University in Shanghai. The co-founded Tongji-Covestro Innovation Institute is promoting open innovation cooperation, with special focus areas including digitalisation, battery performance improvements for electric vehicles, and low VOCs and odors to help improve in-vehicle air quality The development of solutions, in addition, is also exploring the development of China’s robotics industry.
“With regard to many important industry trends, it is clear that China is becoming an innovation leader,” said Dr. Markus Steilemann, CEO of Covestro. “Because of this, as a global company , We are committed to carrying out local innovation in China and serving the Chinese and even the Asia-Pacific market. I am very excited to see that our local innovation team is taking on more and more global R&D responsibilities for core technologies. The open cooperation with Tongji University, a well-known university innovative and entrepreneurial cooperation, which inspires us to cross the limit and advance the industry with our partners.”
Dr. Selman (middle), CEO of Covestro, discusses industry trends with members of the Steering Committee of the Tongji-Covestro Innovation Institute.
Wu Guangming, deputy secretary of Tongji University, said: “The Innovation Research Institute has set a model for exploring innovative industry-university-research models. With the strong support of Covestro, the innovation achievements of the Research Institute in the past 8 years have been remarkable. I firmly believe that through the strengthening of both parties Cooperation, to promote innovative models and achievements to the industry, the research institute can help the industrialization of innovative achievements.”
The Institute was established in 2011. Dr. Michael Schmidt, Dean of the Institute and Head of Innovation for Covestro Asia Pacific, emphasized: “Through the Institute, the two parties are deepening cooperation in fields such as market-driven innovation, sustainable development, and commercialization. Although We have a long history of innovation, but we can’t rest on our laurels. We draw inspiration from the Institute on speed, new technologies and new business models to support sustainable development in China and elsewhere.”
Tongji-Covestro Innovation Institute also provides incubation funds for Tongji University students who participate in the annual business plan competition, aiming to further support the development of innovative applications, help students realize commercialization of projects, and help them establish their own start-up companies .
Open Innovation Collaboration Worldwide
In addition to cooperating with Tongji University, Covestro also cooperates with many well-known universities around the world to promote open innovation. Covestro’s cooperation with RWTH Aachen University in Germany focuses on catalysis research and is currently conducting further research and development on the use of carbon dioxide as a raw material for the production of new plastics.
Shanghai Tongji University: Covestro’s long-term open innovation partner.
Covestro also has in-depth cooperation with the Technical University of Berlin in Germany, focusing on the research and development of alternative raw materials, aiming to provide sustainable solutions for the fields of chemical and industrial engineering.
In Pittsburgh, USA, Covestro is cooperating with Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Engineering through a unique and innovative cooperation model to develop important material solutions for ice hockey.
In addition, Covestro is also cooperating with the American start-up platform Plug & Play in the fields of digitalization and new material solutions.