Covestro expands open innovation in China

German materials and polymer expert, Covestro, has expanded its concept for open innovation with various partners starting from the Asia-Pacific Innovation Centre in Shanghai.

“China is setting the pace for technologies and solutions driving the next wave of industrial and informational revolution,” said Ms. Sucheta Govil, Chief Commercial Officer of Covestro, while commenting on the company’s new concept of ‘Open Innovation Hub’. “Covestro is ready to adapt to future trends and will be the preferred partner for customers when it comes to open innovation,” she added.

The hub concept will support experts and partners with an infrastructure to work on five important pillars, for example in engaging with designers, start-ups and established customers to explore potential aesthetic and circular design of products. The new approach enables experts to reach out into the ecosystems to find partners for sustainability topics and circular economy, and helps to build networks for industries and applications where Chinese developments take a leading role such as mobility, robotics, hyperloops, bio-materials and drones. The concept also fosters projects on digital sales and new digital services with the help of tools such as artificial intelligence, voice recognition, and augmented reality. It also contributes to expand the existing network with universities and institutes.

“We will bundle our open innovation activities under one umbrella now,” said Dr. Michael Schmidt, Head of Innovation, Covestro, Asia Pacific. “We strive for a close and intense collaboration with our partners from all kind of industries with the goal to build a leading innovation ecosystem for our customers,” he explained.

Covestro has been active in connecting with start-ups, academia such as Tongji University and cross-industry partners even before implementing a branded open innovation concept in China. It will now allow to accelerate the innovation cycles for different industries and customers.