Kemira and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland have opened a new R&D center in São Paulo, Brazil. This hub will be a key to Kemira’s growth in South America as well as form an important part of Kemira’s global R&D.
A joint undertaking together with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the São Paulo R&D center is the fourth center in Kemira’s global R&D network. The new center is modeled after the R&D center in Espoo, Finland, where Kemira also works closely with vtt, among other partners. Built in record time, the São Paulo facility has been operational since the beginning of the year 2011 and had its official grand opening in March.
Harri Kerminen, Kemira’s President and CEO, opened the R&D Center in São Paulo
“The biggest challenge to making this happen was just finding a place to build the center,” recalls Hilton Casas, regional head for Kemira South America. São Paulo is a booming city, so real estate is hard to come by. But an excellent location was found near Kemira’s existing offices in the metropolitan area. This site puts the center close to key municipal institutions and makes for easy knowledge sharing between r&d and Kemira’s sales and support personnel nearby.
Solutions to industry’s water management
“This new R&D center is important to Kemira’s strategy,” continues Casas. “Water management is a real concern for the oil and mining industry in South America, as well as for the pulp and paper industry, which itself is an industry that is growing very fast here. With this new r&d center, we strengthen our focus on the needs of these industries in this region.”
“For our municipal and industrial segment, the R&D center in São Paulo will enable us to deepen our understanding of the water treatment challenges in South America and offer our customers concrete solutions to these issues,” adds Pekka Ojanpää, head of Kemira’s Municipal & Industrial segment. “We will also have R&D activities in sugar and bioethanol, where South America is in the forefront. The aim is to establish common projects with our customers in the region to address these issues.”
Oil & Mining segment, also sees great opportunities with the new center: “South America represents a great opportunity for fast growth. In our Oil & Mining segment, presence in the market is a key element to execute our strategy. The new R&D center will allow us to increase the speed of local innovation to meet customers’ needs.”
Global business opportunities
The R&D center in Brazil supports all Kemira business in South America but also plays an important role in Kemira’s global development projects. “Each of the R&D centers has a local responsibility and a global responsibility,” explains Heidi Fagerholm, Kemira Vice President of R&D and Technology. “The São Paulo enter will be supporting the South American business, focusing on customer support. But globally, it will be responsible for contributing to the development of future business opportunities.”
Opening of the R&D Center, from left Embassador Jari Luoto, Kemira’s Hilton Casas and Heidi Fagerholm
Each center naturally has its own specialties and areas of focus. In São Paolo, along with oil and mining, they will be addressing water challenges in areas like bioethanol and biomass production. Developments in pulp and paper will be especially important for the local market in Brazil. On the global level, the new center is integrated into a strong R&D community. As an extension of the Center of Water Efficiency Excellence (SWEET), some sweet projects will be run at the new R&D center as well.
The São Paulo facilities are shared with VTT who will be focusing on particularly areas of technological development such as biofuel. Kemira will work with VTT on some of these projects, but VTT is otherwise an independent body at the center working with local customers.
Strong collaboration with research partners is a key aspect of Kemira’s R&D platform. As the São Paolo and Espoo sites work closely with VTT, the Shanghai center cooperates with partners in Singapore, while the Atlanta center, for example, works with the University of Alberta in Canada.
Kemira R&D
Four regional centers:
- Espoo, Finland (Europe)
- Shanghai, China (Asia-Pacific)
- Atlanta, USA (North America)
- São Paulo, Brazil (South America)
More than 300 R&D professionals
EUR 41.6 million annual R&D investment (2010)
Story Randell Wells