DuPont Plans Major R&D Center In India

"The DuPont Knowledge Center in India will focus on discovery research as well as applications development in a variety of areas," said DuPont Senior Vice President and Chief Science & Technology Officer Uma Chowdhry. "This location will allow us to engage some of the world's top scientific talent in bringing better innovation to both global and local DuPont customers faster."



DuPont has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ICICI Knowledge Park for a long-term lease that will allow DuPont to construct the R&D facility on 15 acres of land in the park. The groundbreaking is slated for March and is expected to be fully operational in early 2008.



Research at the site will focus on "integrated science" - the addition of biology to traditional strengths in chemistry and materials science - to develop the company's application pipeline in India and other emerging markets. The site initially will focus on molecular biology, bio-informatics and polymer synthesis, with further R&D in the company's application pipeline across all five of its business growth platforms.



"The establishment of the DuPont Knowledge Center in India is consistent with our company's strategy of going where the growth is," said Balvinder Singh Kalsi, president, DuPont India. "Our intent is to leverage Indian science and engineering talent for the benefit of DuPont customers and shareholders."