Riyadh Governor Prince Khaled bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz recently inaugurated the Sabic Plastics Application Development Centre (SPADC) at the Riyadh Techno Valley, King Saud University.

The new centre has been initiated by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources with support from King Saud University, in bid of making Saudi Arabia a world leader in petrochemical research.

SPADC, which aims at fulfilling the needs of customers and collaborating with them to create dependable technical solutions, is the newest among Sabic’s research centres, following the recent launch of the two research facilities in China and India. The centre covers an area of 42,000 square meter, and was built at a cost of SR472 million. It will house over 200 Sabic scientists, engineers and technicians working in close research and development collaborations with customers, academia and industrial research communities, within Sabic’s Technology & Innovation global network. To date, the company has an estimated 2,000 researchers worldwide.

According to Sabic, SPADC will be augmented over time by the establishment of a Home of Innovation, which will provide a meeting ground between specifiers, customers and businessmen for growing new opportunities, in areas such as construction materials and consumer goods.

At launch, Prince Faisal bin Turki bin Abdulaziz, Advisor at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources also commented on the important role this research facility provides for Saudi Arabia’s downstream development and for the Kingdom’s overall energy value chain – adding value to its hydrocarbon resources and further diversification of its economy.