Corporate Spotlight Interview, SABIC

June 04, 2014 09:28 PM EST By: Jennifer Rocha

TechConnect Interview with Mr. Andrew Kodis, Director, Technology Identification & Acquisition, SABIC
Sabic Andrew Kodis

What are technology/solution areas that you have a primary interest in?

SABIC is constantly seeking innovative solutions that contribute to the growth of our customers as they work to solve the ever-evolving challenges and needs of the global industries they serve.  In line with global megatrends such as climate change, emission reduction, and the rapid increase in the global population leading to a sharp increase in food and energy consumption, we strive to drive even greater innovation by leveraging unconventional feedstocks, realizing new light weighting options, and developing new reliable materials supporting the progress of the clean energy, consumer electronics, automotive, medical devices, and construction industries. Our work not only enables our customers to grow, but can also enable us to help them improve quality of life globally by helping reduce environmental impact and drive greater efficiency.

What level of commercial maturity do you typically look for when making an investment? 

For SABIC a key element of a successful partnership is sharing a common ambition. We are willing to consider opportunities at all levels provided our potential partners are equally committed to address global industry trends by innovating game-changing technology solutions.

Please describe your firm’s Innovation model and how this model helps to find new innovations.

Innovation at SABIC is a culture that touches all areas of our value chain globally. Whether it is in our technology, customer service offerings, our manufacturing or development processes, innovation at SABIC goes beyond our products. This is evident through SABIC’s 19 state of the art technology and innovation centers spanning across the globe, four of which have opened since the Fall of 2013 in India, China, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. SABIC is a company grounded in developing material solutions and has innovation, ingenuity and collaboration at its core, helping us to achieve a deeper understanding of our customers and their business.
 
SABIC also encourages innovation by investing in and collaborating with colleges and universities around the world that promote innovation. For example the technology center in South Korea mentioned above was opened in collaboration with Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), and is focused on Electronics and Electrical & Lighting Science. As a result of this collaboration, SABIC is now able to tap into some of the world’s best and brightest technologists at SKKU to meet the rapidly changing requirements in these dynamic industries.

We believe collaborating with other innovators will accelerate our own innovations. Our involvement in the Green Chemistry Campus in Bergen-op-Zoom, Netherlands is one such example where we share our facility with other companies to develop lower carbon foot-print products and develop and research bio-based alternatives to fossil fuels. Green building blocks developed at the Campus can assist us in lowering our footprint and making our products even more sustainable, which can benefit our customers and communities.

Why work with TechConnect and the National Innovation Summit as a technology and early stage company prospector?  Who are you looking to meet with?

We look forward to meeting start-up companies and investors who share our ambitions of solving some of the world’s greatest challenges and who dare to challenge the status-quo. We are looking to meet and build relationships with innovators who see SABIC as the ideal partner to help take their innovations to the next level.

 

  Subscribe to our mailing list, and we'll keep you posted of the latest developments.

RSS feed of TechConnect News™ RSS feed of TechConnect News™