The American chemistry giant Dow is celebrating 40 years in Sophia Antipolis, and making new investments in its innovation centre whose staff grew from 90 to 161 in 2014.

The American chemistry giant has invested €2.2M to redevelop its site and renovate its offices. After the first phase of work which ended in 2014, a total of 161 people are now accommodated on the 7 ha site that Dow owns in Valbonne, within Sophia Antipolis science park.

The Dow Group was one of the first occupants at the Sophia Antipolis park on its creation in the early 1980s in Valbonne. A 2nd site, in Mougins, was taken on in 2009 by another chemical company that had gone for Sophia Antipolis, Rohm and Haas. The teams, which have never been excessive, will now be brought together.

The Dow Innovation Centre in Sophia Antipolis brings together the group’s commercial and technical support activities.  However, over half the workforce is dedicated to R&D in order to satisfy the requirements of the customers of 5 of the group’s 6 divisions. Having developed a genuine expertise in polymers in aqueous media, the Valbonne-Sophia Antipolis laboratories serve markets as diverse as construction products, adhesives, clothing, road paint, food packaging, agriculture, detergents and cosmetics.

“Innovation is used to offer products that respond to the challenges of sustainable development which is the driving force for our activities”, declared Andrew Trapani, Director of the Innovation Centre to the Journal des Entreprises.

The Group makes 30% of its turnover from new products introduced in the last 5 years and 1.75 billion dollars have been invested in R&D globally. In France, 8.3 million euros eligible for Research and development tax credit (CIR) have been invested in Sophia Antipolis and the 3 other French sites.

The science park’s innovation centre also responds to the training requirements of customers and personnel in terms of new products. “We welcome visitors from all over the world to meet our experts on site; Nice’s international airport is a major asset in this regard.”

 

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