BASF has opened its new regional Electronic Materials R&D Center in Korea at Sungkyunkwan University's (SKKU) Suwon Campus in Gyeonggi. The new facility, the German group's first R&D base in Korea, is planned to be a hub for solutions to enable growth in the electronics industry. Korea was chosen as the location because the country is a leader in the electronics industry, the German group said.

In 2013, BASF made the Korean capital of Seoul theAsian regional headquarters for its electronic materials business and simultaneously transferred the global sales office for its organic electronics business from Ludwigshafen, Germany, to Seoul in February 2014.

Some 40 BASF R&D staff will work alongside SKKU personnel and visiting researchers in the new facility, which will focus on developing organic thin film transistors for future electronic devices such as flexible or rolling displays, fluorescent and phosphorescent materials for lighting, and displays with better color quality and lower power consumption.

Calling the investment "another important milestone for us," Shin Woo-sung, BASF Korea managing director, explained to journalists in Seoul that the field of electronic materials requires close collaboration with customers to provide tailored solutions, particularly in the display and semiconductor industries.