August, 16, 2011 - Unigel presented last August, 16, its project for a new Innovation and Technology Center. The Technology Center will occupy a 2,000 square meters area in the company´s industrial facilities in Camaçari, state of Bahia, and will receive investments of approximately 40 million Reals (U$ 25 million) during the coming years. The Research facilities will comprise laboratories, equipments and pilot plants, and will have a technical staff of around 50 researchers, engineers and technicians.

“Innovation and research are part of Unigel´s DNA; because of this, the creation of this center corresponds to the frutification of many years of investments in technology”, says Unigel´s president Henry Armand Slezynger, pointing to the fact that the company´s origin was related to researches for the development of acrylic resins. Unigel is currently the second largest petrochemical group in Brazil.

According to Luiz Pontes, director-president of Unigel´s Innovation and Technology Center, the company will establish partnerships with government funding agencies such as FINEP and Fapesb in order to launch research programs in the areas of Science and Technology. “We will also support master and doctorate studies and stimulate academic researchers to focus on industry´s issues and problems”, explained Pontes, who is also a professor at UNIFACS University.