BASF to donate $7 million toward construction of new UC Berkeley research chemistry facility

BASF will donate $7 million toward the construction of a new state-of-the-art, interdisciplinary research chemistry facility at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley). Research conducted in the new “Berkeley Science and Engineering Hub” will converge the expertise of chemists, biologists, engineers, computer scientists, ecologists, social scientists, policy experts, economists, entrepreneurs and industry and civic leaders.

Martin Brudermüller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors and Chief Technology Officer, BASF SE, announced the donation as part of his keynote lecture at the California Research Alliance (CARA) 2018 Summer Symposium, held this week at the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, California. A signing ceremony confirming BASF’s corporate donation was held on the UC Berkeley campus.

“As part of CARA, BASF is connected to one of the leading global hubs for innovation,” said Brudermüller. “With our donation, we demonstrate our commitment to research in collaboration with our academic partners at CARA that will lead to innovations to improve daily life.”

“This collaboration represents the perfect intersection of industry and academic research,” said Douglas Clark, Dean, College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley. “BASF's continued commitment to UC Berkeley and the larger CARA effort, and their support of vital infrastructure needs on the Berkeley campus, shows that it is increasingly possible to merge our combined goals for even greater impact.”

The CARA 2018 Summer Symposium brings together a select group of academics and BASF scientists to celebrate BASF's commitment to California universities, the CARA program and how industry and academia can use science and technology to generate optimism about solving global challenges.
CARA is one of four BASF scientific excellence clusters that collaborate with research groups on a regional level, maintaining a network between BASF, the campuses of the University of California system, Stanford and Caltech. The researchers at CARA work in a variety of scientific disciplines including new materials, biosciences, formulations, and catalysis, as well as computational and engineering disciplines.

Five BASF researchers based at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego work hand in hand with university scientists. The collaboration started in 2014 with 10 postdoctoral positions and has extended to approximately 25 postdoctoral positions today. So far, CARA’s researchers have filed 10 patents, and more than 20 peer-reviewed papers have been accepted or published. In addition, the first research projects have already transferred to BASF R&D for further development.

“BASF's partnership with the universities of CARA has fostered a relationship built on innovation, cooperation and trust,” said Kerstin Schierle-Arndt, Vice President of Research Inorganic Materials and Synthesis, BASF, and Associate Director, CARA. “Since its inception in 2014, our research teams have worked on 45 projects together, and we look forward to collaborating on future ideas and projects.”