DuPont, the United States-based science company, has started to build its China Corporate Research and Development (R&D) Centre in Shanghai, with a planned investment of 124 million yuan (US$15 million), company sources revealed yesterday.

The new centre, located in the Zhangjiang High-Tech Park in Shanghai's Pudong District, will accommodate up to 200 scientists and focus on technical marketing, with the aim of localizing the production of existing products in the Asia-Pacific market, according to the company.

Due to open in early 2005, the Shanghai centre will be DuPont's third comprehensive R&D facility outside the United States, the other two being in Europe and Japan.

"The Asia-Pacific region, especially China, provides unique growth opportunities for us,'' said Dong Soo Kim, president of DuPont Asia-Pacific.

The Shanghai centre is to "serve as a haven for new technology solutions'' and to contribute to the company's sustainable rapid growth in the region, he said yesterday in Shanghai at the centre's foundation-laying ceremony.

Xin Hongtao, deputy general manage of DuPont China Holding Co Ltd, yesterday further revealed that the company has decided to invest an additional US$100 million on average annually in China over the following three years.

Currently, China is the fastest growing market for DuPont in the Asia-Pacific region, with an annual double digital growth for years, according to Xin.

The China R&D centre will be "an important part of our long-term strategy in China and help us achieve sustainable high-speed growth here.''

According to Xin, the centre will seek collaborative relationships with leading universities and scientific research institutions in China to better meet local market demands.

Founded in 1802, DuPont boasts a series of great inventions and innovations including nylon, the world's first synthetic fibre, and neoprene, the world's first synthetic rubber.

Entering the Chinese market in the middle 1980s, DuPont now has 23 wholly-owned and joint venture manufacturing facilities and three branches around the country, with an total investment of US$700 million and over 3,000 employees in China.

DuPont's products and services in China now cover the chemical, agricultural, food and nutrition, electronics, textile and automobile industries.

In September, the company officially opened an integrated customer-service centre in Shanghai to enhance its China operations, according to company sources.

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