Battery recycling closes the loop in electromobility - Lab technician Theresa Simon checks the crystallization of the lithium salts in a laboratory reactor.
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Innovation

Who we are

Innovations for a sustainable future

Optimism is what drives all human beings. At BASF, this motivates us every day to develop solutions for the greatest challenges of our time – so we can better protect the climate, make optimal use of limited resources and provide food, energy and clean water for a booming world population.

Only with innovations from chemistry can we solve the pressing questions of the future, grow as BASF and remain competitive. That is why we are working intensively with customers and partners to develop innovative products and optimize processes and the use of raw materials. With our solutions, we hold the key to leading ourselves, our customers and society towards climate neutrality and a circular economy. Therefore, we have a special responsibility.

Dr. Stephan Kothrade

Member of the Board of Executive Directors
and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of BASF SE

Mitglied des Vorstands und Chief Technology Officer (CTO) der BASF SE,(Ludwigshafen und Singapur) verantwortlich für Monomers; Performance Materials; Petrochemicals; Intermediates; Group Research; Greater China; South East Asia; ASEAN & Australia/ New Zealand und Mega Projects Asia.

Our Research Focus: Overcoming the challenges of our time.

We are a global leader in chemical industry R&D. Our researchers in labs around the globe are working on hundreds of research projects to meet the challenges of our customers and create chemistry for a sustainable future.

african american woman tending to kale in communal urban garden
Sustainable Food Supply
It is one of the most important tasks of our time to produce high-quality and safe food. With more than 100 years of experience, BASF continues to research solutions that help farmers protect crops and ensure yields.
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Aerial view of a grassy roundabout with four exits, surrounded by trees and green fields - scientific equations and sketches highlighting the flow of traffic are overlaid on the picture.
Mobility of the Future
BASF is researching cathode active materials (CAM), the key component of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles. But that is not all: our researchers work on improving many more factors for sustainable mobility of the future, all with the goal to make mobility cleaner, quieter, safer and more comfortable. 
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Circular economy means the decoupling of growth and resource consumption. The picture represents the variety of plastic waste of an average household. The aim is to establish a new understanding of plastic waste as a resource and to see research into recycling possibilities as an opportunity. BASF contributes to closing and expanding the cycles by developing and implementing recycling solutions for the materials we purchase, further optimizing our operations and offering resource-efficient products and services that support our customers' recycling targets.
Circular Economy
A circular economy could be the biggest economic transformation since the industrial revolution and research plays a key role in achieving this ambitious goal. BASF is researching multiple projects, such as developing compostable and biobased consumer products and recycling processes to turn waste into new chemical products.
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Climate protection is a central component of the BASF strategy. For many years, the company has been continuously reducing its CO2 emissions. For further significant reduction, innovative processes such as methane pyrolysis are developed as part of our Carbon Management R&D Program. In the project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany), BASF researchers are working on a new reactor concept in which hydrogen can be produced without CO2 emissions. The construction of a test facility is a decisive step towards large-scale implementation. Plant designer Christina Maisel (left) and engineer Bernd Zoels (right) inspect the assembly of the reactor of the test facility at the Verbund site in Ludwigshafen (Germany).
Climate-smart processes
We want to live up to our responsibility for climate protection. One way we do this is with our products, which enable our customers to lower CO2 emissions. We also become more efficient in our production and energy use, we will increase our use of renewable energies and we will accelerate the development of new CO2-free processes for the production of chemicals.
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Sustainable Consumer Products
Our customers have a growing need to differentiate with sustainability. They face new regulations and standards in value chains, as well as changing societal and business environments. Thus, sustainability is starting in our labs with research to create new solutions for consumer industries.
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Our Know-How Verbund: The basis of our innovative power.

Mit B2Last hat BASF ein innovatives Bitumenadditiv entwickelt, das die Asphaltperformance mit der Nachhaltigkeit vereint: Temperaturabgesenkter Einbau bei gleichzeitig hohem Asphaltgranulatanteil wird durch den Einsatz von B2Last bei konstant guter Verarbeitbarkeit möglich. So entstehen deutlich geringere Bitumen- und CO2-Emissionen als bei herkömmlichen Anwendungen. Zusätzlich wird die Widerstandsfähigkeit des Asphaltes verbessert. Dadurch verlängert sich die Lebensdauer der Straße. Anne Holzum, Chemielaborantin, kontrolliert, inwieweit sich die Marshall-Probekörper durch Belastung in einem Druckschwellversuch verformt haben. In der rechten Hand hält Anne Holzum einen Probekörper mit dem Bitumenadditiv B2last. In der linken Hand hält sie einen Probekörper ohne B2Last.
Research & Development
Effective and efficient R&D is a prerequisite for innovation. We are well positioned: With approximately 10,000 employees around the globe, we work on sustainable solutions for our customers every day. We benefit from the growing opportunities that digitalization and supercomputing power offer us.
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Die Digitalisierung in der Forschung trägt dazu bei, die Forschungsarbeit effizienter zu gestalten, Wissensnetzwerke auszubauen und mehr Freiräume für Kreativität zu schaffen. Die Chemikerin Dr. Fangfang Chu und Dr. Eduard Schreiner, Experte für molekulare Simulationen, diskutieren über die Computersimulation einer Mikroverkapselung. Diese werden genutzt, um Wirkstoffe zum Beispiel vor Feuchtigkeit und Sauerstoff zu schützen. Mit Hilfe der Simulation können die komplexen chemischen und physikalischen Wechselwirkungen innerhalb der Mikrokapsel besser verstanden und vorhergesagt werden. So können Versuchsreihen im Labor gezielter geplant werden.
Academic Collaboration
Our global network with excellent universities, research institutes and companies is an important part of our Know-How Verbund. We collaborate with Academic Research Alliances und around 220 universities and research institutes to achieve our growth targets.
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Lili Zhang (left), lab chemist, checks polymer pellets for extrusion experiments with Siqi Xue (right), lab manager. BASF is one of the world’s leading producers of high-quality plastics. Research teams across the globe are systematically developing the properties of plastics to open up diverse applications in automotive, electrical & electronics and packaging industries.
Industry Partnerships
We pursue open innovation: together with other innovative companies, we bundle competences, develop best practices and work on sustainable products and solutions.
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Our six business segments –  Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions – maximize competitiveness in our markets.
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Our Academic Research Alliances bundle partnerships by topic and region.
We offer scientists from universities and research institutes the opportunity to participate in research projects and thereby to create added value for our society by developing innovative solutions.
  1. Our Academic Research Alliances
We pursue open innovation; together with other innovative companies, we bundle different competences, develop best practices and work on sustainable products and solutions.
  1. Our collaborations with industry
Effective and efficient research and development is a prerequisite for innovation. This is how we ensure our long-term business success with chemistry-based solutions for our customers in almost all sectors of industry.
  1. Our research and development at a glance
It is our ambition that our customers perceive us as their most attractive partner for all challenges that can be approached with chemistry. This is also reflected in our innovation strategy. 
  1. Our Strategy

Facts and Figures 2023

10,000
 employees in R&D woldwide

€2.1 bn 

expenses for R&D

>€10 bn

sales with products launched on the market in the past five years that stemmed from R&D

~1000

new patents worldwide

Immer mehr Elektroautos werden jedes Jahr weltweit zugelassen. Gleichzeitig sind die Rohstoffe für ihre Batterien begrenzt und deren Gewinnung ist mit negativen Umweltauswirkungen verbunden. BASF-Forscher am Standort Ludwigshafen arbeiten daher an einem neuen chemischen Verfahren, damit das in der Batterie enthaltene Lithium in hochreiner Form zurückgewonnen werden kann. Dabei werden zudem Abfälle vermieden und der CO2-Fußabdruck gegenüber bisherigen Recyclingverfahren gesenkt. Laborantin Theresa Simon prüft die Kristallisation der Lithiumsalze in einem Laborreaktor.
Our experts: creating chemistry for a sustainable future.
They develop new products, processes and solutions that make our everyday lives easier and enable climate protection. Learn more about their stories.
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