| ·Chinese Research Center Profile· |
Number one, our Chinese Research Center efforts are going to emphasize moving our technology capabilities closer to the marketplace. For this, there are two reasons. The first is answering the needs of our customers; the second is to better access the commercialization process. Being closer to market will help choose more relevant research topics for our efforts. It will speed getting ideas out of the lab and into the marketplace.
Our second focus will be getting faster. The best way to increase productivity is to reduce the time from conception to commercialization. Speed drives R&D productivity. We'll be working hard to streamline our innovation process.
The third focus is a more collaborative approach to research. Our largest and most visible example of this approach is our alliance with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the area of bio-based materials. We already have a number of smaller, but equally important, academic collaborations underway to develop new technologies. We will partner with people in our industries to develop technology, but also to commercialize products. We will work with customers to develop technology in downstream collaborations. We will be involved in government partnerships-certainly in semiconductors and biology.
Lastly, we will focus on being globalized. We serve a global customer base. We need to be able to understand and meet their needs. We ought to have an appropriate global presence for R&D facilities. We have to have global thinkers. We'll work on the most urgent global needs, not just those in the country where the researcher or lab is.
When you bring together a market need with world-class science you create opportunities for growth and profitability. Market need is the way we'll be going.
|
