Dow Chemical International Private Limited (Dow India) Projects its Innovation Prowess
Dow India Innovation Day 2024 – the third edition of its flagship event with the theme “Imagine, Innovate, Sustain” was held recently in Navi Mumbai.
Speaking at the event, Chandrakant Nayak, Country President and CEO of Dow India emphasized the importance of collaboration in driving sustainable innovation. “Innovation Day is more than just an event; it’s a platform where we bring together diverse perspectives to co-create solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers and society. India’s role in the global supply chain is growing, and we are committed to harnessing this momentum to drive sustainable innovation across the industry”.
Dow India is a very customer centric company, he said “where through innovation we bring the best solutions for our customers. R&D, he said is the key to accelerate growth”. We use our material service expertise to innovate in enhancing performance, durability and sustainability of products across various sectors.
With broadest technology sets spanning three operating segments: performance material and coating, industrial intermediates and infrastructure, and specialty plastics and packaging, Dow India delivers differentiated science-based products and solutions in high-growth segments, such as packaging, infrastructure, automobile, and consumer care.
Centres of Excellence
Nayak said that Dow has established Centres of Excellence and global hubs. “All the business divisions of Dow Chemical International (parent company) is also operating in India and hence we have access to global technologies”. He affirmed that Dow is committed to lower the carbon footprint with advanced recycling and green energy. He elaboratedon the company’s efforts on developing energy efficient products and processes. The company aims to redefine the societal blueprint, by supporting holistic sustainability and circular economy initiatives, he stated.
Dow India is certified as ‘A Great Place to Work’. “At Dow people are our greatest assets and their safety and security are of utmost importance. We pride in a diverse and very inclusive workforce,” he added.
Dow India Technology Centre (DITC)
Nayak introduced, Siddhartha Ghosal, R&D/TS&D Leader and Site Director for Dow India Technology Centre (DITC). Ghosal in his address mentioned that it was in 2018 that the Dow India Technology Centre (DITC) was launched with a great track record of patenting more than fifty percent of the work. This he said proves that Dow is in the forefront of innovation. Ghosal said, “DITC is a one-stop-shop for all our customers, providing innovative solutions for various market verticals. We have developed local solutions that help our customers with innovative sustainable product solutions. As we reflect on our progress, we’re proud of how our facilities and capabilities are enabling us to serve global markets.”
Solutions to Address Toughest Challenges
Dr. A N Sreeram, Senior Vice President and CTO, in his very elaborate and very informative presentation said that “Dow Chemical invests and implements scalable solutions for addressing the world’s greatest challenges and solve our customer’s toughest problems”. On the bedrock of sustainability and circular processes, Dow intends to be carbon neutral by 2050, he claimed.
Dr. Sreeram informed that every year Dow Chemical introduces anywhere between 1500 to 2000 new products. “Our innovation activities are done on the principles of sustainable chemistry, reducing costs and risks, reducing wastes, and making new technologies affordable and reliable. We look at revisiting existing chemistries and also redesigning existing processes and products, even rethinking existing business models”.
He informed the audience of a new petrochemical plant being set up in Canada by Dow Chemical, which is totally based on green technology. This will be a major shift from conventional ethane crackers that use fossil fuels to electric crackers using clean power. Dr. Sreeram said that existing crackers can be retrofitted and shift to e-crackers and thus greening their manufacturing.
Rethinking Needed on Alternatives
Dr. Sreeram gave many other examples on green products and processes developed by Dow Chemical. He also drew the attention of scientists to consider the environmental impact of many alternatives being considered as environment friendly – which when really analysed create more challenges to the environment. He spoke of the debate of paper versus plastics, for instance and that shifting to paper could create more environmental impact than that of plastics. Similarly, he pointed out on the shift to electric vehicles and the huge need for lithium, on battery storage and challenges of recycling battery waste. Dr. Sreeram exhorted the scientific community to analyse such shifts to alternatives on a holistic and lifecycle assessment basis.
Other speakers who spoke included Rebecca Bentley, VP – Public Affairs and Jaine Cohen, Sr. Global R&D/TS&D Director.
Earlier in the day there was a tour of the Dow India Technology Centre (DITC), which was spread over 100,000 sqft with eight R&D
labs specialised in diverse areas.DITC serves as a hub for R&D, fostering collaborations across disciplines of chemisty and address pressing challenges of Dow’s customers.
There are R&D and application development labs for various materials and industry areas like PU, silicones, personal care, polymers and packaging, construction chemicals, automotives, agrochemicals, coatings, paper etc with a central lab for testing diverse parameters.
The Innovation Day concluded with two panel discussions: One on ‘Importance of Innovation for a better tomorrow’ and the other on ‘Advancing a Circular Economy and Carbon Neutrality’.
The event was attended by over 200 people from Dow’s customers, partners, leading experts, scientists, academicians and journalists.
