2018 NAO Family Day: “Connect to Inspire” with academia in Asia Pacific

The 2018 NAO (Network of Asian Open Research) Family Day took place at the Innovation Campus Shanghai on November 1-2. As the strategic research alliance in Asia Pacific, NAO brought together 50 professors and students from leading universities across Asia Pacific and over 100 BASF scientists to update the research results of the NAO collaborations. During this event, the attendees introduced cutting-edge technologies, created new connections and generated new cooperation ideas.

A day filled with inspiration

Harald Lauke, President Advanced Materials & Systems Research, Asia Pacific Research Representatives, warmly welcomed all attendees and highlighted the expansion of NAO since its inauguration in 2014. In 2017, NAO expanded its scope from a sole focus on Advanced Materials and Systems Research to including more topics under Process Research and Chemical Engineering, Bioscience Research and Digitalization. It now represents the complete breath of BASF R&D activities and 50% more new projects get initiated per year. NAO currently has 10 long-term collaboration partners, more than 50 running and completed projects. Some projects have demonstrated the potential to be commercialized in the nearest future.”

Prominent professors and researchers shared their research work in advanced coating materials, machine learning, zeolites, polypeptide materials and free radical polymerizations. Speakers include Prof. Jianfeng Chen from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Prof. Alexei Lapkin from University of Cambridge, Prof. Toru Wakihara from the University of Tokyo, Dr. Keiji Numata from RIKEN and Prof. Mao Chen from Fudan University.

Setting a stage for young talents

NAO Family Day is more than a day for idea exchange. It also opens a new stage for your talents. Postdoc and PhD students were invited to present research results of projects sponsored by BASF. This year, Liwei Cao, a PhD student from University of Cambridge and CARES Singapore (Cambridge Centre for Advance Research and Education in Singapore) won “Best Presentation Award”. In close collaboration of BASF scientists, she has built up a machine learning algorithm for the prediction of personal care formulation performance. All participants were impressed by the great interaction and her passion for digitalization.

Stefan Bruening, Vice President, Innovaton Campus Shanghai, commented that this two-day event enabled BASF colleagues to connect and communicate better with the academic partners. He looked forward to closer open research collaboration in the future.

Connect to NAO

We would like to thank all participants for this successful day and fruitful discussions.

If you would like to connect to NAO, please contact Dr. Sunny Feng or Dr. Hannah Cao.