Here are recent announcements on new headquarters and new R&D sites.
LanzaTech, for one, has finally decided to move its global headquarters from New Zealand, where the company was founded, to Skokie, Illinois. The move will generate 30 new Illinois jobs with employees transferred from New Zealand, and 35 additional employees will move from Roselle, Illinois, to the new site in Skokie. The new location will also serve as the company’s R&D center with a new investment of more than $17 million.
The new headquarters, which will include proprietary synthetic biology and gas fermentation science, will be located at the Illinois Science and Technology Park in Skokie, a 23-acre bioscience campus. LanzaTech is expected to receive $1.1 million tax credits over the next 10 years from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
LanzaTech said it will continue to have a presence in New Zealand, China, India and Europe,
US bio-based polyols producer, BioBased Technologies, has also relocated its laboratory to Dalton, Georgia, from Northwest Arkansas in order to be closer to a number of its customers. The company is headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas.
The company’s 7,500-square foot laboratory has begun operation in April 15. BioBased Technologies plans to add 15-20 jobs over the next couple of years in the Dalton facility that will include chemical engineers, chemists and lab technicians.
Specialty chemicals company, Evonik, has launched this month, its Medical Devices Project House located in Birmingham, Alabama, along with a branch in Hanau, Germany. The aim is to develop new system solutions for medical technology and to expand the competencies of Evonik in the areas of biomaterials and polymers.
In Brazil, flavours and fragrance company, Symrise, plans to open a site for research, development and manufacturing of sustainable ingredients from the Amazon region in the fourth quarter of 2014, to be located at an industrial ecological park called Ecoparque, in Benevides in the state of Para. Ecoparque reportedly incorporates principles of ecological industrialization throughout the entire value chain such as using garden filters to treat effluents, collection of rain water, geothermal technology for air conditioning, and use of other sustainable processes.
Natura Cosmetics also recently opened its soap factory at the site on March 12, 2014. Symrise said it will produce oils, butters and essential oils from raw materials such as the Brazil nut, murumuru, cupuacu, cocoa, andiroba, buriti and passion fruit that are suitable for use in cosmetic and fragrance products.
In Europe, Cargill has recently inaugurated its newly expanded Research and Development Cetre in Vilvoorde, Belgium. The R&D Centre is Cargill’s primary technology centre serving Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Application focus will cover the entire spectrum of food and feed ingredients science as well as non-food applications such as personal care and fermentation technology.
