The Bosch Group officially opened the Research and Technology Center Asia-Pacific (RTC-AP) yesterday, in line with its target to set up long-term partnerships with leading R&D institutions by means of cooperation in projects. 

The Asia-Pacific regional headquarters for Research and Advance Engineering will study technology trends and market opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region, identify local technology leaders and search for challenging research subjects.

For its inaugural project on Organic Photovoltaics (OPV), Bosch is collaborating with the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) School of Materials Science and Engineering, in order to decrease the cost of electrical energy gained from solar light. The research in this field of renewable energy is in line with Bosch's global goal to grow with technologies that protect the environment and conserve resources, and NTU's strength and expertise in organic electronics research.

Bosch will invest up to S$30 million in a modern laboratory and high-tech equipment over the next five years. The new regional headquarters for research and engineering, headed by Dr. Christoph Treutler, Director of RTC-AP, will have about 30 associates; most of them research scientists with doctorates. The centre will also coordinate the two Asian research groups of Bosch which were set up in 2005 and located in Japan (Tokyo) and China (Shanghai).

Uwe Raschke, Bosch board member for Asia Pacific, said, "We believe that the Asia-Pacific region has much untapped potential in the area of R&D and we foresee that the new regional headquarters located in Singapore will play a vital part in realising our research targets in this part of the world."

Mr. S. Iswaran, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and guest-of-honor of the opening, said "We hope more companies will follow Bosch's example in using Singapore as a 'Living Laboratory' - to test, prove, adapt and implement solutions in Singapore before exporting these to the rest of the world."