The Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (ICES), a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), signed a Laboratory in Research Institute (Lab-in-RI) agreement today with DyStar Singapore Pte Ltd (DyStar), the local branch of DyStar Textilfarben GmbH & Co. Deutschland KG headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany and a leading German provider of products and services for the textile and leather industry. The DyStar research unit in ICES’ premises with an initial team of 6 R&D members, led by Dr. Roxana Barbieru, will be collaborating with various research groups at ICES.

The agreement was signed by Mr. Steve Barron, Vice-President Strategic Marketing, DyStar and Dr. Keith Carpenter, Executive Director, ICES.

”The Singapore Research team is an integrated part of our global research efforts to develop new colours with specific performance and application benefits” said Dr. Clemens Grund, global head of DyStar’s Research and Development. “We want to bring our research closer to our main market of Asia” he commented. “An additional key factor for deciding that a new R&D facility should be located in Singapore, was the local emphasis on the protection of Intellectual Property. Furthermore we find in ICES the relevant infrastructure and advanced capabilities that fit DyStar’s research and development requirements”.

Dr. Carpenter commented, “The growth of specialty chemicals is important in Singapore. DyStar is a leading science based and technology based company built on long traditions, their expertise in chemistry. Their understanding of their business areas complements our strength in analysis, chemometrics and chemical synthesis. This will enable us to take our world leading process and spectroscopy research into new directions”.

Lab-in-RI is an A*STAR initiative in which the research institutes collaborate with partners and provide research infrastructure at an early stage of their R&D projects. For the partnering companies, this has the advantage of enabling them to kick start research whilst getting their own facilities, staff and infrastructure ready. ICES is able to conduct research on every scale, from test tube trials to pilot plant and its advanced facilities allow both basic research and industrial projects to be conducted. This is ICES’ 10th Lab-in-RI agreement since the scheme was first launched in October 2004.

The Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (ICES) is a member of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). Established in 2002, its mission is to carry out world class scientific research, to develop novel technology and to nurture creative scientists and engineers to support economic growth in Singapore to make a positive difference to society. The research area covers chemistry and chemical engineering science, combined with advanced analytical characterisation and measurement to develop state of the art technology for the petrochemical, general chemical, fine chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

DyStar is a leading provider of products and services for the textile and leather industry. Trained specialists and modern service laboratories in all major markets ensure fast and competent customer service. Thanks to its high-quality and innovative solutions, DyStar helps its customers to lower their costs, to reliably meet quality and environmental standards and to shorten delivery times.

DyStar invests three to four percent of annual sales in R&D to enable it to offer customers innovative products and application processes.

DyStar has about 3,700 employees in more than 50 countries and runs 19 production facilities in 13 countries. Worldwide sales amounted to 800 million Euros in 2008.