DuPont to open first centre in India

Hyderabad, Mar 25 (UNI) DuPont Knowledge Centre will mark its presence in the country by setting up a Biotechnology Centre in Hyderabad in April, Company Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Vice President Thomas M Connelly said today.

In a statement here, he said ''when fully operational, more than 300 scientists at the Knowledge Centre will contribute to the R and D and innovation strategy of the company.'' Emphasising that the DuPont Knowledge Centre in India is very important for its global R and D and innovation strategy, he said Hyderabad, as the emerging centre of knowledge excellence, particularly in biotechnology, bio engineering and other emerging sciences, was crucial to the company's growth.

''I expect DuPont Knowledge Centre to be a global Centre of Excellence for the company. This will enable us to increase our ''speed to market'' with products that come out of our R and D and innovations pipeline, not only for India but also for other growth regions,'' Dr Connelly said.

The Knowledge Centre would be fully operational by June, 2008, with two additional facilities-- Materials Research Centre and the Engineering Centre.

DuPont India President and CEO Balvinder Kalsi said, ''the DuPont Knowledge Centre will allow us to access the tremendous scientific talent in this area in support of DuPont's efforts to create products that address the food, feed, fuel and materials challenges of the growing population.'' UNI VA SJ 1602