ASPC Recieves an Award in Technology Field by Vice President for Scientific Affairs
At the closing ceremony of the National Technology and Innovation Management Award, the CEO of Arya Sasol Polymer Company (ASPC) expressed hope that the company has a long-term plan for the development of innovation and technology, and hoped that this experience could be extended to other parts of the country.
During this event held on Saturday (16th of July 2024) in the Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture of Iran, ASPC received the "two-star merit badge" from the vice president for scientific affairs.
Mohammad Reza Heydarzadeh considered innovation as a requirement for economic growth and competitiveness in global markets and said: Innovation allows companies to develop new and improved products and optimize and improve productivity in products.
Mentioning the dependence of the petrochemical industry on raw materials and advanced technology he added: The petrochemical industry needs innovation, which is achieved by investing in research and development.
The CEO of ASPC pointed to the investment of advanced countries in this area and said: the U.S. allocates 2.8%, Japan 3.2% and Germany 3.1% of their gross national product to research and development, and unfortunately this figure for Iran is 0.3 percent.
Petrochemical Is an Industry of Global Concern
Saying that the world is focused on the petrochemical industry, Heydarzadeh added: The European Union invested a total of 11 billion dollars and the United States invested 3 billion dollars for the research and development of their petrochemical industry in one year.
He stated that the reason for this is China's heavy investment in the field of research and development, especially in the petrochemical industry, and with China's investment, this country now owns 45% of the petrochemical market, and the US's 16% share of the world market has decreased to 12%. This confirms the importance of investing in the petrochemical industry, especially in the field of technology and innovation.
Green Hydrogen Is an Example for Today's Technologies
The CEO of ASPC pointed to the development of green hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels and said: this field has received the most investments in the world and can prevent the waste of fossil fuels for energy supply, and on the other hand, it is a clean fuel that is obtained from the water electrolysis process and China's Sinopec alone has invested 450 million dollars in this field.
Seeking new materials and advanced technology, cyclical and recycled economy, digitalization and smartness to improve production processes, reduce costs and increase production efficiency, increase efficiency and customer satisfaction in the field of business, Heydarzadeh said: Chemicals such as catalysts and additives are very important in the field of petrochemicals, and we should be able to invest in research and development to eliminate their dependence.
Arya Sasol University of Innovation and Technology
He pointed to the experience of ASPC in this field and added: We can prevent the outflow of foreign currency by using the potential of elites and human capital in the company, and on the other hand, we can provide ourselves with the materials we need by removing the dependency.
He admitted: Petrochemical industry constitutes a large part of the country's non-oil exports, which shows its key role in the country's economy.
Heydarzadeh added: We provide about 5% of the country's petrochemical share in ASPC, which can be increased, and by using innovation, we can increase this share, which we are pursuing.
He stated: As a leading company, ASPC seeks to play its role in the industry, and as an export-oriented company, we are recognized as a global leading company in research and innovation, and we have taken basic measures to achieve our goals.
Enumerating the achievements of this field, the CEO of ASPC said: One of our basic measures was the establishment of the Innovation and Knowledge-Based Center in 2022, the other one is winning the six-star innovation award in the International Award for Best Global Experiences, and after that, we have obtained the official license of the knowledge-based company from the Presidential Office of Science and Technology.
Arya Sasol's Innovation Achievements
Heydarzadeh further enumerated some of the results of these measures and said: The foundation and expansion of activities in the field of innovation led to the development of the product portfolio in less than a year, and after the establishment of the knowledge-based center, we were able to develop three very vital grades in the country, which were much needed and localized them in our scholarly enviroment.
In describing one of these grades, he said: LEC1969 grade with the use of extrusion coating can prevent the annual outflow of 20 million dollars of currency from the country, this product is used in food packaging and the field of treatment, including blood bags and sanitary materials, and before this, only the U.S. and Germany had the capacity to produce this product, and this capacity was realized by the knowledge-based department and experts of ASPC.
He mentioned: We are developing a comprehensive strategic plan to create a venture fund in the future to use creativity in the path of development and use of capacities on a larger scale.
Heydarzadeh added: International cooperation is one of our other goals, and last year we participated in more than 12 international events, where many experiences were gained for the development of research infrastructure.
In the end, he stated that innovation helps not only in the growth and development of the company but also in improving the quality of life.
We believe that we should start from ourselves and we took this step in ASPC and we hope to spread these achievements to other companies and the whole country.
