BELGIUM - AGC Glass Europe Announces Plans to Build New R&D Center
December 11, 2009

Continuing its focus on innovation, AGC Glass Europe is to build a new R&D Center in the Gosselies airport technology park near Charleroi, Belgium.

According to the announcement, 250 researchers and technicians will staff the new center by the end of 2012. It will also feature advanced equipment and facilities, enabling researchers to continue their research in innovative products and processes. The site has the further advantage of being close to the group's plants where innovations can be put into industrial production and scaled up, as well as being located within a technology park served by an efficient transport network (motorways and the airport).

"Backed by a budget that has tripled over the past three years, our commitment to innovation has led to real advances in glass, as confirmed by numerous awards, most recently the Best Innovator Award Belgium 2009," says Jean-François Heris, president and chief executive officer of AGC Glass Europe. "AGC therefore fully deserves this new research environment, which will multiply its efforts toward radical innovation, thanks to its links with neighboring industries, laboratories and universities, making it a pole of attraction for international researchers. The scope of our research can only widen as a result."

The investment of around 30 million euros is supported by subsidies of 8.4 million euros from the Walloon Region. The start of the project was marked by a press conference attended by ministers Jean-Marc Nollet and Jean-Claude Marcourt (respectively for R&D/sustainable development and the economy/new technology).

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