SearchOUR APPROACH AND PERFORMANCE
We have defined the four key themes in our approach to innovation as follows:
- Delivering new process technologies.
- Creating product solutions to meet changing customer needs.
- Building strong collaborations to achieve scale and improve speed to market.
- Developing new business opportunities.
We leverage our expertise in chemistry and engineering in all of our sustainability efforts for success in process optimization, development strategy, and product design.
2018 HIGHLIGHTS
- Progressed the development of a chemical-recycling pilot plant.
- Entered into production of bio-MTBE.
- Rolled out Portfolio Sustainability Assessment framework.
- Earned the Protect and Sustain Certification from the International Fertilizer Association.
- Developed a reactive sorbent to remove hydrogen sulfide from a product stream in the United States, increasing productivity.
- Expanded our next-generation THERMOCOMP™ HMD compounds.
At SABIC, we continue to invest in research and development to find sustainable solutions for our customers.
Performance metrics
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Total patent portfolio¹
11,738
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Total new patent filings
389
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Sustainability solutions²
82
¹ 2018 active patent portfolio number (11,738) is similar to our prior year portfolio size. In our international filings, we added more than 2,000 patent applications to our active patent portfolio, including 389 new original patent filings in 2018. SABIC continues to take a more critical view of the added value contributions in our review of the estate and new filings. This resulted in a decision to not presently pursue more than 1,500 patents or patent applications. It also saves us approximately US$5 million in patent maintenance fees and costs. Further, the drop in new patent filing numbers is primarily because of the strategic decision to file patents on projects of higher return value, such as those that are business critical and in advanced stages.
² We identified and nominated six product applications for sustainability solutions qualification process and moved qualification to 2019 due to our priority on portfolio sustainability assessments.