Symrise Celebrates New Research Facility

Symrise recently celebrated the topping out ceremony for its new research building, located at its headquarters in Holzminden, Germany. At this new location, the company intends to pool all its research activities starting in October 2012. Currently, the company’s research is conducted in various on-site locations.  Members of Symrise’s executive board, as well as high-ranking state and local officials, were present for the event, including Lower Saxony’s Minister of Internal Affairs Uwe Schünemann and and Jörg Bode, Lower Saxony’s Minister of Economics, Labor, and Transportation, in addition to Symrise CEO Heinz- Jürgen Bertram.

The new building is a part of the company’s current €120 million investment program, which foresees investments through 2016. Approximately €10 million will be spent on the first phase of the new research center, which offers a total of 2,000 square meters on five stories and sufficient space for researching new ingredients and developing sustainable and efficient technologies. Also, alongside modern laboratories, seminar and conference rooms will also be available that can be used for customer presentations or meetings with cooperation partners. The complex will facilitate increased interdisciplinary exchange between the company’s two divisions of Scent & Care and Flavor & Nutrition, as well as help create synergies in research and development.

Bertram commented, “Every year, we invest 6–7% of sales, i.e. about €100 million, in research and development. About 20% of our total staff works in this area. Since its foundation in 2003, Symrise has registered more than 250 patents and more than 1,500 product brands and trademarks, which we market globally. About 600 jobs were created during this period at the Holzminden site. With the new research building, we want to further strengthen our competence and expertise in the area of research and development. The complex should competently represent the central research units in Holzminden and encourage further dialog. We will continue to follow the already successful approach of interdisciplinary cooperation both with institutes and universities in Lower Saxony and around the world.”

Bode also highlighted the importance of Symrise for the region in his speech, saying, “Symrise is a crucial employer in the region and strengthens Lower Saxony’s appeal in the area of biotechnology with its research. I am particularly pleased that the company is training 108 apprentices who will work in various fields. In 2012, according to current plans, another 43 young people will start their training with Symrise.”

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