EQUATE supports industrial advancement at GPCA Summit
Innovation is a necessity to sustainability of our industry: Husain
KUWAIT CITY, March 13: EQUATE Petrochemical Company, a global producer of petrochemicals, sponsored the Gulf Petrochemicals & Chemicals Association’s (GPCA) 4th Research & Innovation Summit 2017 held in Bahrain, supporting the industrial, technological and academic development as part of the Company’s investment in operational innovation and professional development.
A founding member of GPCA, EQUATE’s support of the Summit for the fourth year in-a-row came as a continuation to its partnership with the Association, as well as other academic and research institutes such as Kuwait University (KU), in an aim to drive innovation and bring solutions to the challenges of the industry and the markets it serves.
Speaking at the Summit, EQUATE’s President & CEO Mohammad Husain said, “Innovation is a necessity to the sustainability of our industry and is deeply founded in the strategies of our Company. As much as operational efficiency, innovation is a core driver of sustainable growth in any organization. It is successfully achieved when facilitated through the organizational processes and integrated across functions in which areas of need are defined. Innovation is in no case limited to the research and development, as it is a continuous cycle through which we adapt new approaches or improve existing methods.”
Husain expanded on the importance of collaboration in the industry saying, “Partnerships and knowledge exchange with peers, academic institutions and stakeholders are today a necessity to create a platform of innovation that benefits our industry, and that’s
Photo from the event
what the Summit aims at. Together, we need to be proactive in foreseeing future challenges, and work to fulfill them for a sustained growth.”
Last year, EQUATE launched a partnership for innovation with KU. It comprised an Innovation Multiple Intelligence Survey led by Dr. Intesar Al-Mudahka, Assistant Professor at KU’s College of Sciences, measuring and assessing EQUATE’s innovation efforts. The EQUATE Innovation Program aims to further collaborate with KU in the Company’s new Innovation Centers.
As done during previous GPCA events, the company invited a number of delegates from KU. The University’s representatives at this Summit included Vice President for Planning Dr Adel Abdullah Al-Hussainan, Dr Al-Mudahka, as well as a faculty member and two students from KU’s College of Engineering & Petroleum to become acquainted with GPCA’s Research & Innovation efforts and network with other delegates.
Husain concluded: “Our focus in EQUATE is to adopt research knowledge of the petrochemical industry in what would add value to EQUATE and its different partners. Only by being at the forefront of innovative trends and exposing our teams to the leading chemical, petrochemical and regional universities and institutions in the GCC can we continue to grow competitively.”
The EQUATE Group is a global producer of petrochemicals that create a better world. The Group combines EQUATE Petrochemical Company (EQUATE), its subsidiaries and The Kuwait Olefins Company (TKOC). The EQUATE Group is the world’s second largest producer of Ethylene Glycol (EG) with industrial complexes in Kuwait, North America and Europe that produce Ethylene, EG, Polyethylene (PE) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). The products are marketed throughout Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
As a leading global enterprise, the EQUATE Group strongly pursues sustainability principles and best practices wherever it operates through partnerships with various stakeholders including employees and customers as well as societies as a whole in fields that includes human development, environment, education, health and public awareness. The EQUATE Group’s shareholders include Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC). The Group provides reliable services and solutions that enables global customers and stakeholders to grow and attain the success they seek by being “Partners in Success.” (www.equate.com)
With EQUATE as one of its founding members, The Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) represents the downstream hydrocarbon industry in the Arabian Gulf. Established in 2006, the association voices the common interests of more than 240 member companies from the chemical and allied industries, accounting for over 95% of chemical output in the Gulf region. The industry makes up the second largest manufacturing sector in the region, producing up to US$108billion worth of products a year. (www. gpca.org.ae)