EQUATE supports industrial advancement at GPCA Summit

KUWAIT: EQUATE Petrochemical Company, a global producer of petrochemicals, sponsored the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association’s (GPCA) 4th Research and 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 and 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 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 and Petroleum to become acquainted with GPCA’s Research and 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.”