A research facility that sits right on the edge of the ground-breaking film technology found in gadgets like smart phones was officially opened here yesterday.

The Functional Films research centre set up in Pasir Panjang by Bayer MaterialScience is the first of its kind the firm operates outside of its German base.

The $12 million facility will focus on researching coated high-tech films and nanotechnology that can be used in many electronic appliances.

Its films, for example, are used on the screens of mobile phones.

One promising area of research centres on developing 'muscle film', which can simulate an actual keyboard by vibrating as you press the typepad.

While most of the film will eventually be used for products primarily consumed by the Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese markets, Bayer MaterialScience, one of three units of the giant Bayer group, still chose to set up shop here.

It opted for Singapore because it has 'successfully positioned itself as a neutral country' in which to do business, said Bayer MaterialScience chief executive Patrick Thomas at yesterday's opening ceremony.

Singapore also offers a fertile ground for talent and intellectual property protection, he added. The centre employs 30 researchers.

'We were able to find about 25 researchers here within three months without compromising on what we were looking for,' said Mr Bernd Steinhilber, the head of the firm's functional films division.

Mr Steinhilber also said resources look 'set to double if there are breakthroughs'

in its research.

The firm aims to open another plant in Asia around 2013, as it expects demand for polymers and films in the region to increase significantly. It already has a plant in China and one in Thailand, where the films and polymers are manufactured.

Its new plant will increase output of film in Asia by 33 per cent from the 440,000 tonnes it produces yearly. Bayer produces about 1.4 million tonnes of film globally.

'We expect Asia to be the heart of our innovations and Singapore to be the heart of the electronics industry,' said Mr Joachim Wolff, head of the firm's coatings, adhesives and sealants business unit.

Singapore's electronics sector has been in the doldrums over the last two years but factory output posted a 32.9 per cent increase in the first quarter this year compared with 2009.

Mr Thomas said that even before the sector picked up, the company was

'playing for the long term' and had begun making plans for the research centre '

less than two years ago'.

'We will reap the benefits of our research development 10 to 15 years from now,' he said.

Economic Development Board managing director Beh Swan Gin said at yesterday's opening that the centre will 'add to the momentum of industrial research activities' in Singapore.

Source : The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Reprinted with permission.