The Maoming municipal government, Oriental Energy Co Ltd, and Honeywell UOP signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, on Oct 31 to jointly build a collaborative innovation center in Maoming.

The collaborative innovation center will focus on the development of new materials and hydrogen comprehensive utilization to build a globally advanced olefin industry ecological chain.

It will also build an innovative technology platform for olefin downstream industries, accelerate the transformation of innovation achievements, create a talent hub for innovation and development, as well as provide a platform combining government, universities, research, and production.

It is expected that great breakthroughs can be made in projects of the collaborative innovation center, key technologies will be gradually industrialized, and the globally advanced olefin industry ecological chain will increase its scale.

The Maoming municipal government, Oriental Energy Co Ltd, and Honeywell UOP sign a MOU in Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, on Oct 31. [Photo by Gan Yangsong for chinadaily.com.cn]

The establishment of the collaborative innovation center is beneficial to the formation of the "R&D + pilot test + incubation" chemical new materials innovation chain in Maoming, accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the petrochemical industry, as well as boosting the technology and product innovation of enterprises.

Maoming boasts a good political and ecological environment, which is very suitable to build an olefin industry ecological chain, said Wang Mingxiang, chairman of Oriental Energy. The collaborative innovation center is an important part of the chain, which will provide technical support for the rapid development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Honeywell UOP President John Gugel said via video during the signing ceremony that UOP was very proud to take part in the collaborative innovation center project, which will actively support the operation of new complex projects, provide guidance for technology development, as well as accelerate the commercialization of new technologies.

Honeywell UOP is the petrochemical arm of industrial conglomerate Honeywell, while Oriental Energy is a Nanjing-based listed enterprise that focuses on polypropylene new materials and hydrogen energy.