Innovation Strategy and Targets
Targets
- Increase proportion of Innovation Contribution* to no less than 10% of GC’s total EBITDA by 2030.
- Increase proportion of Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) investment to 70 million USD in 2025 in four technology groups, namely 1) Advanced Material, 2) Renewable/Circularity, 3) Net Zero, and 4) Industrial Digital.
Remark:
* Executive KPI and Compensation Metric.
**Innovation Contribution from innovative products and innovative processes released to the market over the past 10 years compared to GC’s EBITDA
Challenges and Opportunities
Our endeavor to enhance competitiveness and accomplish the Net Zero Emissions Target has obligated GC to increase process efficiency, lower resource consumption and cut down greenhouse gas generation and emissions.
GC is also conducting research on advanced clean technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (Decarbonization), including Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). In addition, GC recognizes the need to restructure its business portfolio towards a low-carbon model in the long term, while also developing products that support a low-carbon economy. To this end, GC has built an innovation partnership network to enhance production efficiency and maximize resource utilization, as well as to create high-quality products that are safe for health and environmentally friendly. These efforts align with global megatrends and address evolving consumer needs.
Management Approach GRI 3-3 (2021)
Innovation Management Strategy
Innovation plays a crucial role in enabling GC to achieve its net zero greenhouse gas emissions target by supporting research and development that enhances competitiveness while minimizing environmental impact. GC’s innovation management strategy and operational framework are structured around five key approaches, as follows:
Expected Goals
- Lead in production process performance at the Top Quartile level
- Enhance competitiveness and market differentiation with stronger commercial potential
- Create opportunities for sustainable new business growth
Approach
Process Innovation
Product Innovation
Innovation Growth Platform
Venture Capital (Corporate Venture Capital (CVC)
Enabler
Actions
- Retain competitiveness and boost decarbonization through four technology groups, namely
- By-product Upgrading,
- Catalyst/ Absorbent,
- Membrane, and
- Advanced Process Modeling to predict and optimize equipment performance.
- Expand product portfolio, especially in the high-value and sustainable product group that caters to market demands according to the principle of Market-focused Business Transformation (MFBT) by developing products based on the production technology of our existing assets. Focus on improving specific features of products to meet market demands as well as production technology for products that create marketing advantages in order to support sustainable growth and market expansion.
- Develop and incubate new technology groups.
- Advanced Materials, i.e. composite materials, epoxy resin
- Renewable & Circularity, i.e., expanding biotechnology and green technology base, and building a recycling technology portfolio
- Net Zero, i.e., developing carbon capture and utilization technology
- Expand access channel to technology to establish cooperation and partnership network in target technology groups that are in line with the strategic directions of GC’s business groups and subsidiaries, e.g., allnex, NatureWorks, EMERY.
- Build a sustainable innovation portfolio.
- Foster an innovation culture within the organization.
- Develop an infrastructure to accommodate industrial hanges and cutting-edge technology.
- Employ digital technology and tools to execute innovation projects and innovation management.
GC has defined an operational framework consisting of 3 Horizons, which are Horizon 1: Strengthening the core, Horizon 2: Striving the growth, and Horizon 3: Sustaining the future, with focus on development for sustainable growth through the formulation of a Technology Roadmap.
Technology RoadmapMore information on other highlight projects of innovation is available in GC Integrated Sustainability Report 2024, such as
- GC Venture: explored technology and investment opportunities through Corporate Venture Capital (CVC), by investing both directly and indirectly in startups and technology funds
- Collaboration on CO2 Utilization Technologies with Delft University of Technology: developed core technologies for capturing and converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into chemical products.
- Polyethylene New Resin for Industrial Stretch Film: developed a new polyethylene resin for industrial stretch film to enhance competitiveness in the polyethylene film industry
- HDPE for Medium Tenacity Monofilament: developed high-performance HDPE product for medium tenacity monofilament that is suitable for aquaculture and other applications
- Advance Membrane Separation Technology to Streamline Separation Efficiency in Production Process: researched and developed membrane technology for separation in the distillation process, which can better contribute to energy reduction than conventional distillation methods
- Upgrading LCB OLE to Raw Pygas/Pygas: developd production processes by using advanced separation technology to remove contaminants, thereby enhancing product quality and increasing their economic value.
- Visbreaker Unit Optimization Model: Phase 3: enhanced visbreaker process efficiency and identify the optimum condition during crude oil change
- BPA Tar Cracking for Phenol Recovery Project: applied a catalyst to enhance the cracking condition of BPA tar, which is waste generated in BPA production process, to obtain and reuse phenol as raw material in BPA production