Rhodia creates the Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Innovation Center

To mark the 75th anniversary of the birth of Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1991, Rhodia announces the creation of the Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Innovation Center on its Pessac site in the greater Bordeaux area. This facility will be officially inaugurated during a ceremony organized on December 11, 2007.

In this way, Rhodia pays tribute to this eminent research scientist who, for 20 years, made a substantial contribution to the scientific and technical strategy of Rhône-Poulenc – and, subsequently, of the Rhodia Group – as a member of the company’s Scientific Council and Board of Directors.

During all these years, Professor de Gennes devoted his brilliant mind, his personal charisma, and his skills as a teacher to stimulating the scientific activities of the Group’s research personnel, illustrating his deeply felt conviction of the need to find a common ground between pursuits of a scientific, academic, social, and industrial nature.

The aim of the Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Innovation Center is to support the major innovation projects pursued by Rhodia. It will rely on a breeding ground of expertise on the area of physical chemistry and micro technologies. The center already hosts the Laboratory of the Future, one of the joint research units run by Rhodia, the CNRS¹, and the University of Bordeaux 1, supported by the Aquitaine region and the French State.

After three years in existence, the Laboratory of the Future now boasts international recognition for the development of methods and original miniaturized tests that make it possible to speed up the development of new products and processes. This research facility makes extensive use of electronics and IT resources in addition to new technologies such as microfluidics and robotics.

¹ French national center for scientific research