Korea’s role is being expanded in the chemical and electronics industries, according to a top official at Dow Corning, a world leader in the silicon-making business.

“Many innovations are happening in Korea. There are major R&D centers here, great technologies and manufacturers. Dow Corning identifies several megatrends of the world to focus on, and those are truly matching with the innovations happening in Korea,” Eriko Sakurai, president of Dow Corning Korea and Japan, said in an interview with The Korea Herald.

Based in the U.S., Dow Corning has 45 branches across the globe. Out of this huge group, the Korean arm came in fifth in terms of sales. It was even awarded the $100 million Export Tower from the Korean government in 2006, and then the $200 million Export Tower Award last year.

Urbanization, energy consumption and the environmental impact of global warming are some of the major megatrends detected by Dow Corning in Korea, according to Sakurai. The issues are naturally leading to the development of LED, renewal or solar energies and other energy or electricity related businesses here.

“Urbanization, for example, gives us a lot of challenges. People use a lot of energy, shutting down their windows even in the daytime and turning on all the lights. Korea has very hot summers and cold winters, which created very good construction standards. This brings up the new concept of smart buildings,” said Sakurai. 

Not every country is that innovative, she added, mentioning that some European countries do not have many electronic companies that would lead such trends.

“Innovation, however, is the key to global economic recovery as well as many of the major societal problems we face today,” she said.

As the role of its Korean branch is growing bigger every year, Dow Corning made some major investments last year.

It completed phase three of the LED Silicon Facility in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, last year, and opened a Solar Solutions Application Center there in May 2011, which is the first such facility opened by the company outside of the U.S., and the second biggest in the world.

It also finished the renovation of its Science & Technology center last year, upgrading its research and development competitiveness. The company has been investing four to five percent of its annual sales in R&D so far, and plans to focus more on the area.

Sakurai said that very good research and innovation is coming from Korea, where it has well developed infrastructure and talented employees, and expressed hopes that Korean employees would have bigger positions at the global company-level.

“Korean employees work very hard, sometimes to the point that I don’t know whether they take holidays or not. It is the healthy competitiveness of Korea, and growth engine here,” she said, comparing it with the current working ambience in Japan which lacks confidence a little bit, especially after the deadly March 2011 earthquake.

Mentioning that Dow Corning Korea celebrates its 30th anniversary next year, Sakurai added that she hopes to make it known to the Korean public that the company is always there to help innovative leaders.

“Silicon is everywhere; from beauty and personal care products to materials used in construction, electronics and solar energy,” she said.

“We hope to be a true foundation for the innovation of our customers’ companies. We help you invent the future.”

By Park Min-young (claire@heraldcorp.com)