Honeywell said yesterday it will invest US$13.5 million to expand its research hub in Shanghai as the New Jersey-based company seeks to better support growing business in China and rest of the world.

The expanded research and development (R&D) center in the Zhangjiang High-Tech Park will house engineering, design and development work of the company's four key business sections - specialty materials, aerospace, automation control and transport. The expansion will be completed in July 2007.

Nance Dicciani, chief executive of Honeywell Specialty Materials, said the expansion will help enlarge the original research space by four times and the number of research staff will rise from 40 to 60.

The Shanghai research center was opened in 2004 with an investment of US$80 million. The center also serves as the company's Asia Pacific headquarters.

Shane Tedjarati, Honeywell's global vice president, said the Shanghai center will not only serve the China market, but also the Asia and global markets.

"We create solutions here and the applications can be used by customers all over the world," said Tedjarati, who is also the company's chief executive for China business.

He said the company took only a short time to make the decision to expand - only two years after the original center opened - because earlier goals have been met ahead of schedule and exceeded expectations.

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