Evonik has expanded its cooperation with IBM in the field of digitization to accelerate Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The two companies have extended their strategic partnership ahead of schedule until 2025. Taking this decision early creates more opportunities for longer-term projects. Furthermore, Evonik will be involved in the research and development of artificial intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Evonik is the world's first chemical company to participate at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab.

In this unique interplaying at the MIT campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, experts from academia and industry are investigating the potential uses and effects of artificial intelligence.

"Bright minds from science and business are working jointly together on digital progress. We are delighted to be part of it," says Henrik Hahn, chief digital officer (CDO), Evonik.

Evonik looks forward to joining the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab and its advisory board to contribute its ideas and applications across materials discovery, formulation technology, knowledge management and market analysis to advance overall applications of AI in the chemical industry.

"The work on artificial intelligence is also a litmus test of what digital systems can do: For example, we are looking at how decisions can be made better, more systematically and faster with the help of algorithms," says Hahn.

Evonik and IBM have also succeeded in building Artificial Intelligence that will further accelerate the research for new materials. In close collaboration with IBM Research a Deep Neural Network was developed and trained that predicts properties or new formulations for high-performance polymers. These predictions help researchers like a compass pointing them in promising directions for new products and customer solutions.