World Chemistry Congress kicks off in Puerto Rico

Academics and business leaders have come to Puerto Rico to attend three significant International Year of Chemistry 2011 events. The 43rd World Chemistry Congress, the 46th IUPAC (International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry) General Assembly and the World Chemistry Leadership Meeting take place in San Juan, Puerto Rico from today (July 31) to August 7.

The 43rd World Chemistry Congress has the theme "Chemistry Bridging Innovation Between the Americas and the World” and will be a major event for the development of chemistry and related scientific and technological disciplines. The Congress includes plenary lectures, symposia, oral presentations, poster presentations, workshops, group meetings and an up-to-date scientific exhibition. Seven chemistry Nobel laureates will be joining the event as plenary speakers.

The World Chemistry Leadership Meeting will be held during the IUPAC 2011 General Assembly. A full-day event is planned for August 2 and Cefic President Giorgio Squinzi will give a keynote address at this event. The meeting will aim to identify new ways to accelerate the contributions of chemistry to Sustainable Development through innovative international collaboration between involving scientists from chemistry and the chemical related sciences, policy makers and social actors, including those with global responsibilities from the relevant UN agencies, and those who apply the science and who will develop the key technologies for tomorrow from industry. It will be a perfect opportunity for leaders from chemistry to set new priorities for the science.

Gernot Klotz of Cefic and SusChem will present at a session on employment and professional development for chemists. He will present the recent Cefic work on skills needs to improve innovation in the chemical industry.

FP7 PPPs: An EU R&I Success Story?

This week (11 and 12 July) over 950 registered delegates met in Brussels to network, discuss past progress and future funding for the EU’s initial Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) on Factories of the Future (FoF), Energy Efficient Buildings (EeB) and the Green Car initiative in Brussels. The three PPPs seem to have worked well, increased industrial participation in FP7 and worked in a fast, efficient and flexible manner. More PPPs are planned as part of Horizon 2020.

The event held at the Charlemagne Building supported the preparation of proposals for the third tranche of cross-thematic coordinated calls by these research PPPs.

In his opening addresss Rudolf Strohmeier, Director-General of DG Research & Innovation, noted that €3.2 billion had been invested so far in the three existing PPP programmes, and a further €480 million of EU funding was available for the next call with deadline 1st December 2011. Projects responding to calls launched under the three PPPs have been characterised by significant industrial (including SME) participation compared to conventional FP7 projects.

Industry re-engaged
Massimo Mattucci speaking for the Factories of the Future PPP said that “Industry had re-engaged in FP7 through the PPPs” and that the PPP research roadmaps reflected industry needs.

Wolfgang Steiger of Volkswagen and the Green Cars initiative said that FP7 PPPs are “a real success story: an efficient, fast model that produces results.”

Jose-Lorenzo Valles from DG R&I endorsed the focus on industry in PPPs but stressed that the FP7 PPP calls were open to all. Overall the success rate for project proposals for PPP calls was higher (~20%) than for conventional FP7 projects. PPPs were of high added-value for competitiveness, more flexible (faster) than JTIs, and brought EC & industry together, with industry able to commit to long-term R&I investment.

Bruno Smets from Philips and EeB said PPPs were “not business as usual” They represent a true value chain approach. It was important to create a market and listen to the voice of the user. But improving the dissemination of programme results to whole value chain was very important.

Many speakers indicated that accurate measurement of the impact of the PPP work was important for the future. There was also a need to refine the governance of PPPs to allow for long term stability.

To coincide with the Information Days a new brochure has been published highlighting progress in the PPPs and including indicative information on the upcoming July 2011 calls for the FoF, EeB and Smart Cars PPPs.

Future of PPPs
Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn delivered the closing address at conference saying: "I am sure you will be very pleased to hear that the draft legislative proposal in preparation for Horizon 2020 will address the use of Public-Private Partnerships. It is important that there is a place for large-scale strategic actions such as PPPs with the critical mass to reach their objectives"

She also indicated how criteria for selecting the industry sectors that are most suitable for future PPPs are developing. Criteria should include:

• Clear added value by acting at the European level


• Demonstration of sufficient scale of impact on industrial competitiveness, sustainable growth and/or socio-economic issues


• A long-term commitment from all parties based on a shared vision and clearly defined objectives


• The scale of the resources involved in the proposal, and the ability to leverage additional investments in research and innovation


• Clear defined roles for each of the partners and agreed key performance indicators

The full text of the Commissioner’s speech can be accessed here.

Herbert von Bose of DG Research had also underlined some essential characteristics for future PPPs. Commitment from industry was essential and the proposal had to be “more than just doing business together”. The Commission needed to easily understand what the ultimate goal of the PPP is – essentially what are the measurable economic or environmental impacts or objectives. PPPs need both a technology and a business roadmap. The critical question to answer is: “What does the proposed R&I investment (i.e. EU funding) bring to the citizen and society?”

ICIS named media partner for SusChem Amsterdam Stakeholder event

ICIS, the chemicals and energy news and information provider, will be SusChem's media partner for the Amsterdam Stakeholder event taking place on 17 May.

The news on the ICIS partnership gives us an excuse to highlight one of our favourite fellow bloggers: John Baker, ICIS Global editor, previously editor of the long-lamented European Chemical News (now part of ICIS Chemical Business) and long-term friend of SusChem.

John's blog 'Chemicals and Innovation' covers exactly what it says on the tin with an emphasis on chemical company innovation strategies, RD&I investments, financing, people and awards. Take a look today.