Chemistry - working for Europe
To prosper in the 21st century
To meet the future demands of society
Development of sciences & technology
PUBLICATIONS / ACTIVITIES TO DATE
ALLIANCE FOR CHEMICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES IN EUROPE
Chemistry and chemical engineering are central to the disciplines of science and engineering, as they underpin many areas, including the life sciences, new materials and processes, biotechnology and agriculture, all of which require an understanding of the molecular world. Progress in health care, environmental protection and wealth creation is dependent on advances in the chemical sciences. The continued development and application of the chemical sciences is fundamental to achieving health and prosperity for the people of Europe. This paper sets out the roles that universities, industry and governmental authorities should play in ensuring that society derives the maximum benefit from the chemical sciences.
To prosper in the 21st century, Europe will need well-trained and educated chemists and chemical engineers and a scientifically literate population.
The future welfare and prosperity of people in Europe will depend on scientific and technological innovation affecting all of our lives, our transport, our houses, the food we eat and the medicines that we take. Society will become increasingly reliant on the skills of chemists and chemical engineers to invent these new materials and to create new sustainable ways to make, use and dispose of them.
Tomorrow's young scientists and engineers need to be broadly educated and trained to have the knowledge and skills to be not only inventive and innovative but also conscious of society's needs for safety and for the protection of our environment.
The education of Europe's citizens about the importance and relevance of scientific knowledge and the methodology of science to their daily lives must be given a higher priority when public resources are allocated.
To compete globally in the 21st century, Europe will need a world-class chemical industry as a major contributor to health, wealth and employment.
Europe's prosperity in the 21st century will depend on the continuing success of its manufacturing industries. The chemical industry as a core provider of materials and services to all of the other industries is fundamental to the future of Europe.
Universities and research institutes will provide the new knowledge and the trained chemists and chemical engineers on whom the chemical and related industries in Europe will rely for their continuing success.
The chemical industry currently provides, in Europe, employment for about 1.7 million people, equivalent to 7% of the overall workforce employed in the manufacturing sector of industry. It is worth noting that the majority of these 1.7 million people are well educated, highly trained and enjoy well-paid and stimulating jobs.
For continuing success into the 21st century the chemical industry will need a population that respects what it does and supports the way that it does it.
To be able to meet the future demands of society in Europe, industry will require a continuous stream of technological innovation.
The essential ingredient of innovation is new scientific knowledge. The success of the chemical industry in Europe in the 21st century will depend on its ability to maintain a continuous flow of innovation in new products and manufacturing technologies. The industry accepts the particular need to create new technologies to make its processes safer, cleaner, smaller and more resource-efficient.
Throughout the 20th century the chemical industry in Europe has relied, and will continue to rely, on the results of chemistry and related research carried out in academic institutions. For this reason the chemical industry supports strongly the expenditure of scarce public resources to fund curiosity-driven research in chemical sciences by gifted academic researchers. Public funding for collaborative research between industrial companies and universities and research institutes should also be strengthened in the pursuit of more sustainable products and process technologies.
The chemical industry is a major generator of wealth and also a major user of the output, both of people and of knowledge, created by universities. The industry recognises a duty to invest a portion of its wealth in the long-term sustenance and development of the chemical sciences in Europe's universities as a vital element underpinning Europe's future success.
To ensure the development of sciences and technologies in the 21st century, support for the core discipline of chemistry as the 'central science' of the future is essential.
Universities have a key role in preserving and developing the core discipline of chemistry. Without continued development of the chemical sciences, the multidisciplinary approach essential to the solution of major scientific problems and the development of new technologies will be impossible.
It follows that any university or research institute that wishes to be seriously involved in science must have at its heart a group of well-qualified and well-supported chemical scientists, capable of leading developments in the core discipline of chemistry, and applying these advances to the overall aims of their institutions.
Universities are the primary source for both the people and the fundamental scientific knowledge that power the innovation process, and they must be enabled to provide excellence and diversity in education and training and to conduct world-class leading-edge research.
To deliver what society expects, governments must provide universities with the means to pursue both excellence and diversity in their approach. The crucial importance of the chemical sciences for the next century must be recognised and acted upon. Universities must pursue excellence in research, either acting independently or in co-operation with others in virtual institutes. Public authorities must ensure that universities are equipped to carry out world-class research in areas of social and industrial importance.
Universities need to be given the intellectual and financial freedom to ensure a culture of scientific excellence and entrepreneurship, as well as the flexibility to meet the changing demands placed upon them.
Industries based upon chemistry are extremely diverse in terms of size and market sector. Their needs for personnel are similarly diverse, but there are some common threads. They all need highly educated chemists and chemical engineers who can apply an understanding of interactions at the molecular level to the solution of problems and to the development of products and processes. University-level educational provision in the chemical sciences needs to satisfy a much wider range of employment needs and student aspirations than it does at present. Mechanisms must be found to encourage university departments to concentrate on their strengths; they must pursue excellence, specialise in their strengths and be different from each other in what they do.
Industry must underpin the aims of universities by providing stability in European collaborative activity, and long-term links and training opportunities for graduates and postgraduates.
Development of long-term relationships between the chemical industry and university departments is vital. The role of chemical industry in training its workers and the role of “life-long” education and training provisions all need to be redefined. Industry must take the view that education and training of chemists and chemical engineers is a joint responsibility.
The chemical industry needs to strengthen its long-term relationships with academic institutions to enable them to develop their scientific strengths in a more stable and predictable environment. Industry must recognise that universities operate on a longer time-scale than that now adopted by industrial companies.
Government authorities have an opportunity to adopt and support a vision for chemistry in Europe; to do so they should provide an operational framework and the funding to enable universities and industry to meet societyÕs demands.
An efficient and democratic society needs diversity and independence of approach, combined with the ability and willingness to co-operate when this leads to overall advantage.
Thus departments of chemical sciences and chemical engineering in Europe's universities need a framework in which co-operation is encouraged and supported strongly by all governments. Universities should be given the freedom to practise independence and diversity in approach, but should also be required to collaborate and co-ordinate activities in the pursuit of the common European good. Governments must be encouraged to put in place the necessary policies to allow and to require this to happen.
For Europe to continue to succeed as a major source of innovation, governments must build on Europe's diversity and strengths by setting broad targets to encourage greater complementarity and co-ordination, and by recognising in their financial and industrial plans the importance of science education for everyone.
