Remarks by
Giorgio Squinzi, President, Cefic
Press briefing and the panel discussion
Brussels, Belgium
Thursday, December 2, 1011
Remarks at press briefing, 9:30 am
The International Year of Chemistry has been focusing on education and attracting new talent to science and chemistry.
Chemistry does not solve all the problems of the world, but it can do a lot. The Young Leaders presentation will show us today how chemistry can play a central role of chemistry as a science that can make the next great breakthroughs.
But to make breakthroughs it takes people. Qualified people…well-skilled people. As a trained chemical engineer, I know what it took in the past and what it takes now. But the future will be different. Europe’s future engineers and scientists will need a more broad-based education in order to speed up future innovations in the chemical industry.
This is a conclusion of a Cefic study titled “Skills for Innovation in the European Chemical Industry.”
The future, which we will see a glimpse of from the Young Leaders with us today, will mean scientist and engineers – like the Young Leaders before us today – must have a scientific, multidisciplinary background, so that they can understand one another and develop together innovative solutions. For example, a chemist will need to be able to talk to a biologist, as well as a patent lawyer and a marketing person to help make their ideas fly. So it doesn’t stop with making a discovery in the lab. Getting breakthroughs to market requires an additional set of skills.
I am sure the Young Leaders see the need for this set of skills each day.
So what needs to be done?
Two things.
First, technical educational programmes should put greater focus on financial and business skills like accounting, marketing and communications. Innovators, both young and old, must have both the technical knowledge and the “soft” skills.
Second, once armed with a set of new skills, future workers must use a mix of technical, business and personal skills to adapt more easily to new tasks and bring together different scientific areas.
The chemical industry is ready to work with educational bodies to bring these
recommendations ultimately into the classroom. The Young Leaders with us today are a clear example of how new skills and traditional skills can work hand in hand to help make their vision of 2050 come true.
About the study
The study aims to address three recommendations made in the area of human resources from the final report of the July 2009 European Commission’s High Level Group on the Competitiveness of the European Chemical Industry.
Cefic initiated the study in September 2009 to find out from a significant part of Europe’s €449 billion chemical industry the most critical skills necessary for scientists and engineers to make innovation more robust. The views come from structured telephone interviews with a group of 16-high level chemical industry representatives from 12 companies representing a total workforce of 300,000 – one-fourth of total European chemical industry employment. Survey participants were chosen for their involvement in the long-term strategy of their respective companies.
Remakrs at panel discussion, 10:30 am
I have to admit that (having already seen a preview) I am really impressed with the quality of the work delivered by the young professionals; and the way they have illustrated the huge challenges ahead of us. 2050 is of course a very long time span, but we have to start creating the solutions already today.
We want to position the European chemical industry as a high-tech sector, at the roots of innovation and providing solutions to all the challenges mentioned above.
The International Year of Chemistry has been a unique opportunity to speak about all these things in all our countries, at regional and local level. It would take too much time to list all the initiatives and events displayed in our countries, but in my view, the most important goal was to reach out to young children and students.
Attracting young talent to study chemistry and to join the chemical industry is a must to boost research and innovation. We have to stir their enthusiasm, we have to convince them that chemistry and the chemical industry holds a future for them in terms of job opportunities.
For almost 200 years, chemistry has been at the origin of many major discoveries and has contributed to understanding the composition and the properties of most if not all organic and inorganic materials available on earth. Indeed, chemicals are all around us.
Chemistry allows us to understand the nature around us but also to mimic it or to adapt its properties to our needs. From the start of the industrial revolution to the end of the 20th century, man has exploited all possible routes to scale up the extraction of natural compounds or the production of synthetic molecules to make their properties accessible to the largest number possible.
Since the early 1970s, mankind has learned that the availability of raw materials and access to energy, food… water is not infinite, and that the capacity of our planet to absorb and neutralize man-made waste is limited. Providing food, water, health, energy and comfort to 9 billion people by 2050 questions our model and calls for ambitious plans which will require creative ideas, as well as innovative and sustainable solutions.
We know that scientific and technical progress is made of successes and pitfalls and learning comes from experience. During the last 30 years industry has continuously invested in health, safety and environmental protection measures reduced its energy consumption and emissions per unit of production. Furthermore, it has optimized its productivity and reduced the use of raw materials but it has forgotten to tell society about its performance and sometimes not anticipated the long-term impact of some applications.
Chemistry and the chemical industry are more than ever taking up the challenge of sustainability. Less energy intensive, biodegradable, recyclable, renewable, minimized impact on health and environment, raw material efficient, cost-effective are all important elements of the sustainability equation.
I am confident that our future leaders in chemistry will find the right solutions and again I would like to congratulate them for their excellent work.
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