Innovation in the UK Chemicals Industry

1
Innovation in the UK Chemicals Industry

• The work of the Chemicals Leadership Council
• Colin Harrison
• Uniqema (an ICI company)

2
Whats this all about?

• In 2002 Lord Sainsbury announced the Chemicals
  Innovation and Growth Team (CIGT)
• The CIGT was set up to address the key challenges
  facing the UK industry and to formulate a roadmap
  for the industrys future development
• Process of strategic dialogue with the industry
  and its stakeholders led by Byron Grote (BP)
• Four strategy teams
• Innovation and technology pull through
• Regulation and reputation
• Skills and competencies
• Customers and markets
• More than sixty people from industry, academia,
  regions and central government involved

3
OK- so what happened?

• Report presented in December 2002
• Proposed setting up a Chemicals Leadership
  Council to drive forward the conclusions of the
  report
• Proposed
• action on industry reputation
• action on skills and competencies
• actions for government
• actions on innovation

4
So what about innovation?

• Recognised as vital for all parts of the industry
• The Chemicals Leadership Council should set up a
  Chemicals Innovation Centre (CIC) to act as the
  specialist central hub for networks relating to
  innovation and product development
• The industry should develop an agreed view of
  science and innovation priorities to communicate
  with the UK Science Base
• The CIC should with the relevant regional and
  national agencies promote the UK as the location
  of choice for start-ups in chemicals and related
  technologies
• The Chemicals Leadership Council should carry out
  a review of marketing excellence in the industry

5
Sounds good but whats really happening on
innovation?

• CLC has set up an Innovation Group
• Jeremy Scudamore (Avecia) Chair
• Brian Murphy(Robinson Brothers)
• David Fyffe(Cambridge Displays)
• Steven Ley (University of Cambridge)
• Peter Brooke (DTI)
• This is supported by the Innovation Task
  Force(ITF) which has wide ranging representation
• Companies (ICI, Thomas Swan, Avecia, Octel,
  Johnson Matthey, BP etc),
• Regions(North West Chemicals Initiative, NE
  Pharma and Specialities cluster)
• Technology providers (Britest, BHR solutions)
• Learned societies (RSC, IChemE)
• Trade associations(CIA,SOCSA, BASA)

6
Framework for Action

• WHAT
• What are the industry priorities
• Business Opportunity
• Technology Platforms
• Underpinning Science/ Engineering

• HOW
• Improve performance in innovation
• Increase speed
• Improve hit rate
• Improve linkages

• SUPPORT
• UK Science and Engineering Base
• Climate for business start ups
• Technology translation
• Sources of best practice

A common industry approach
7
But are you all doing anything?

• ITF has begun work on four topics to support the
  CLC Innovation Group
• Defining a set of research priorities for
  industry in a form which can be communicated to
  the science base
• Starting with business opportunities and
  identifying underpinning technology and science
  platforms
• Setting up a dialogue on the underpinning
  platforms with the Science Base initially with
  the Research Councils (but also DTI etc)
• Priorities identified to date include business
  intensification, micropatterning, bioprocessing,
  fuel cells, sustainable technologies,creative
  organic synthesis, microfluidics and more..

8
and there is still more

• ITF priorities
• The innovation process
• Looking at the entire innovation process to
  discover ways of speeding up the entire
  innovation wheel
• Supporting work on process intensification to
  speed the laboratory to pilot to full scale
  phases of a project
• The UK science base in the future
• Working with learned societies to ensure the long
  term health of the UK science and technology base
  in chemical and related areas
• Supporting the establishment of the Chemicals
  Innovation Centre
• Roger Platt(ex Unilever) appointed as project
  planner

9
How can you help?

• Give us feedback what have we got right and
  what can we improve?
• Comment and add to our list of technology
  priorities (e-mail me if you want a copy of the
  draft material)
• Tell me where you think our industry can improve
  its innovation performance
• Support the Chemicals Innovation Centre design
  work- through Roger Platt