Rodney Townsend is RSC Director of Science and Technology.
He is chairman of SusChem, the European Technology Platform on Sustainable Chemistry.

SusChem is of key importance to us all. The current European Framework Programme (FP) is the seventh in the series but amazingly the first to have an explicit and recognised Technology Platform in Chemistry. This means that the EC and European Parliament is recognising at last that a robust, modern programme of research and innovation in the chemical sciences is crucial for the future prosperity and health of Europe.

SusChem addresses head-on what is recognised today as the biggest challenge facing mankind - how to develop sustainable, renewable technologies that will deliver future prosperity and health for everyone. Its message is clear - if we want to keep a sustainable European civilization, then we had better sustain research in chemistry, because this is where many of the solutions to our current problems lie.

This programme has brought the chemical and biotechnological industries of Europe together to address the key issues - an achievement in itself. Its remit is wide, including energy, healthcare, information and communication technologies, product and process design and transport.

In 2007 we made a good start, with many of the initial calls for funding from the €32 billion FP7 budget being driven by the SusChem agenda, but we have a long way to go. As the new chairman, one of my first priorities is to raise the profile of SusChem in the nation states, industry and academe. From an RSC viewpoint, this is critical - more than half the regulatory legislation that influences all our lives comes from Brussels.

Innovation that leads to renewable and sustainable solutions must be developed at the European level..and above all, through chemical innovation!