Katharine Sanderson/Philadelphia, US

How are chemists equipped to face the challenges presented by an evermore cut-throat business world? This and many other questions were addressed by scientists, business people, and entrepreneurs at Innovation day, organised by the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF), Philadelphia, US.

Speaking at the event, Bob Gower, president, chief executive officer, and co-founder of Carbon Nanotechnologies believes the chemical industry has ?a better capability for innovation than many other industries?.

Attendees seemed to agree that innovation would not come directly from large companies. A culture of risk taking spin-out companies, in collaboration with more cautious large corporations, will promote innovation in an economically viable way, they said.

Innovation in the topical areas of nanotechnology and future energy sources, among others, were discussed at length. Robert Kirshbaum from Dutch company DSM, said that nanotechnology was the next logical step in the evolution of science, integrating as it does physics, chemistry and biology. With their business-heads firmly in place, the scientists discussing future energy sources were agreed that the technology for things such as proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells is already in existence. Charles Stone, from Ballard Power Systems, a Canadian PEM fuel cell developing and manufacturing company, explained that the innovations that will bring these academically driven advances into the public domain will be in low-cost materials, simplified designs and improved manufacturing processes.

The conclusion being that only then can exciting chemical technology become truly cost-effective.