Synergy brings together businesses working in different industries to tackle complex chemistry topics
Our world is changing faster than ever before. That means businesses are facing new and tougher chemistry-based challenges; often affecting multiple industries and supply chains.
We know that collaboration can develop better solutions to these challenges, and faster. That’s why our Synergy programme brings together businesses working in different industries to tackle complex chemistry topics.
Through the programme, businesses develop new ways of working collaboratively to reduce risks, cut costs and bring solutions to market faster.
Topics
Polymers are widely used materials in liquid formulations for markets including home and personal care, wastewater treatment and agriculture.
They offer specific functionality to products such as stability and thickening, or they can improve the look and feel of products to make them more attractive to consumers.
However, industry often source these polymers from fossil-derived feedstocks and they enter waste streams at the end of their life.
Could there be opportunities to maximise the value of these materials?
We are campaigning alongside industry to make polymers in liquid formulations (PLFs) more sustainable.
Timeline of activities to date
| 2018 | Workshops that brought together 25 expert perspectives from academia and industry, representing personal care, oil and gas, water, paints and coatings, speciality chemicals and pharmaceutical industries. |
| 2019 |
Report offering a cross-industry perspective on four significant opportunities for collaboration.
Download a copy of our report here |
| 2020 |
Partnership with CPI to further develop initial ideas towards industry-led collaboration.
Read the press-release about our partnership here |
| 2021 |
Reports released on a landscape view of the PLFs sector alongside identifying opportunities for a sustainable future. Industry task force also established to take forward recommendations.
Download a copy of our reports and find out more about our task force here |
The UK composite industry is expected to grow significantly by 2035 with demand increasing across aerospace, defence, construction, automotive, renewable energy, oil & gas, rail and marine. Composites have the potential to move these industries towards a net zero emissions economy; however, they too have their challenges in becoming more sustainable.
Shifting to renewable feedstocks, maximising material lifetimes, and eliminating waste are just some of the big challenges that industry are facing.
We are working with industry to explore the role of chemistry in developing sustainable composite solutions.
| 2021 | Partnership with NCC to investigate the role of chemistry in developing sustainable composite solutions |
Corrosion affects every aspect of life, from small-scale electronics to large-scale infrastructure. It costs the global economy $2.5 trillion each year.
It is not sustainable to keep protecting, repairing and replacing corroding metals. Chemical scientists, working with experts across disciplines and industries, could make this a problem of the past – by developing non-metallic alternatives to traditional metals.
Non-metallics are currently too risky for industry to adopt at scale. Could we increase industry’s confidence in these materials?
We explored opportunities to improve the performance of non-metallic corrosion solutions for corrosion.
Timeline of activities to date
| 2019 | Workshops that brought together 25 expert perspectives from academia and industry, representing aerospace, oil and gas, construction, paints and coatings, defence and manufacturing industries |
| 2020 |
Report offering a cross-industry perspective on the topic and two significant opportunities for collaboration
Read our news story here |
| 2021 |
Partnership with NCC to investigate the role of chemistry in developing sustainable composite solutions for corrosion and other applications (see further details on composites tab) |
What should our next topic be?
We are seeking new topics from industry to explore in the future. They need to be:
- Relevant to multiple industries and sectors
- Complex chemical-science based challenges
- On topics that businesses are able to collaborate on
Email us your topic ideas.
