ECMSA recently hosted a highly successful conference on commercialising innovation in the chemical industry

This innovation conference, organised last month in Barcelona by ECMSA in co-operation with AIQS (The Spanish federation of Chemical Engineers), focused on the actual experiences of companies in the chemicals, plastics and related industries that have succeeded in commercialising new ideas in the market profitably.

Around 100 participants were exposed to innovative concepts presented by some of the most successful chemical companies in the world – such as Dow, DuPont, 3M, Degussa or Dow Corning... - as well as leading Consulting firms, such as Boston Consulting Group, Kline, HI Interactive... The Conference also provided the audience the opportunity to learn from some of the leading Spanish chemical companies how they manage to constantly innovate in their market. Finally, selected customers of the Chemical industry such as L’Oreal or Almirall Prodesfarma explained their expectations from their suppliers, and the challenges facing the Chemical industry.

Some of the major learning points from the event were:

• Because of its position in the Market Value Chain, being far from the end consumer, the Chemical Industry needs to invest more in understanding the market it is operating in.
• Successful Innovation is not a function of the R&D budget anymore, but of the Organisational Process and its ability to invest smartly
• A proper Market analysis at the early stage of the project will ensure that the right decisions are made early enough to prevent any investment on the wrong opportunities.
• The People dimension is highly critical. Successful organisation are now ensuring that the right people with the right personality profiles are involved in Innovation initiatives
• Companies along the Market Value Chain are increasingly sharing responsibilities in bringing Innovative Solutions to the end user market. Increasingly the Chemical Industry will have to accept working more closely and openly with its customers and/or suppliers to innovate.

The Conference was brought to a close by Mr. Joan Trullén, Secretary General of Industry, Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce of the Spanish Government, who highlighted some of the challenges the Industry is facing, and how being more innovative can help chemical companies to be more successful in a Global market.

The excellent feedback from the audience convinced ECMSA to organise similar events in the future.

Additional details of the conference or on any 2006 ECMSA event can be found on www.ecmsa.org.

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