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June 11th, 2018
Prof. Rainer Diercks, Chairman of DECHEMA e.V.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Anyone preparing a statement for a press conference or editorial for a printed magazine these days, does not have it easy. The news situation changes virtually changes by the second; what was still relevant at the copy deadline might be totally out of date when going to press.
This uncertainty affects us and our industries too. Virtually all the companies in the process industry work internationally. This doesn’t just apply to listed global corporations but also to many small and medium-sized enterprises who are often world market leaders in their field and have a strong global focus with their high-tech products.
With leading innovators in particular, trade barriers and punitive tariffs always affect both the producers whose market access is made more difficult but also the customers who cannot find an adequate alternative, especially with highly specialised products. Added to this is the uncertainty: investments in the process industry have a long time horizon. They need reliable basic conditions. Only then can decisions be made in favour of modern systems and efficient processes – and therefore also in favour of jobs and taxes both in the exporting and importing country. The following applies far more here than to other industries: there are only losers in trade wars.
But it’s not just manufacturers and suppliers who are working internationally. Research and development activities, whether they’re in industry or at universities or research institutes, rely on international exchange. ACHEMA congress with its roughly 800 lectures is simply one example of the many other international conferences organised by DECHEMA. As strong as national research may be, a great deal of additional impetus results from international contacts, be it as a result of various research traditions and focuses or different regional circumstances, for example the availability of resources and energy or market orientation.
Many research groups are international. Complications with the issuing of visas or entry restrictions therefore hamper conferences and collaborations as they don’t just affect researchers from that country but also many scientists working elsewhere.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Science and innovation live from the free exchange of information, people and technologies. We need this exchange and we need the basic political and social conditions to allow this. Anyone who restricts this without good reason is not just jeopardising our disciplines and industries in future but also the future development of our planet.
As research in chemistry, pharmaceuticals and the food industry and process industry, which make innovative processes and high-quality products out of its results, are working on issues hat affect every single person in the world: from climate change to healthcare, the provision of food, energy and mobility. A worldwide active industry for worldwide relevant solutions – that is what we experience at ACHEMA.
With the breadth of topics discussed here by scientists and practitioners, ACHEMA is almost certainly one of a kind in the world. It is of course all about the focal topics Biotech for Chemistry, Chemistry and Pharma Logistics and Flexible Production. But all the other areas at ACHEMA come into their own too, from Industrial and Labour Safety to Materials Technology and Testing, the “Laboratory of the Future”, for which there will be a special session on Wednesday morning, to components like pumps and compressors. And the key issues, which are particularly concerning the chemical industry, play a prominent part during the congress. We have highlighted the main topics in the congress programme to make it easier for visitors to plan and find their way around: we are focusing on resources, digitalisation and energy and the climate on three themed days.
Speaking of resources: the focal topics at ACHEMA change from event to event depending on which trends and developments are currently having a particularly major influence on the process industry. On Tuesday morning we’re going to find out with the presentation of the “Industrial Water 4.0” position paper that digitalisation and water management don’t just both play an important part but that together they are an integral element for future industrial production. At the same time, we are going back full circle to one of the focal topics at ACHEMA 2015 and see that it is still as relevant today. And we are linking up with the original principle: as industrial water management is one of the outstanding examples of international collaboration contributing to the development of solutions for a whole range of different regional requirements and everyone benefiting from them – technology suppliers, users, the environment and the local people whose living conditions are protected.
Similar highlights await us every single day: today at 1.30 p.m. the congress is starting with a panel discussion on “Plastics-free Europe?” with a question mark; this is also a topic that has been inundating the news headlines over the last few weeks. This afternoon we’re going to sort through and discuss the many suggestions on the table with experts.
The second panel discussion is on the programme tomorrow. The question then is what impacts digitalisation has beyond the technical issues – which new business models can be developed in the chemical industry thanks to digitalisation?
And when we’re talking about innovation, we mustn’t just look at the awe-inspiring industry giants. In roughly one and a half hour we are going to know which of the eight finalists in the ACHEMA Start-Up Award 2018 were able to really impress the jury. Tomorrow you can take a look at all eight companies and also listen to what industry experts have to say about the interaction between start-ups and established players. Then you can get to know another five companies who are dealing with the development of new sustainable materials in the afternoon.
On Wednesday we are segueing to the interaction between different sectors in the context of the energy revolution with a plenary lecture by Walter Leitner and Markus Steilemann. On Thursday you can then experience the DECHEMA 2017 prize winner, who is presenting very exciting projects on photoredox catalysis in microfluidic reactors – a promising approach for pharmaceuticals production, among other things.
I could go on endlessly with this list as there are also the many events by our associate partners from Germany and abroad. Instead I’d like to invite you to see for yourself how much creativity, inventiveness and innovation there is at ACHEMA – the global heart of the process industry!
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DECHEMA Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e.V.
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