Competition is becoming ever fiercer in the chemical industry as new firms from such emerging economies as China and India enter the market and as technological advances, potential new regulations, and rising energy and feedstock costs shrink profit margins. Companies manufacturing commodity products are particularly vulnerable to these forces. Yet chemical firms are also discovering that cooperation, even between competitors, is necessary for meeting today’s challenges.

Today’s market dilemmas and innovation systems are too complex for any one organization. Network building is therefore central to continued innovation. Successful networks must include competitors working in partnership. This report summarizes the third annual CHF–SCI Innovation Day and describes a variety of partnerships among chemical and materials firms that combine cooperation and competition in novel, forward-looking ways.

Also in this series:

Innovation Frontiers in Industrial Chemistry: A Report on the First Annual CHF-SCI Innovation Day, Warren G. Schlinger Symposium

Innovation Frontiers in Industrial Chemistry: A Report on the Second Annual CHF-SCI Innovation Day, Warren G. Schlinger Symposium

Squeezed in on all sides--including from raw material costs (which are at unprecedented highs), narrowing access to feedstocks, and growing competition in commodity markets--chemical firms must create new high-value materials and services to survive and profit. This report summarizes the second annual CHF-SCI Innovation Day and suggests solutions for current challenges based on this annual forum in which scientists and technology managers gather to explore frontier areas for the chemical industry. The industry's future, we argue, lies in a strategic "wager" on disruptive technologies, balanced by incremental steps to develop new feedstocks and manufacturing processes that yield novel materials with less environmental impact.

This is the second in a series of white papers to be produced by CHF's Center for Contemporary History and Policy.