Sustainability as an Exciting Innovation Challenge

The world needs chemical engineers now as much as any time in history. We know that industrial processes have an impact on the environment, and, as the world’s population continues to grow, we face greater challenges to sustain a healthy planet. Now, in the 21st century, we are equipped with technological advances in instrumentation, computing power and data analytics that are fueling great leaps in designing more sustainable chemical processes. Coupled with ever-advancing abilities to collaborate around the world and across disciplines, we are poised to make progress even more rapidly. This combination of the urgent need to solve the problems facing humanity, along with the encouraging prospect that we have the tools at our disposal to do just that, makes innovation for more sustainable chemical processes an exciting challenge. This talk will invite each of us to consider our respective industries and reimagine the future that we will create. In addition, the talk will highlight that by seeking a greater understanding of the entire value chain, we will be inspired to innovate and to find more sustainable solutions even faster. We have the great responsibility as chemical engineers to forge a new path for environmental sustainability. Pursuing these exciting solutions is a clear opportunity for innovation.