During a masterclass at Brightlands Chemelot Campus, Christophe Cabarry, CEO at SpecialChem, shared his vision on how to speed up R&D and innovation in the materials and chemical industry.
SpecialChem is a Paris-based network organization with access to half a million members, all professionals, in several industries worldwide (including Plastics & Polymers). About 70 percent of them are active in R&D and production.
During the masterclass “How digitalization accelerates R&D and innovation in the chemical industry”, Christiophe Cabarry said: “At SpecialChem we are convinced that in the chemical industry R&D and innovation can benefit greatly from digitalization. Over the years, we have developed methodologies to explore new attractive markets and to validate products before launch, so before it’s too late to change anything. We came to good results throughout the chemical industry: you can innovate faster, with increased success rate, and reduced investment.”
These methodologies are based on digital channels. SpecialChem is tapping into the knowledge of its members by inviting them to share their feedback about specific topics related to R&D and innovation. This type of crowd-sourced collaboration enhances agility, because you can create the right market interactions fast and effectively. In fact, this type of open-innovation interaction with the market can bring lots of successes to the chemical industry, like SpecialChem is proving every day.
However, some conditions must be met, one of which is a change in mindset, accepting to change the processes. Cabarry: “I think, the industry is now matured to do that, and digitalization is finally hitting it. So, we look for great improvements of the innovation process in this industry over the coming years.” Check out the video of Cabarry, where he explains more about the benefits of digitalization in the R&D, materials and chemical industry.
One of the attendants said: “I appreciate the open-innovation concept as presented by Cabarry, which involves engineers from all over the world. I can imagine that this concept can also be applied to other industries than the chemical industry.”
The masterclass on November 20, 2017, was co-organized by SABIC and Brightlands.
More information:
- Click for the recording version of the presentation Dr. Duane Priddy, Global Vice President at SpecialChem.
- Hyperlink voor more information: www.specialchem.com
