Market outlook: ICIS Innovation Awards kick off

Who will take the prize in this year’s ICIS Innovation Awards? We start this week on our annual search for the best in innovation in the chemical industry.

We are looking for innovation in products, processes and ways of doing business in general, and innovation that benefits society, the environment and sustainability.

This year we are adding an explicit category of Best Process Innovation, to recognise this vital aspect of innovation, that can drive efficiencies in energy and raw materials consumption, reduce environmental impact and create better routes to existing and new products.

Another change this year is that we have brought together the environment and sustainability categories, to create a single Innovation with Best Benefit for Environment and Sustainability, largely as a reflection of how close these two aspects of innovation are, and also to recognise the interplay between the two.

Last year’s overall winner was Cabot Aerogel – seen here picking up the awards from sponsor Neil Checker of Roland Berger (right) are Raj Chary (left) and Nick Cross (centre)

Two things that have not changed are the fact that we welcome back Roland Berger Strategy Consultants as the overall sponsor of the awards and the sponsor of the Best Product Innovation category, and that U.S. Chemicals is joining us for a sixth year as a category sponsor. Without their support the awards would not be as successful as they are and we thank them for their continuing support and contributions.

Neil Checker, a partner at Roland Berger and a member of the judging panel, comments that: “We are honoured and delighted to have the opportunity to continue with the role of overall sponsor of this prestigious award programme, following on from our support in previous years. Together with our fellow sponsors we look forward with excitement to reviewing the submissions this year and honouring the winners.”

The growth in the popularity of the Awards has paralleled the growing focus on innovation in the chemical sector, with companies not only taking an increasingly sophisticated approach to how they develop new processes and products, but also to where they spend their research and development (R&D) budgets. Direction today is often informed by the mega-trends affecting society, notably global population growth, transportation, urbanisation, energy efficiency, and food and water security. The chemical industry has a huge part to play in addressing the issues these trends create, and it will do so largely through targeted innovation.

Recent winners of the Awards (www.icis.com/awards) have developed ground-breaking solutions. Last year’s overall winner, Cabot Corporation’s Aerogel business unit, has devised a new highly effective insulation product for use in construction and glazing, to cut heat losses from buildings. The potential impact of the innovation is enormous, and the judges last year were unanimous in making Cabot the overall winner.

As usual ICIS has recruited a six-strong panel of experts to assess the entries and choose a winner in each of the five categories, and the overall winner. This is not an easy job, given the diversity of innovation in the chemical sector, but they bring with them a wide range of expertise, from polymer and chemical innovation to bio-based materials and business innovation in general. Further details are on the Awards website, which also includes more information on this year’s sponsor companies.

FIVE CATEGORIES TO CHOOSE FROM

To recognise the breadth of innovation in the chemical sector, and the importance of the ­environment and the shift to sustainability, the ICIS Innovation Awards offer five categories. Companies may enter as many innovations as they wish, but can enter each innovation into one category only. The categories and previous winners are as follows:

BEST PRODUCT INNOVATION
SPONSORED BY ROLAND BERGER

The Best Product Innovation category gives entrants a chance to show how innovative they are in the traditional but still vital area of product innovation. It is this, after all, that brings in new business and/or makes existing products more attractive and competitive. The judges will be looking for quality of science involved, the scale of challenges overcome, potential market impacts and degree of wider applicability, among other things.

Previous winners:

• 2013 – Solvay Aroma Performance – Govanil, pioneering the new reference of vanilla flavours
• 2012 – Dow Chemical – INFUSE olefin block copolymers

BEST PROCESS INNOVATION

The Best Process Innovation category gives entrants a chance to show how innovative they are in the fundamental areas of new process development and process improvement – vital areas of innovation underlying better use of energy and raw materials, improved economics, safer performance and lower environmental impact.

Previous winners:

This is a new category for 2014

BEST INNOVATION BY A SMALL OR MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISE

This category allows SMEs – that great source and reservoir of innovation – a chance to shine with a product or process innovation. SMEs are defined as having less than 250 employees and a turnover below $75m (€54m).

Previous winners:

• 2013 – Renmatix – Advances in sugar ­conversion technology using supercritical hydrolysis
• 2012 – Novomer – Innovative catalyst platform for producing acrylic acid, BDO and PPL

BEST BUSINESS INNOVATION

The Best Business Innovation category is intended to highlight wider-based innovation in how chemical companies do business, beyond traditional product and process development. New business solutions can be as important as technological or product development. Business innovation can add value and drive the right solutions to customers, and the chemical industry. This may be with new service offerings to customers or partnerships with suppliers and downstream collaborators; new approaches to the route to market; or even novel supply chain or business process operations.

Previous winners:

• 2013 – Archroma – “One Way” sustainability service in textile chemicals
• 2011 – BioAmber – Innovation in succinic acid

INNOVATION WITH BEST BENEFIT FOR ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
SPONSORED BY U.S. CHEMICALS

The chemical industry and innovation can play an important role in addressing many of today’s environmental concerns, including global warming, pollution, recycling, water supply security and nutrition. The category is designed to recognise those companies that have incorporated the ideas of environmental performance and sustainability into their innovation in the areas of product and process developments and approach to business overall.

Entries might include improved manufacturing processes or products, with reduced environmental impact, or new products that tackle the issues above. They should show a distinct benefit to the environment and to the sustainability of the company and its customers.

Previous winners:

This is an amalgamation of the environment and sustainability categories that ran separately last year.

Sustainability category

• 2013 – Virent – Converting plant sugars to paraxylene for renewable, recyclable packaging and fibres.
• 2013 – Rhodia – The new rare earths “urban” mine

Environment category

• 2013 – Cabot Corporation, Aerogel – Cabot Aerogel for eco-friendly building and construction.
• 2013 – Clariant – Advanced denim technology.

Past winners have included the largest multinationals and the smallest of SMEs. But in all cases it has been the quality of the innovation that has counted in the end. With such a wide range of innovations to be recognised, all I can do is urge you to enter – simply go to www.icis.com/awards.

Entering is the only way you can get your company name on the honour roll, and garner the publicity and accolades that ICIS can generate.

Good luck!

• More information on how to enter the Awards and on previous winners, the sponsors and judges