Panel III - Regulatory Problems for the Implementation of Invention
Paper N3.4 - The changing face of chemistry in the United Kingdom
Alan Smith, United Kingdom
Abstract: The UK chemical industry is made up of many sectors
and the largest one is pharmaceuticals, which particular "global",
and has excellent record of innovation, resulting from a high level
of expenditure on R&D. The remaining sectors of Chemical Industry
are less "global" and have a much lower level of R&D
expenditure. This part of industry has seen a great deal of downsizing
and re-engineering and has been actively acquired by non-UK companies.
One of the main reasons for this is that it is easier to make people
redundant in the UK than in most other countries, and certainly
many foreign companies seek to have their R&D closer to their
headquarters where they can control it more. However, all the traumatic
changes in this part of the industry have created a workforce which
has the advantage of being able to accommodate to change.
In the UK there is a much higher proportion of specialty chemical
companies than in Germany or the USA, mainly because of the UK strengths
in pharmaceuticals, but, as a result, it is likely that the EU Chemical
Policy White paper will have a more marked effect on UK companies
that elsewhere in Europe. This is in addition to other disadvantages
expressed in a recent issue of CEFIC's Barometer of Competitiveness,
which highlights the fact that it is easier, cheaper and quicker
to get new product into the market in the US than it is in Europe.
There has been a plethora of documents produced by interested parties
in order to attempt to ensure that the UK continue to enjoy what
it has benefited from - a major contribution to the balance of payments
from the UK Chemical Industry. Government initiatives have been
directed at topics such as lab-on-a-chip, high throughput, nanotechnology,
ionic liquids, supercritical fluids etc. The UK's Foresight exercise
has been regarded as the best in the world, and this has been enhanced
by the creation of 24 Faraday Partnership, which have some similarities
to the German Fraunhofer Institutes. Many of these Faraday Partnerships
are chemical-related and much of their funding is directed at "step-change"
projects.
The UK also leads the rest of Europe in the number of spin-out
companies that have been initiated from universities, especially
in the chemistry and materials. The vas majority of these started
with Government funding in university before setting up on their
own. The Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institute of materials
are both helping these companies to flourish, as well as encouraging
other academics to take the plunge. The focus and emphasis is on
innovation, with patented technology.
