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An Enduring Partnership This guest editonalis by David R. Harvey, chairman ofSigma-Aldrich Corp. since 2000 and chiefexecutive officer since 1999. Harvey received a Ph.D. in chemistryfrom Oxford University in 1963 and carried out postdoctoral research at Heidelberg University. Pnor to joining SigmaAldrich in 1974, he worked at Shell International Chemical Co.
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HEMISTRY HAS RAISED THE STAN-
dard of living and improved the quality of life in a way very few other disciplines can claim. The driving force came from, and still comes from, academia, very effectively exploited by industry and supported and regulated ο by government. | Worldwide, the chemical 5 market is about $ 1.5 trillion (sales ° and value of output), of which < about one-third is produced and £ consumed in the U.S. At oneand-a-half times the size ofJapan and twice the size of Germany the U.S. absolutely dominates the industry Not surprisingly, the world's largest chemical companies, Dow, followed by DuPont, are American. Looking at pharmaceuticals, the US. again leads the world. Half of the top 10 companies, led by Pfizer, are U.S. firms. So overall, the U.S. chemical industry, by any standard, has been a tremendous success story This achievement has been fueled by the massive input from research and develop ment both in industry and academia. To day in the U.S., over $35 billion is spent an nually on chemical research, financed approximately one-third by government (the majority of which goes to academia), one-third by pharmaceutical companies, and one-third by the remaining chemical in dustry The government plays a major role in financing the basic research at universi ties, which is the solid foundation of the chemical industry Academia, of course, not only does research but also supplies the trained workforce for industry There are roughly 1,000 universities and institutions, which graduate about 10,000 bachelor's-level chemists annually, mainly American. Another 4,000 students grad uate every year with higher chemistry de grees; about one-third of these students are non-US. citizens. Why is this? Well, first, American institutions for chemical research are the best in the world. America is now the place to come for postdoctoral experi ence, having long displaced Germany from the top spot. Second, foreign governments see the tremendous economic potential in
chemistry and know it will help them com pete globally Supporting research students is key to staying competitive. Today, the U.S. chemical industry and chemical academic institutions clearly lead the world. So what can the government do to help support and maintain these leadership roles? First and above all, it needs to guarantee the continuous funding of aca demic institutions. Certainly the major increase in life sciences funding over the past five years has paid and will pay tremendous dividends in terms of the health of the economy Apart from funding, it's im portant that the government also ensure a climate conducive to growth. Certainly safe ty and environmental regulations are need ed to monitor industry but companies must compete globally Consequently, the Amer ican chemical industry shouldn't be put at an economic disadvantage. Furthermore, a sense of reality must come to the lawsuits that plague industry today Many of these are based on very dubious scientific or factual evidence. These issues must be addressed. Looking ahead, there are going to be very exciting new discoveries in chemistry. In the short term, scientists will certainly de velop better ways of diagnosing and treat ing diseases. And they will help improve the breeding of animals and production of higher yielding crops to feed the world's growing population. There will also be tremendous developments both on a large molecular scale, involving extremely com plicated syntheses, and in the field of nanotechnology Longer term, chemists will no doubt find ways to convert the sun's heat into effective usable energy and be able to synthesize living organisms. The possibili ties are indeed limitless. Chemistry will continue to play a very important role in improving the future qual ity of life, and it's the ongoing partnership of academia, government, and industry that will ensure such progress to the benefit of all humankind. David R. Harvey Chairman & CEO, Sigma-Aldrich Corp.
Views expressed on this page are those of the author and not necessarily those of ACS. HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
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