Editorial pubs.acs.org/acscatalysis
Virtual Special Issue on Catalysis in The Netherlands n 2002, Mitch Jacoby wrote a special report for Chemical & Engineering News entitled “A Dutch Success Story: Catalysis”.1 In the opening paragraph of his article, Jacoby formulated the following questions: “How does a country of just 16 million people maintain a leadership role in a research area of global technological and economic importance? How does a small country come to play a key part in a scientific discipline that keeps the wheels of the chemical industry turning?” Fourteen years later and with an increase in population of approximately one million people, we are proud that The Netherlands has been able to maintain its position as a leading country in catalysis research. In spite of several intermittent economic crises and alongside a profound change in academic leadership, catalysis research in this small country in the heart of western Europe is as dynamic, competitive, and creative as it has been for the last 50 years. In order to understand this extraordinary situation, one has to consider several factors that make this country unique: (i) the large chemical “ecosystem” in the region, (ii) the nature of collaborative work, and (iii) the tradition of research schools established within large-scale R&D groups at Dutch universities. The Netherlands is part of one of the strongest chemical clusters in the world (i.e., the interconnected Antwerp− Rotterdam−Rhine−Ruhr area). Within the cluster, large chemical industries coexist with a plethora of small- and medium-sized enterprises. The effects of this strong chemical cluster are clearly reflected in the Dutch economy, where the chemical industry has a turnover of €60 billion and accounts for 8% of GDP. The sector is expected to continue growing in the next few decades. This economic landscape has evolved hand in hand with the academic environment, making catalysis one of the key research sectors. The unique synergy between industrial and academic chemistry in The Netherlands has been present since the early 1950s, when many key research staff at DSM, Philips, Unilever, AKU (after several mergers now AkzoNobel), and Royal Dutch/Shell also held faculty positions at the Dutch universities. This tradition is still maintained but to a lesser extent. Currently, there are many part-time university professors with roots in industry. Such a unique setting allows the horizons of fundamental catalysis science practiced within academia to be extended to real-world industrial challenges. The size of the country (with a surface area smaller than most U.S. states), the high population density, and state-of-the-art public transportation support a collaborative environment between academic groups or between universities and industry. It is indeed quite normal for any of us to spend the morning in a meeting either at a company or at a neighboring university and be back in our office by lunchtime. Sheer proximity has prompted a large number of collaborative actions that are supported by the Dutch government. This has resulted in large and stable research programs, in which alliances and teams have been established at several levels: between academics in a single university, between academics in separate universities, and between different universities with common interests (not just catalysis) into
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national groups that can benefit from pooled talents. On top of that, industry involvement ensures that fundamental research and practical relevance are well-balanced. The Dutch Institute for Catalysis Research (NIOK) together with its Industrial Advisory Board (VIRAN) have been instrumental over the last few decades, both in catalysis education on the national level and in the creation of large research collaborative programs such as NRSC-Catalysis, Advances in Chemical Technology for Sustainability (ACTS), and CatchBio, to cite only a few. More recently, a new platform for large-scale collaborative catalysis research has been established: the Advanced Research Center Chemical Building Blocks Consortium (ARC CBBC) has been jointly initiated and will be funded by both the public and private sectors. This national platform is meant to ensure excellent applied and fundamental catalysis research in The Netherlands for the coming decade. Last but not least, we should highlight the influence of Dutch culture on public and private organizations as a key factor of success in research. In the 2002 article mentioned above,1 Prof. Kapteijn (TUDelft) stated: “Do not underestimate the importance of personality, it takes a certain mind-set to be willing to work things out in group settings so regularly. In countries where top-level academics are accustomed to calling all the shots and working independently, teaming up on nearly everything may not be appealing.” The Dutch ecosystem has taught us that it is possible to grow excellent young academics within a research group system and highlights the admirable mentoring work done by many Dutch professors to the younger generations. This care about the future has made the transition between generations of catalysis researchers at Dutch universities easy and smooth. Because Catalysis is by definition a multidisciplinary science, catalysis research in The Netherlands has an international reputation that is both strong and broad in scope, as demonstrated in this ACS Catalysis Virtual Special Issue (VSI).2 More specifically, this issue features some of the most recent research at Utrecht University, Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, University of Groningen, University of Twente, University of Amsterdam, Free University Amsterdam, Leiden University, and Radboud University Nijmegen together with coauthors from AkzoNobel, Sasol, Dow Chemical, and BTG Biomass Technology Group BV as industrial partners. This research was supported through programs subsidized by the European Union, the Dutch government, and many private companies. The current collection features 2 Perspectives, 1 Review, 2 Letters, and 19 Articles, with topics spanning from advanced heterogeneous and homogeneous catalyst design, to theory and mechanistic studies, as well as photo-, electro-, and biocatalysis. All submissions were adjudicated by the Editor-in-Chief or Associate Editors of the journal and have undergone rigorous peer-review against the high standard required for publication in ACS Catalysis. Published: September 2, 2016 6006
DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.6b02239 ACS Catal. 2016, 6, 6006−6007
ACS Catalysis
Editorial
We want to acknowledge all the authors and reviewers of the manuscripts, the editorial team at ACS Catalysis, and very specifically, Professor Christopher Jones and Dr. Rhea Williams for their efforts on behalf of this issue. We hope that this VSI will be valuable to the catalysis research community, and we hope for many more years of this Dutch story of success.
Jorge Gascon Delft University of Technology
Evgeny A. Pidko Eindhoven University of Technology
Javier Ruiz-Martínez AkzoNobel, Utrecht University
Jarl Ivar van der Vlugt
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University of Amsterdam
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
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REFERENCES
(1) Jacoby, M. Chem. Eng. News Archive 2002, 80 (22), 32−35. (2) ACS Catalysis Virtual Special Issue. http://pubs.acs.org/page/ accacs/vi/catalysis-netherlands.
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DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.6b02239 ACS Catal. 2016, 6, 6006−6007
