In 2019, IUPAC started the “Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry” initiative. This article reviews the impact of the initiative and how it contributes to different areas, including sustainability, technology transfer, and education.
Abstract
In the past 15 years, we’ve experienced an unprecedented series of crises, including financial (2008), health (2020), and most recently the supply chain disruptions and the energy emergency in Europe, caused by the war in Ukraine (2022). On top of that, climate change still poses a serious threat to our lives and our planet. These interconnected challenges create tremendous societal problems and compromise the viability of the chemical industry in an environment of price volatility and high inflation.
Thus, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has launched a series of actions to tackle this and raise awareness of the role of chemistry in solving our major threats. Since 2019, IUPAC has identified the “Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry” to connect chemical researchers with industry, bridging the gap between science and innovation, maintaining the current competitiveness of the chemical industry, as well as tackling our most pressing global challenges.
Climate crisis more evident
Lately, the climate crisis has become more evident than ever. Europe and Asia faced record-breaking temperatures during the first half of 2022, while other regions experienced wildfires, floods, and droughts of unprecedented severity. The poorest and most vulnerable members of society disproportionally suffer the consequences of these extreme events. To make things worse, the ongoing war in Ukraine has triggered an energy crisis, adding to the continuous disruptions in the worldwide supply chains, causing natural gas shortages and rising electricity bills.
Overall, the World Economic Forum has dubbed this unprecedented situation as the “Polycrisis”, a term that summarises the simultaneous and overlapping crises of our day, including health, climate, war, inflation, and much more.
Fortunately, chemistry could create and develop solutions for some of the problems we currently face, most caused by humans. To showcase some of these solutions and offer a roadmap for a more resilient and sustainable future, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) gathers experts from around the world every year, and together they review global nominations of emerging technologies that have the potential to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, improve our quality of life, and fight illnesses. Ultimately, IUPAC selects the “Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry” every year.
Identifying ’emerging technologies’
The initiative originated in 2019, alongside other IUPAC celebrations, including its centenary and the International Year of the Periodic Table. The goal of this annual activity is to identify and explain in simple terms different “emerging technologies” that are defined as advances that hover between early-stage laboratory discoveries and technologies with industrial applications—advances that have the potential to accelerate our transition towards a net-zero economy and a more sustainable future.
Beyond celebrating its past and current contributions to the chemical community, the success of this initiative motivated IUPAC to venture into the future of chemistry. The “Top Ten” initiative has now become a consolidated and recognized selection of the most promising chemical technologies, which highlights the value of the chemical sciences in the transition to a green economy.
Moreover, IUPAC supports many other initiatives to tackle the current crises, including the creation of a task force to pinpoint high technology readiness level (TRL) technologies to remediate problems such as plastic pollution and climate change, and the “Global Conversation on Sustainability,” co-organized with the International Young Chemists’ Network (IYCN), which provides a platform to catalyze conversations among local communities to find small-scale solutions for sustainability.
Future of raw materials
Along these lines, IUPAC is also concerned about the future of raw materials, and studies solutions to problems such as the excessive accumulation of electronic waste (e-waste). Chemistry, as well as a better understanding of supply chains and the dynamics of global markets, will provide comprehensive solutions to problems in the most affected areas. In fact, IUPAC very recently organized a conference on the topic of e-waste in Nigeria. Overall, IUPAC’s goal is to stop talking and start taking real action.
Luckily, IUPAC isn’t alone in this endeavor. In 2022, we began the celebration of the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development (IYBSSD), an ambitious program to highlight the value of basic, curiosity-based sciences to stimulate innovation, as well as their huge potential as a powerful educational and training tool. All these points are also recognized in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s report on the future of chemical sciences.
IPCP
Similarly, the United Nations (UN) have created an International Panel on Chemical Pollution (IPCP), following the steps and learnings of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to elaborate and provide reports and evidence-based information for policymakers and the wider public. All these initiatives aim at bridging the gap between scientific research and innovation, assisting scale-ups, technology transfers, connections, and development. This is instrumental to overcoming the societal challenges we currently confront.
Continue reading here.
