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The Green Chemistry
Business Summit, Summary Notes
A First-of-its-kind Summit
of Scientific, Industrial, and Investment Leaders Assembled to
Harness the Economic and Workforce Opportunities of Green Chemistry
Northern Essex Community
College, Haverhill, MA
October 31, 2007
[Dr. Paul Anastas discussed
the application of Green Chemistry
across industrial sectors.]
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Here. ]
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Co-hosted by:
John Michitson, Former City Council President, Haverhill, MA
Seth Itzkan, Planet-TECH Associates
On October 31st, 2007, Northern
Essex Community College hosted the Green Chemistry Business Summit
- a first-of-its-kind event intended to harness the economic
and workforce opportunities for clean manufacturing through Green
Chemistry. To meet this objective, the Summit assembled professionals
from scientific, industrial, academic, and investment sectors.
Keynote speakers included the
two founders of Green Chemistry science: Dr. John Warner and
Dr. Paul Anastas. Their joint appearance, a rare occurrence,
indicated the importance of the Green Chemistry Business Summit
as a benchmark in the evolution of Green Chemistry as a vehicle
to stimulate economic growth. Additional keynotes included Dr.
Berkeley Cue, retired Vice President of Pfizer, Bruce Rayner,
Vice President for Technology Forecasters, and Daniel Hullah,
Associate with Rockport Capital Partners. Greg Watson, Assistant
Secretary for Clean Energy and Technology in the Executive Office
of Energy and Environmental Affairs, delivered greetings from
the Governor. Mr. Watson suggested there the efforts to support
Green Chemistry in Massachusetts are complimentary the goals
of the New England Clean Energy Council, which seeks to accelerate
New England's clean energy economy. Summit organizers Seth Itzkan,
of President of Planet-TECH Associates, and John Michitson of
Haverhill, made opening remarks.
Themes
The Summit explored five facets
germane to Green Chemistry business development. Each of these,
listed below, is key to growing and maintaining a regional economic
leadership in the field. They are:
1. Green Chemistry Science
2. Economic Opportunity for Industry
3. Investment Opportunities
4. Workforce Development Opportunities
5. Technology Transfer & Open Innovation
Findings
• Business Opportunity:
Green Chemistry presents an enormous opportunity to harness clean
economic growth. The applicable industries run the gamut from
pharmaceuticals to electronics. Berkeley Cue of Pfizer showed
that Green Chemistry can save the pharmaceutical industry $10B
annually, $700M over the lifetime a typical product. There are
also important regional opportunities. It was shown there are
over 200 bio-pharmaceutical companies in Eastern Massachusetts,
all of which can benefit from the cost saving potentials of Green
Chemistry. Amy Cannon, Co-Founder of the Beyond Benign Foundation,
discussed the potential role of Green Chemistry in supporting
regional economic development. The benefits include attracting
and maintaining companies, creating a steady supply of jobs,
and using local resources.
• European Mandates: European
and Asian mandates for toxic products reduction (such as REACH,
WEEE, RoHS) are driving manufacturing changes here in the United
States.
• International Competition:
China and India are far ahead of the United States in Green Chemistry
education and research. Not one U.S. chemistry department requires
its students to take classes in toxicology.
• Workforce Development:
Workforce development and training opportunities are starting
to be developed here in Massachusetts to meet the emerging need
for industry. David Hartleb of Northern Essex Community College
and Mahesh Sharma of Cambridge College each spoke of initiatives
their respective institutes are taking to address the need for
training in Green Chemistry and related industries. Amy Cannon
of the Beyond Benign Foundation discussed efforts underway to
promote Green Chemistry curriculum in schools, including projects
in collaboration with the Boston Museum of Science.
• Finance: The investment
community is paying a growing interest to green technologies.
Current areas of focus for Rockport Capital Partners include
power electronics, battery technology, biofuels and building
materials.
• Intellectual Property
Management and Rapid R&D: Innovative models for rapid idea
generation and research and development must be employed. The
Open Innovation model was presented as ideal for fostering Green
Chemistry research. Jon Cronin of InnoCentive discussed the "online
marketplace for ideas" and the Innocentive approach of building
a global community of solution providers. Innocentive has over
130,000 "solvers" in 175 countries and 60 industry
disciplines that share in the global marketplace of industrial
and scientific innovation.
• Culture Change: Culture
change was often referred to as the key factor in affecting industrial
adoption of Green Chemistry. Executives must begin to develop
a "systems thinking" approach to product creation and
degradation. They must consider a "cradle-to-cradle"
perspective in the lifecycle management of their products.
• Cross Industry Collaboration:
Cross industry collaboration was considered essential to regional
economic development in Green Chemistry. Energy saving and environmentally
beneficial innovations developed for one sector may have promise
in others. Avenues for cross-sector collaboration and information
sharing should be in place to support the growth of a regional
economic development in Green Chemistry and other emerging clean
technologies.
[Summit organizers John
Michitson (left) and Seth Itzkan (right) with keynote presenter
Dr. John Warner (center)]
Speakers
Greg Watson, Assistant Secretary
for Clean Energy and Technology, Executive Office of Energy and
Environmental Affairs
John C. Warner, Ph.D., President and CTO, The Warner Babcock
Institute for Green Chemistry
Paul Anastas, Ph.D., Professor in the Practice of Green Chemistry,
Yale University Center for Green Chemistry and Engineering
Berkeley Cue, Ph.D., Retired Pfizer VP; Creator, Pfizer’s
Green Chemistry initiative
Amy Cannon, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Beyond Benign Foundation
David Hartleb, Ph.D., President, Northern Essex Community College
(NECC)
Mahesh Sharma, Ph.D., President, Cambridge College
Bruce Rayner , Vice President and Director of Research and Consulting,
Technology Forecasters, Inc.
Daniel Hullah, Associate, Rockport Capital Partners
Joel A. Tickner, ScD, Assistant Professor, Lowell Center for
Sustainable Production UMASS/Lowell;
Eugene Buff, M.D., Ph.D., Consulting Director, Yet2.com, Inc.
Jon Cronin, Ph.D., Director, Sales, InnoCentive
Abigail A. Barrow, Ph.D., Director, Massachusetts Technology
Transfer Center
University of Massachusetts
Organizers / Chairs
John C. Warner, Ph.D., - President
and CTO, The Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry
John Michitson, Merrimack Valley Economic Development Council
Seth Itzkan, M.S., President, Planet-TECH Associates
Sponsors
Massachusetts Technology Collaborative
Merrimack Valley Venture Forum
Merrimack Valley Economic Development Council
Warner-Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry
Beyond Benign Foundation
Planet-TECH Associates
Attendees included
Cory Atkins, Massachusetts State
Representative
Harriett Stanley, Massachusetts State Representative
Brian Dempsey, Massachusetts State Representative
Jim Fiorentini, Mayor, Haverhill, Massachusetts
Jim JaJuga, Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce
Pat Cloney, Director, Massachusetts Office of Business Development
Art Roberts, Massachusetts Office of Business Development, Industry
Specialist for Defense and Alternative Energy
International Attendees
Sergey Tsyganov, Russian Federation
of Basic Research
Erik Noaksson, Jegrelius Research Centre, JILU, Sweden
Tomas Ostberg, Jegrelius Research Centre, JILU, Sweden
Magnus Hedenmark, Jegrelius Research Centre, JILU, Sweden
Additional Information
Seth Itzkan, seth.itzkan@gmail.com
John Michitson, michitson@verizon.net
http://www.ivalley.org/greenchemistry
Opening remarks from Seth Itzkan
1. Welcome
- First of its kind event: Welcome to the Green Chemistry Business
Summit. My name is Seth Itzkan. I am president of Planet-TECH
Associates. We are research consultancy for sustainable economic
development. Myself and John Michitson have helped organize this
summit because of the promise for clean economic development
we believe it holds for the Merrimack Valley.
This is a first-of-its-kind event.
It is, as far as we know, the first gathering of scientists,
industrialists, and investors specifically for the purpose of
harnessing the business growth and workforce development opportunities
made possible through Green Chemistry.
- Emerging Practice of Green
Chemistry: As many of you know, Green Chemistry is the emerging
practice of reducing or eliminating hazardous materials and processes
in the creation of industrial and household products, from electronics
to pharmaceuticals. We believe there is great economic and environmental
promise for this innovation here in the Merrimack Valley and
throughout the world.
- Novel Event (Warner & Anastas):
This meeting is additionally novel because we have both founders
of Green Chemistry under one roof. Dr. John Warner and Dr. Paul
Anastas are internationally recognized as the pillars of Green
Chemistry and are co-authors of the seminal work, Green Chemistry:
Theory and Practice. Their joint appearance together is a rare
event and marks the importance of the Green Chemistry Business
Summit as a landmark in the adoption of Green Chemistry as a
vehicle for economic growth.
- Acknowledgments: Before going
further we want to acknowledge the sponsors and the extraordinary
vision of Dr. John Warner. Our sponsors include the Merrimack
Valley Venture Forum, The Merrimack Valley Economic Development
Council, The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, The Warner
Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, the Beyond Benign Foundation
and my company, Planet-TECH Associates. Specific individuals
we want to acknowledge are Susanne Ferrara of the Merrimack Valley
Venture Forum and Bob Halpin of the MVEDC. Without the support
of the sponsors this could not be possible, and without the vision
of Dr. Warner, this never would have even been considered.
Dr. Warner has been a fountain
of enthusiasm for both the environmental and the market potential
for Green Chemistry and we are happy to help bring to fruition
his vision for a Green Chemistry Business Summit. Dr. Warner
has said many times leading up to this event, that there was
no shortage of meetings that praised the potential of Green Chemistry,
it was time to have a meeting who's specific objective was to
help harness the business opportunities.
2. Objectives
This Summit has two specific objectives:
First) To help stimulate Green
Chemistry business growth, either as small start-ups or as internal
R&D operations, and
Second) To help harness Green
Chemistry opportunities for business growth and workforce development
here in the Merrimack Valley.
Our speakers, with a wide range
of expertise in chemistry, industry, finance, academia and government
will be able in their totality to cover both these objectives.
3. Agenda / Overview
Today's program looks at technical, business, and workforce development
opportunities:
AM - technical perspective & workforce development
PM - business perspective.
5 . Conclusion / Innovation Valley
We hope you will appreciate this Summit and we hope that this
will be the first of several forums on inventive opportunities
for economic development in The Merrimack Valley. John Michitson
and I have helped to organize this Summit as part of a regional
economic development initiative we call Innovation Valley. As
part of the Innovation Valley initiative we have held held forums
on alternative energy opportunities, we have interviewed mayoral
candidates on their views toward a sustainable future, and we
have conducted a forum on an emerging practiced called Eco-Industrial
Networking. We also write a weekly column on Innovation for The
Valley Patriot and we maintain an Innovation Valley website,
the URL is ivalley.org.
If you have any feedback for
us regarding this event or possible ideas for future or related
events, please speak to us afterwards.
Thank you again for you attendance
and we look forward to an excellent program.
Todays first speaker...
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Summary Report Here. ]
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