Polymers, environment and sustainable developments: Opportunities and recommendations for the coming decade

摘要

A MoDeSt Society Workshop entitled 'Polymers, Environment and Sustainable Developments Opportunities for the coming Decade' was held in Albufeira, Portugal, during 30th April -3rd May 2017. The scientific programme of the workshop had eight Plenary talks, several oral and poster contributions and two Panel discussions which were led separately by two academics. Some of the major points were raised and discussed during the two Panel Discussion Sessions that highlight some opportunities and recommendations for the coming decade. The polymer and additives industry compete openly in Global Markets so it is important to understand some of the issues arising from differences in legislations in different parts of the world, especially for industrially-sponsored research, so as to target correctly the research output for maximum market appeal. The 'competition' between renewables and 'synthetics' should be viewed in terms of 'complementarity'. Parallel developments and innovations based on renewables and 'synthetics' could potentially deliver remedies/solutions for long-standing dilemmas. There was general agreement on the importance of fundamental research (blue-sky) particularly in academia, which is key to providing a lifeline/support to future advances and innovations in industry and technology.