Co-operation between industrial engineers, researchers, and government is needed to fulfil world-wide Sustainable Development Goals, was the main take-away message from the CHISA conference, Prague, 22-25 August 2022.
Professor David Rivas gave a plenary lecture Engineering Empathy for the Future Chemistry. He showed by his own history that empathy is an essential element in engineering practice to co-operate between with partners from Science, Technology, and Society. He published a book on the subject. [1]
Professor Schlögl gave a plenary lecture on No Energy Transition without Chemistry. He provided a systems approach to the world-wide energy transition needed to combat climate change. He showed that with new chemistry in combination with European and world-wide government rules and regulations climate change can be reduced significantly for all major sectors transport, electricity generation, housing, and industry. Chemistry plays a role in generating liquid fuels for energy storage and transport. He presented methanol produced from carbon dioxide (from the atmosphere) and hydrogen produced from water by electrolysis with solar electricity is input, as one of the promising liquid fuel options. He also published a book on the subject [2]
Professor Christine Grant, also President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) presented in her plenary lecture important transformations in the realm of Politics (climate change regulations), Economical (small creative companies), Social (closing gap between industry and academics), and Technical (digitalization, alternative energy, new bio). She also described important elements in her personal history, being mentoring, lifelong networks, and being the first African American woman to be elected Fellow of the Society.
I attended the conference and had many interesting conversations with participants. The social atmosphere was very warm, probably helped by the enchanting opening concert in the Bethlehem chapel, organized by the congress president Jiri Drahos.
- Rivas DF, Empathic Entrepreneurial Engineering: The Missing Ingredient, de Gruyter, Berlin (2022).
- Schlögl R, 2022. Chemical Energy Storage, de Gruyter, Berlin (2022).