Good ideas and innovative approaches have never been so important for established companies and industrialized countries as they are today. Yet what's almost even more crucial is transforming them into a successful, profitable product - a process that often starts with efficient development and production focused on conserving resources.

Chemical parks such as Chempark in the Rhineland can be the key to success, offering an optimal infrastructure and added value in the form of useful, extensive networks reaching out to researchers, customers, product developers and the industry as a whole.

German inventiveness coupled with scientific and technological understanding and the ability to design and perfect processes effectively have led to many products "made in Germany" that make life easier throughout the world.

To find solutions to meet the megatrends of energy, mobility and food supplies, the chemical industry, Germany's fourth largest, has long been on the hunt for new materials for batteries, for example, and innovative applications for plastics such as polycarbonates, polyurethanes and butyl rubbers. And the three Chempark sites at Leverkusen, Dormagen and Krefeld-Uerdingen are no exception.

Basis for Efficient Product Development

The structure in a chemical park, designed to promote collaboration and efficiency and undergoing continuous development, forms an excellent basis for this. In a chemical park, it is crucial that production companies complement each other like the cogs of a clock, interlinking and fitting together perfectly like a jigsaw to form a harmonious overall concept. Each chemical site is based on a unique materials network that continuously develops and branches out from the initial production facility as the site grows over time.

Efficient harnessing of synergies, for example when a company uses a by-product from a different Chempark partner, is a key benefit of the sites and the strength of the chemical park model. For instance, in the future the Finnish group Kemira at the Chempark Dormagen site will be using the hydrochloric acid generated as a by-product at the site to produce water chemicals.

Home for Future Products and Industries

Through customized services and a jointly used supply and disposal infrastructure, Chempark offers potential investors and companies in the chemical and chemical-related industries in particular the benefits of focusing on their own core competencies and conducting their production operations more cost-effectively in a network than at a site they ran themselves, while they can still maintain their absolute independence.

However, to attract suitable partners to the materials network and to Chempark that enhance the infrastructure of the latter for the benefit of all companies and do so on a lasting basis, the site's development team also actively targets specific product manufacturers and industries in Germany and abroad. These include representatives of specialties, fine chemicals, green chemistry, structural and composite materials and ionic liquids. Future-oriented sectors such as recycling, water technologies, alternative energies, membrane technology and white biotechnology could also benefit from the well-developed research and sound development opportunities at Chempark and in the North Rhine-Westphalia region.
The network philosophy at Chempark is not limited to the materials level.

In particular, Chempark's compact nature offers the approximately 45,000 employees of the 70 partner companies the opportunity to network intensively both at work and play. This "network of minds" enables new ideas to be developed faster and customer needs to be met even more effectively and flexibly by suppliers. The more than 1,000 wide-ranging services offered by chemical park operator Currenta also offer access to expertise relating to areas such as permit issues, pollution control and environmental protection "just on demand", without companies having to maintain their own specialist departments and personnel.

Currenta Analytics offers numerous analysis methods and services that can be used by anyone to develop pharmaceutical products and optimize/analyze plastics and it provides consulting on the complex European chemicals regulation REACH. It isn't absolutely necessary to set up a base at Chempark to benefit from these services but a large proportion of synergies are only generated as a result of the short distances and the networks that Chempark establishes at the site or maintains with universities and industry.

Committed to Networking

Developing new processes and technologies and providing support for these up to the market launch stage are only possible through intensive collaboration and networks, such as those that are constantly evolving in and around the three Chempark sites at Leverkusen, Dormagen and Krefeld-Uerdingen.

As development and processing of innovative materials are a common feature at all three sites, it was important for Chempark to underpin these USPs by setting up the Network of Innovative Materials together with partners from economic development, research and industry in the region. The idea of joining forces to develop commercially successful products was so well received in the Rhineland that, just one year since it started, the network already has more than 50 active members, who cooperate very closely in areas such as the automotive, medical technology and biomass sectors. The association's members cover the entire chain from development and production of materials, such as at Bayer MaterialScience and Momentive Performance Materials at Chempark, to usage as an actual product at 3M or Johnson Controls, for instance.

To develop even better logistics solutions with all players along the supply chain, chemical park operator Currenta has been a member of LOG-IT Club, the operational arm of LogistikCluster.NRW, since the start of the year. The industry forum took place at the Chempark Leverkusen site on February 29, the first public event by industry group ChemieLogistik.NRW, was attended by 130 logistics experts, who worked together intensively to develop logistics standards and recommendations for the public and political spheres.

Germany's role as the largest European market is a key factor in the development and sale of chemical goods produced at Chempark. To ensure this continues and to harness opportunities around the world, chemical park operators in North Rhine-Westphalia work together in a network that involves far more than just pipelines and the combined use of material flows. This is why Chempark has sought partnerships with other site operators in the region (ChemCologne), throughout Germany (specialist group on chemical parks of the VCI, Germany's Chemical Industry Association), at European level with the ECSPP (European Chemical Site Promotion Platform) and various international organizations to maximize synergies in raw material supplies and jointly formulate interest via-a-vis politicians and the public.

A good example is the European chemical park conference organized last November by the North-Rhine Westphalia state energy ministry. Presentations by Chempark representatives, the InfraServ Knapsack and Chemelot (Netherlands) chemical parks and Chinese Chempark partner Nanjing focused on current challenges. Industry representatives joined politicians in underlining the long-term future and the protection required for the efficient and high-caliber chemical park model.

Outlook

For example, figures recorded by the VCI show that direct investments in the German chemical industry from other countries quadrupled over 15 years to more than €39 billion in 2008. The Frankfurt-based association recorded more than 410 foreign chemical companies with branches in Germany with over EUR 72 billion in sales and around 147,000 employees in the period up to July 2011 alone. This success shows that high environmental standards and sustainability targets can be secured most effectively by working together to benefit all sites in Germany and Europe too.

German chemical park operators will be joining forces to showcase Germany as a location for the chemical industry with the theme "Invest in Germany's chemical parks - Make it in Germany" at the international Achema trade fair in Frankfurt.