Pilar Navarro: “The World Chemical Summit's ambition is to become the chemical industry's Davos”
In October 2017, Barcelona will host the first edition of a unique event, the World Chemical Summit, an initiative that will bring together experts from Spain and abroad to explain how the chemical industry contributes to socioeconomic development. In this interview, Pilar Navarro, the event's director, tells us about the features and objectives of this new event, which draws from the success of the first edition of the WICAP Forum, organised as part of the 2014 Expoquimia, Eurosurfas and Equiplast and which attracted a large number of international projects.
Question: In 2017, there will be a new exhibition event, designed and organised by Fira de Barcelona and focused on the chemical industry, the World Chemical Summit. Can you tell us what it will consist of?
Every three years, with the simultaneous organisation of Expoquimia, Eurosurfas and Equiplast, Barcelona becomes the capital of applied chemistry for a few days. This led us to think that we could take a step further and organise a new international event that is not found anywhere else and which could showcase the importance of an industry that is vital for the development of economic and social wellbeing around the world. We define the World Chemical Summit as an arena for sharing knowledge and trends, combining talks from world leaders (Inspirational Talks) about the latest scientific and product developments together with a networking area, where international business contacts can be made. Building on the success of the first edition of the WICAP Forum (World, Investment, Cooperation and Innovation Lab and Application Forum), which will be organised again as part of the World Chemical Summit, we believe that this initiative will draw considerable interest from the international scientific and business community.
Question: Is there any other event in the world that is similar to World Chemical Summit?
Question: What will the first World Chemical Summit offer in October 2017?
Within the same venue, with a very attractive design, there will be a congress, an exhibition area, the Inspirational Talks and the networking sessions, which together will create a very lively and dynamic event. Guided by experts from Spain and abroad, we will address a series of issues that play an essential role in modern society and to which the chemical industry has a lot to contribute. Specifically, the key themes chosen to structure the Inspirational Talks will be Digital Society, Food, Energy, Health, Water and Air, and Industry. In addition, in the networking area, we will organise, once again, the WICAP Forum which, as I have already said, was held for the first time at the last Expoquimia, Eurosurfas and Equiplast, with the goal of facilitating access by our exhibitors to new business opportunities in foreign markets, particularly in the emerging countries.
Question: Have you started work on the format of the World Chemical Summit?
Yes, we have. To help us develop the programme and contents of the World Chemical Summit, we have been assisted by the International Advisory Board (IAB), whose members are eight renowned representatives of the international chemical industry. Chaired by the attorney Josep Maria Gascón, who possesses a wealth of experience in the industry, the World Chemical Summit's IAB is composed of Pierre Joris, senior executive consultant at Daikin Industries; Louis Neltner, a senior civil servant at the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry; Ricard Vandellós, vicepresident of BASF's Plastic Additives area for Europe, Middle East and Africa; Josep Lluís Sanfeliu, founder of Ysios Capital, an investment fund specialised in the healthcare industry; Sonny Kapoor, a consultant for United Nations; Cédric Denis-Remis, vicepresident of the Mines ParisTech engineering school in Paris; and Jorge Grande, CEO of the Ricardo Molina Group.
We sincerely believe that we have formed an excellent international advisory board whose assistance has been vital in bringing together a top-level panel of speakers with a high-quality lecture programme that will address issues that concern the present and future of the chemical industry as guarantor of today's wellbeing.
Lastly, the event's management has travelled to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and India, where a series of meetings have been held with various institutions and corporations in these three Asian companies to inform them of the WCS. In forthcoming months, we also plan to visit North Africa and Israel.
Barcelona, October 2016
Eduard Pérez Moya
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