【埃森哲】2024化工行业发展与创新报告英文版_14页_1mb

Summary of "Growth and Innovation in Chemicals"

Core Content

The document discusses the current state and future outlook of innovation and growth in the chemical industry, emphasizing the need for a shift from traditional, incremental approaches to more disruptive and sustainable innovations. It highlights the role of innovation in driving growth, the challenges posed by sustainability goals and market shifts, and the opportunities created by new technologies and startups.

Main Points

• Innovation and Growth Relationship: Innovation has historically driven growth in the chemical industry, but the pace and nature of innovation are now critical for meeting new sustainability and market demands.
• Current Innovation Trends:
  • The industry focuses on incremental improvements rather than breakthrough innovations.
  • R&D spending is increasingly directed toward incremental development due to its perceived lower risk and faster returns.
  • The share of basic and applied research in R&D has declined, particularly in the U.S., where it dropped by 9 percentage points between 1990 and 2020.
• Patent Analysis:
  • Patents are predominantly focused on materials (62% of all filed patents).
  • Application-related patents have seen growth, especially in areas like 3D printing and electric vehicles.
  • Process innovation lags, with fewer patent filings and a decline in biotechnology and genetic engineering patents.
  • Analytics-related patents have doubled in the past five years, indicating a shift toward digital and data-driven approaches.
• Startups and Innovation:
  • Startups are a growing force in the chemical industry, with investment reaching $28 billion since 2011.
  • Startups are more active in areas like circular economy, AI, ML, and digital technologies.
  • They are addressing gaps left by traditional chemical companies and are more likely to pursue disruptive innovations.
• Corporate Venturing:
  • Corporate venturing is mainly focused on existing product groups such as agrichemicals and food ingredients.
  • There is a growing interest in technologies like AI, 3D printing, and hydrogen/fuel cells.
• Partnerships and M&A:
  • Partnerships have increased, with a significant portion focused on production and supply chain integration.
  • M&A activity is dominated by portfolio extension and consolidation in traditional segments.
  • New segments like batteries and circular economy are gaining traction but remain underrepresented.
• Capital Projects:
  • Investment in traditional chemical segments (basic and intermediate chemicals, thermoplastics, fertilizers) still dominates.
  • Projects related to recycling, pyrolysis, and bio-based materials are growing but remain a small fraction of total investments.
• Risk of Disruption:
  • The industry risks being disrupted by startups and new entrants due to its slow adoption of disruptive innovation.
  • Traditional investment patterns may "lock in" resources to outdated technologies, hindering future innovation.
  • Computational chemistry and AI are reducing the barriers to entry for new innovators, increasing competition.

Key Findings

• Patent Focus: The chemical industry's patent activity is heavily weighted toward materials and applications, with a significant underinvestment in process innovation.
• Startups Growth: Startups are becoming a major driver of innovation, especially in sustainability and digital technologies.
• Corporate Venturing: While corporate venturing is growing in technology-related areas, it remains limited in scope and does not fully address the innovation needs of the future.
• M&A and Partnerships: M&A and partnership strategies are largely focused on traditional segments, with limited attention to emerging areas.
• Investment Stagnation: R&D and venture capital spending by chemical companies have stagnated, while startup investments continue to rise.
• Disruption Risk: The industry is at risk of being disrupted by new entrants that are more agile and focused on innovative, sustainable solutions.

Conclusion

To remain competitive and meet future demands, the chemical industry must re-evaluate its innovation strategies. This includes investing more in process innovation, embracing digital and computational technologies, and forming more strategic partnerships with startups and technology providers. The current approach, which emphasizes incremental improvements and traditional segments, may not be sufficient to drive the necessary transformation and growth in the coming years.

Figures and Data

• Figure 1: Shows the share and change in patent filing activity across materials, processes, and applications.
• Figure 2: Highlights the growth in chemical-related startup funding since 2011.
• Figure 3: Demonstrates the focus of corporate venturing on existing products and emerging technologies.
• Figure 4: Reveals the distribution of partnership types and areas.
• Figure 5: Illustrates the categories of M&A transactions and their growth.
• Figure 6: Shows the growth of M&A in various industry segments.
• Figure 7: Tracks the growth of capital projects in different areas.
• Figure 8: Compares R&D and venture capital spending by chemical companies and startups.

References

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): United Nations
• American Chemistry Council (ACC): 2021 Guide to the Business of Chemistry

Authors

• Dr. Bernd Elser: Managing Director, Global Chemicals Lead at Accenture
• Dr. Karin Walczyk: Global Chemicals Research Lead at Accenture
• Paul Bjacek: Global Resources Research Lead at Accenture

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company offering strategy, consulting, technology, and operations services, with a strong focus on digital and cloud solutions. The document is part of Accenture's research on the chemical industry's growth and innovation strategies.