20th anniversary of the Journal of Business Chemistry
Dear Readers,
This year we are completing 20 years of publishing our journal, the first of which was published in May 2004, edited by Dr. Stefan Picker, Dr. Carsten Vehring and Prof. Dr. Jens Leker. Since then, 59 issues including 85 research papers, over 80 articles within the practitioner‘s section and 54 commentaries have been published in order to inform the business chemistry community about new insights in research and in practice. Looking back we are grateful for the support of our readers, authors, and reviewers over the years, and we look forward to continuing to provide insightful and informative articles on management issues in the chemical industry.
This June 2024 issue comes with a novelty, we are introducing a new category of articles: interviews with experts in the field of chemistry and management. For this issue we have conducted two interviews, one with Prof. Dr. Hannes Utikal from the Provadis Applied University in Frankfurt and one with Dr. Steffen Kanzler, Marketing Director at Evonik. This new category of articles in our journal intends to get even closer insights from challenges at the intersection of chemistry and management, both in academia and practice. Furthermore, the key themes of this issues are reflections on the history of our journal, the concept of frugal innovation, current trends and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the chemical industry.
In the interview with Prof. Utikal: “20 years of the Journal of Business Chemistry – the academic journal for management issues in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries!” he reflects on the many years that this journal has been published, how the journal has evolved with time and influenced theory as well as practice. He also introduces the Zentrum für Industrie und Nachhaltigkeit at the Provadis Hochschule.
The research paper in our June issue “From brass to brilliance: a frugal innovation for safer public spaces“ by the authors Prof. Anil Kumar Singh, Janvee Garg and Uday Grover explores the use of brass as an affordable and effective solution to improve public sanitation in high-traffic public health settings, like hospitals and public transport systems. The study is based on the principles of frugal innovation, which prioritize resource efficiency, affordability, accessibility, and sustainability. It evaluates the effectiveness and economic feasibility of various brass applications for microbial control on high-touch surfaces. The study finds that brass applications not only reduce the need for frequent sanitation but also offer durability and long-term effectiveness in public spaces. Incorporating brass into public infrastructure significantly reduces infection rates and healthcare costs, aligning with the frugal innovation approach of maximizing value with minimal resources. The study contributes to public health strategies by highlighting the role of brass in sustainable and economically advantageous solutions.
In the interview with Dr. Steffen Kanzler we discussed current topics and trends in the chemical industry as well as applications of AI at Evonik and its potential for future use cases. Getting this first-hand knowledge from examples at Evonik gives us an interesting point of view and introduces us to the next article from Dr. Andreas Konrad.
Dr. Andreas Konrad contributed with an article on current and potential future applications of AI in the chemical industry. In his article „How artificial Intelligence can be used in the chemical industry“ he particularly focuses on safety and accident prevention, innovation, R&D, supply chain optimization and tools to improve the customer experience, he also mentions risks and concerns regarding the application of AI in chemical companies.
Please enjoy reading the second issue of this year, we are grateful for the support of all authors and reviewers for this insightful issue. If you have any comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact us at contact@businesschemistry.org for more updates and insights on management issues in the chemical industry, follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/jobc/ and subscribe to our newsletter.
Andrea Kanzler, (Executive Editor)