We look forward into the year ahead with a sense of growing excitement as the ETERNAL project’s collaborative research and case study strands gather pace. With several parts of the project’s work programme starting to deliver early results and work progressing strongly across the board, we are looking forward to sharing some of the early highlights and our latest thinking at two notable gatherings of industrialists and researchers from the pharmaceutical and specialty chemicals sectors respectively in the first half of 2024.

In the spring, the project will be contributing a workshop to the Making Pharmaceuticals Conference being held in Coventry, United Kingdom on 23rd and 24th April. The conference runs concurrently across the two days of the Making and Distributing Pharmaceuticals Exhibitions, the UK’s leading free pharmaceutical conference, exhibition and awards. Taking place on the afternoon of the 24th, the workshop will

• review the new environmental protections offered under the EU’s proposed new directive and regulation for the pharmaceuticals sector and the associated requirements placed upon manufacturers to assess the environmental impact of the entire lifecycle of a product, and

• highlight work being carried out in the ETERNAL project to visualise the interconnected system of socio-economic activity of which a typical pharmaceutical lifecycle is comprised, and to locate and assess the impacts of this activity.

ETERNAL will also be represented on the first day of Making Pharmaceuticals, where Britest’s John Henderson will be presenting a practical framework for early-stage sustainability assessment designed to support rational, transparent decision-making for effective innovation management. This new approach to helping decision-makers deal with the complexities of sustainable innovation from the earliest stages of the development cycle has been developed and tested in the context of one of ETERNAL’s industrial case studies in green manufacturing.

In June, a number of ETERNAL researchers will be joining with others speakers as part of a two-day international symposium organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Speciality Chemicals Sector Interest Group. This event will be taking place on 19th and 20th of June, in conjunction with the major Chemspec Europe 2024 exhibition in Düsseldorf, Germany. Now in its 37th edition, Chemspec showcases the entire spectrum of fine and speciality chemicals for various applications and industries.

The RSC Chemspec Symposium series has a proud track record of highlighting industrial advances in speciality, fine and performance chemicals and promoting their development, application and use. Taking the theme “Resource Innovation and Technical Advances in the Specialty Chemicals Sector”, this year’s event will bring together internationally acclaimed speakers, predominantly from industries and organisations making pioneering advances in the science, understanding and development of new approaches to processing and synthesis. Topics to be covered include:

• the replacement of critical raw materials;

• natural raw materials replacing synthetics;

• disruptive processing technologies;

• the chemistry of biopolymers and biodegradability;

• innovative process improvements through bio-catalysis; and

• realising value from waste and by-products.

We hope to see you there!