Catalysis making the world a better place.

In June 2015, a discussion meeting entitled ‘Catalysis improving society’ was held based around the research initiatives of the recently established UK Catalysis Hub. The title is very bold for a discussion meeting, and this is indeed true. However, it is hard to imagine the world today or indeed civilized society without the impact of catalysis on the fundamental aspects required for life, namely energy, food and water. Catalysis is a core area of contemporary science posing major fundamental and conceptual challenges. Traditionally, it lies at the heart of the chemical industry—an immensely successful and important part of the economy globally. Catalysis is generally associated with underpinning approximately 30% of gross domestic product in European economies. Catalysis is involved at some point in the processing of over 80% of all manufactured products. Hence catalysis is immensely important not only because it is an aid to economic success for the major world economies but also because it enables materials to be made that sustain society as we know it. Yet it is surprising that many outside of the field of catalysis science and engineering have no perception of its importance in their everyday lives. A central aim of the discussion meeting was to widen the awareness of the crucial importance of catalysis and also to set out where the future of this important field is heading. At the heart of the chemical processes operated so successfully around the world has been the design of catalysts, and innovation in catalysis is core to meeting many of the key questions facing society as a whole today. Moreover, commercial success can only be sustained and grown through an innovationdriven approach which is grounded in the fundamental science and engineering underpinning new catalyst development. Indeed, current catalytic science is notable for both conceptual and technical innovation and there is a constant need to generate new catalysts and to design more efficient versions of current catalysts. This can be considered the core area in which catalysts currently operate. However, there is a broader arena in which we consider catalysis can