“Future Development of Polymer Science and Future Strategic Meeting”
Kyoto 2001 at the
IUPAC PC2002 meeting
Kalle Levon,
Professor,
Director of Herman F.
Mark Polymer Research Institute
IUPAC PC2002 symposium presents
effectively how the changes in the society reflect research and education.
Resources for the physically based economy have been coal, oil and steel but the
resources for the new, knowledge-based society are brainpower and the ability
to acquire, deliver and process information effectively. Greatness will not
arise from the resources or the factories, but from the people – people with
ideas and skills.
The role of polymer science and
engineering has shifted similarly. Globalization has moved the manufacturing of
thermoplastics from localized regions to the global world, plant automation has
changed the need for work-power and the needs for employment and for education
have become broader. The knowledge-based economy, that we have now entered,
makes education as the world’s most critical resource. The science of
macromolecules has become the centerpiece in the interdisciplinary world of
bio- and nanotechnology. As shown by the vast number of presentations in this
symposium, macromolecules play important role today in the development of safe
and healthy life with optimal energy usage. Today we realize that polymeric light emitting diodes, and
field effect transistors are important in modern electrical engineering,
artificial actuators in mechanical engineering, environmental sensors in civil engineering
and that polymers are also the centerpiece materials in modern energy
production. In the health-related fields, polymers have important for instance
in stem cell engineering, polyvalent drug design, DNA or protein
identification.
As the polymers have become
important in the knowledge-based economy for the retrieval of information, the
roles have also become stronger in the traditional “vertical” paths of
chemistry, physics and biology. The leadership in organic photonics and in cell
differentiation as interdisciplinary examples confirm the central future role
of education of macromolecules. It is our challenge to expand the interaction
and collaboration to the people who have already achieved their education on other
fields but who apply polymer science and engineering in their development
efforts. We want them to come and give presentations on ligand engineering with
polymers, development of protein array modifications with polymers and on
molecular level catalysis in confined space controlled by polymer architecture.
The complexity is increasing, but
the future can be viewed in an optimistic manner following Professor Herman F.
Mark’s forecast: “Unexpected and
surprising observations and ideas produce a sort of revolution which abruptly
changes thinking and working and opens up new vistas and uses”.
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