ARC CBBC: National research center for chemical building blocks

9 December 2015

On 7 December 2015, Minister Henk Kamp announced the kick off of ARC CBBC; a Joint investment by government, businesses and universities.

AkzoNobel, BASF, Shell, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Top Sector Chemistry, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and Utrecht University, the Eindhoven University of Technology and Groningen University today presented their plans for setting up the new Advanced Research Center Chemical Building Blocks Consortium
(ARC CBBC). This national research centre will tackle important energy and chemistry issues associated with the growing depletion of the finite supply of raw materials.

Industrial and academic strengths
Finding solutions is a major challenge, requiring pioneering multidisciplinary research and new partnerships. The ARC CBBC brings together the industrial and academic strengths available in the Netherlands in the field of catalysis, synthesis, macromolecular chemistry and process technology, therefore connecting various areas of interdisciplinary expertise at Dutch knowledge institutions with each other and with trade and industry at a national level.

Bert Weckhuysen, one of the main initiators of this new consortium: “With this initiative we want to connect the industrial and academic strengths available in the Netherlands to work on global societal challenges in a long term collaboration.”

After the opening speech of Minister Henk Kamp, Bert Weckhuysen introduces ARC CBBC in a nutshell and showed the introduction movie to to give the audience an idea about the importance and uniqueness of this research center.
Ms. Marjan Oudeman (President, Utrecht University) talked about the importance of the center from the perspective of the Universities involved.
Knut Schwalenberg (Managing Director AkzoNobel Nederland) and Drs. Dick Benschop (President-director Shell Nederland) closed the presentations by pointing out the importance of the long term collaboration from the companies’ point of view.

Opening speech of Minister Henk Kamp

 

Bert Weckhuysen introduces ARC CBBC in a nutshell

 

Marjan Oudeman about the importance of the center from the perspective of the Universities involved.

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