Now, More Than Ever, Invest In R&D

BARELY TWO MONTHS AGO, IN C&EN's annual World Chemical Outlook issue, we reported that the chemical industry was entering a period of uncertainty and sluggish growth (C&EN, Dec. 11, 2000, pages 5 and 17). Recent data from the government and the industry itself confirm that 2000 ended badly, and 2001 is starting off as a rough year for chemicals. In this week's issue, Senior Correspondent Marc Reisch reports another somewhat gloomy, bellwether statistic: C&EN's annual survey of 17 major chemical producers shows that they collectively plan to increase spending on R&D by only 3% in 2001, the smallest such increase since 1996 (see page 15). The 3% figure is an average, and it is largely influenced by two industry heavy hitters: Du-Pont, which plans to spend $1.8 billion in 2001 on R&D, and Dow, planning $900 million in R&D spending. But these enormous sums represent only very modest increases from 2000 — 1.4% and 0.9%, ...