Academia

For heads of research institutes, group leaders, postdocs, and academic innovators, the DECHEMA FORUM is the place where science meets real‑world deployment. Submit an abstract to showcase your latest breakthroughs—or join as a participant to expand your collaborations, strengthen funding pathways, and position your research for industrial uptake. The FORUM is designed for interdisciplinary exchange and interactive networking: connecting academic teams with industry specialists and managers, and linking early‑career researchers to real career opportunities.

Why attend or speak?

• Advance Translational Impact: Present results that move beyond the lab—scalable processes, validated models, techno‑economic insights, and sustainability metrics. Engage stakeholders who can pilot, co‑develop, and implement your ideas at industrial scale.
• Build Strategic Collaborations: Meet R&D leaders across process industries who are actively seeking academic partners for joint projects, test beds, and EU/national funding consortia. Align your research roadmap with industry pain points to accelerate adoption.
• Strengthen Funding and Visibility: Position your work for collaborative grants by connecting with enterprises, chemical parks, and public agencies. A compelling talk or workshop proposal can catalyze multi‑partner initiatives and raise your profile with decision‑makers.
• Mentor and Recruit Talent: Engage with late‑stage PhD candidates, postdocs, and early‑career specialists. Showcase your institute’s research environment and attract top talent—while giving your trainees access to industry perspectives and career paths.

Workshops: From Insight to Implementation

In addition to a diverse lecture programme, the Forum’s 1.5‑hour interactive workshops enable deep dives into topics that matter for academia–industry translation: stress‑testing assumptions, mapping pathways to scale, and defining measurable outcomes. Recent themes include:

• The future of chemical parks
• Bio‑based value chains and (waste) water: state‑of‑the‑art or mission‑critical challenge?
• Innovation with Enterprises: Navigating Partnerships with Industry Giants
• Quantifying sustainability: What can Life Cycle Assessment do for application‑oriented research and for companies?

These sessions aim to co‑design solutions that replace fossil raw materials and energy sources while maintaining international competitiveness—prioritizing approaches that can be implemented in plant environments and supported by robust data.

What makes a strong academic contribution?

• Evidence of scalability: piloting, process intensification, digital twins, or robust scale‑up methodologies
• Integrated assessment: LCA, TEA, and risk/safety considerations alongside performance data
• Collaborative design: joint work with industry partners, chemical parks, or public entities
• Open questions: clear research challenges that invite co‑development and consortium building

Submit or Participate

• Submit an abstract: Share your latest findings, platform technologies, or translational case studies that bridge lab results to industrial practice.
• Propose a workshop: If your topic benefits from interactive exploration and joint solution‑building, submit your proposal through the Call for Papers until 15 February 2026.
• Join as a participant: Benchmark your research against industrial needs, discover collaboration opportunities, and connect your team with partners who can help validate and scale.

Bring your best science—and your toughest questions. At the DECHEMA FORUM, you’ll find collaborators, critical feedback, and the pathways to turn academic excellence into societal and industrial impact.