Workshop on Innovation and Production Management in the Process Industries (IPM2026)

Traditionally, this “family” of industries, producing non-assembled products, includes petrochemicals, chemicals, food and beverages, mining and metals, minerals and materials, generic pharmaceuticals, pulp and paper, steel, and utilities. Regrettably, these industries are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and are thus facing pressure to reduce their carbon footprint. However, this cluster of industries holds great importance for industrial production and innovation in general, as well as for the world economy at large, but is unfortunately still under-researched. To address this gap, the overall intention of this successful series of workshops (previously convened in Grenoble, Melbourne, Eskilstuna, and Frankfurt) is to encourage research on the process industries.

Targeted workshop outcomes:

This event, in a workshop format, is not intended to compete with international conferences like the R&D Management conference, ISPIM or EurOMA, but to provide a meeting place for a select important topical area, allocate time for longer presentation slots, and give opportunities for in-depth networking opportunities. Consequently, we are targeting outcomes like:

Workshop general outcomes:

• Bridging the Industry – Academy interface
• Facilitating a cross-sectoral learning in the ”family” of process industries
• Stimulating cross-disciplinary innovation and production management

Workshop operational and scientific outcomes:

• Establish contacts and further industry – academy collaboration and networking
• Stimulate new research ideas and collaboratory research initiatives
• Establish an international Research fellowship (Think Tank) in the topical area of ”Innovation and production management in the process industries”