Jim Owens, President & CEO
H.B. Fuller Company

Adhesives and sealants enable advances in nearly every consumer or durable good imaginable, and the events of 2020 have made our industry’s contributions even more important to improving people’s lives. As CEO of the largest pure-play adhesives company in the world, Mr. Owens will review the future of the industry in a post-pandemic environment and how technologies and bonding applications that were originally quite unrelated are becoming more closely integrated and even unified as they develop and advance. This growing trend presents both challenges and opportunities in the adhesives industry to leverage the new ways of working that emerged in 2020 and develop technologies that solve a range of performance challenges, including harsh environmental conditions and consumer preferences for lighter, safer, stronger, and more sustainable products. The session will highlight how critical people and ideas are in our industry and how important it is to develop innovative thinking at every level of the organization to elevate the value creation and importance of the adhesives industry.

LISTEN TO A PODCAST INTERVIEW

Dr. Jayshree Seth, Corporate Scientist and Chief Science Advocate
3M Company

Science matters to us – at 3M we care about science. We wanted to understand the public’s perception around science, so we conducted a global third-party study called the ‘3M State of Science Index’ and what we found is that science is largely underappreciated, invisible or taken-for-granted. People don’t seem to understand or acknowledge the role of science in their daily lives but have huge expectations for what it should deliver in the future. It is clear science needs advocates, especially since 4 out of 10 surveyed said that if science didn’t exist their lives wouldn’t be any different!

It is also apparent that the relationship of science with people is complex. In fact, 85% of people surveyed admit they know little to nothing about science, but the same percent wish they knew more. Moreover, 87% of the global community believes we need science to solve the world’s problems. Nearly 60% of people interested in science say that they believe scientific advancements will benefit future generations. It was also interesting and perhaps not surprising to see that women trail men in the positive sentiment of science and almost 60% view scientists are elitists.

Jayshree was appointed as 3M’s first-ever Chief Science Advocate and she will be sharing the results of this multi-year survey, what 3M is doing about it, and a call for action for all of us.