ICI Exhibition Booklet - Flipbook - Page 9
Environment for Innovation
‘The best chemists and engineers flooded into ICI’
– Sir Peter Allen, recruited from Cambridge 1928
ICI Chairman 1968-71
Alfred Mond: (1868–1930)
From the beginning, Alfred Mond (Ludwig’s second son) was determined to maintain his father’s
philosophy of attracting the best scientific talent of the day to work on industrial problems. Mond
trained as a lawyer and initially had no interest in the family company until he witnessed his father’s
discovery of nickel carbonyl. Excited by the possibilities of science harnessed to business, he plunged
with enthusiasm into the building of Mond Nickel Co.
Alfred Mond’s legal abilities, natural flair for management, and driving intellectual curiosity made him an
outstanding business strategist. He lay the foundation for ICI’s future through investment in research
and recruitment of the best talent.
Investment in research
There was an emphasis on quality throughout the organisation,
from scientific brilliance in research to equipment on the bench.
Within a year of formation, ICI research expenditure rose from
£221,000 to £350,000. By 1930, it was estimated to be at £1.2
million.
A Research Council was set up with universities for ICI
scientists to brainstorm with leading academics – generating
ideas for promising lines of work.
Recruitment of the best
A well-established head-hunting system was inherited from
Brunner, Mond.
Major Francis Freeth was central to this, with talent scouting
and connections that raised standards of
practice in the company.
One scheme was talent scouting in public schools for potential
chemists, physicists, engineers, or managers, in part to break
down the prejudice against industry.
‘The really lucrative processes are likely to be those... which are entirely novel, and it would be unfortunate indeed
if research... were barred because an investigation indicated there would be no market.’
– George
Pollitt, founding manager of Billingham
A progressive labour policy
ICI inherited Brunner Mond’s tradition of ‘co-workers in industry’, influenced by Sir John Brunner’s radical instincts and non-conformist background.
Employees had direct access to managers through a Central Works Council and were able to purchase company shares below market price as
part of the ICI Worker’s Shareholding Scheme. Works councils set up early in ICI fostered a loyalty towards the company. This atmosphere
enabled workers and academics to share information across disciplines, fostering innovation throughout the company. From 1926 to 1993, the
company had never been shut down by a total strike and, as one long-serving chlorine worker said on a BBC documentary about the chemical
industry, ‘In all my years with the ICI, I’ve never known a dispute that couldn’t be settled by a works council.’
‘You cannot make the world a more prosperous place by making the rich poorer. What you do is make the poor
richer.’
– Alfred Mond
Excellence in Scientists and Engineers is still celebrated by SCI today via prestigious Medals:
Beilby Medal (Est: 1930) - Exceptional practical significance in chemical engineering, applied materials science, energy efficiency, or a related field
Canada Medal (Est: 1929) - Outstanding service to Canadian Industry
Carl Hanson Medal (Est: 1986) - Life-time award to recognise scientists and engineers working in the general field of solvent extraction science
and technology
Castner Medal (Est:1946) - Authority on applied electrochemistry in a subject connected with chemical research
Chemical Industry Medal (Est: 1933) - Conspicuous contribution to the growth of the Chemical Industry
Lampitt Medal (Est: 1959) - Significant contribution to a variety of aspects of the work of SCI
LeSueur Memorial Award (Est: 1955) - Technical excellence, in either a university/research institute or industrial setting in Canada
Lister Memorial Lecture (Est: 1944) - Eminent scientists working at the interface of chemistry and medicine
Macro Group UK Medals (Est 2000) - Significant contributions to polymer science
McBain Group Medal (Est: 2006) - A younger scientist who has made a meritorious contribution to colloid and interface science
SCI Society Medal (Est: 1986) - Conspicuous services to applied chemistry by research, discovery or
invention, or by furtherance of the Society’s objectives
Sydney Andrew Medal (Est: 2016) - In memory of Dr Sydney Andrew, awarded on the theme of ‘negelected science’: areas of science which
though of importance in agriculture and the Chemical Industry nevertheless receive scant attention from academic research
Perkin Medal (Est: 1906) - Innovation in applied chemistry resulting in the outstanding commercial development by a resident to the USA
President’s Medal (Est: 1962) - Distinguished figures from a wide variety of backgrounds from whom they have gained new perspectives, or who
have transformed some aspects of the industries covered by SCI