ICIS Launches This Year's Search for Best Chemical Industry Innovations

LONDON and NEW YORK, April 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

ICIS (www.icis.com ), the trusted information provider for the global chemical and energy industries, today calls for entries for its 15th annual ICIS Innovation Awards (www.icis.com/awards), designed to recognise outstanding technological and business innovation in the chemical industry.

     (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/619935/ICIS_Logo.jpg )

ICIS is pleased to welcome BASF (www.basf.com), one of the world's leading chemical producers, as the overall lead sponsor for the Awards this year.

"As the most innovative company in the chemical industry, BASF has long been developing solutions for the biggest challenges of our time, and has enjoyed great success in doing so," says Detlef Kratz, Senior vVice President for Technology and Operational Excellence.

"We are continuously working on many more innovations to improve people's day-to-day lives and we would like to share this spirit with those who work on innovations in the chemical industry.

"For this reason, we are honored to support the ICIS Innovation Award for the first time and acknowledge the teams and people behind contributions for a sustainable future. We are optimistic that brilliant minds will come up with outstanding ideas. We wish all of them great success."

US chemical distribution company Maroon Group (www.maroongroupllc.com), continues as a category sponsor, supporting the Innovation with Best Benefit for Environment and Sustainability category.

ExxonMobil Chemical (www.exxonmobilchemical.com) continues its support by sponsoring the category for Best Innovation by a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise, as does professional services company Accenture (www.accenture.com), which is sponsoring the Best Product Innovation category.

John Baker, ICIS Innovation Awards Manager at ICIS, comments: "We are delighted to welcome BASF as overall sponsor and to have the continued support of all three category sponsors again, a sign that the Awards continue to be successful in their goal of highlighting the importance of innovation in the chemical industry.

"The awards continue to grow and gain industry support and last year attracted a high level and quality of entries. We once again look forward to highlighting the very best of innovation in the chemical industry."

Celebrating success 

The ICIS Innovation Awards enable companies to celebrate their success in the vital activity of innovation and the increasingly important areas of sustainability and environmental performance.

There are four categories to enter:

• Best Product Innovation - sponsored by Accenture
• Best Process Innovation
• Best Innovation by a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) - sponsored by ExxonMobil Chemical
• Innovation with Best Benefit for Environment and Sustainability - sponsored by Maroon Group

The ICIS Innovation Awards are open to entry from today, with a deadline for entries of 29 June 2018. The winners will be announced in October 2018.

For more information or to enter the awards, visit www.icis.com/awards or call John Baker on +44-20-8652-3153.

For further information contact: 

John Baker

Global editor, ICIS

Tel: +44-(0)-20-8652-3153

Email: john.baker@icis.com

Web site: www.icis.com

About ICIS 

ICIS is the world's largest petrochemical market information provider, with divisions spanning energy and fertilizers. Our aim is to give companies in global commodities markets a competitive advantage by delivering valuable information and analytics tools which enable our customers to identify and react to opportunities in markets which are constantly evolving. We have more than 30 years' of experience in providing pricing intelligence and news, forecast data, market analytics and independent consulting to buyers, sellers and analysts.

With a global staff of more than 600, ICIS has employees based in London, Houston, New York, Singapore, Dubai, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Mumbai, Tokyo, Karlsruhe, and Milan. ICIS' team of journalists is engaged in reporting market prices and news, and ICIS is fully committed to upholding the highest journalistic principles of verification, corroboration and authentication. ICIS has a compliance framework that along with its methodologies and business processes adheres to the requirements of the IOSCO PRA Principles.

ICIS is a division of Reed Business Information, part of RELX Group.

About Reed Business Information 

Reed Business Information provides information, analytics and data to business professionals worldwide. Our strong global products and services hold market-leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including banking, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional customers across industries. 
http://www.reedbusiness.com

About Reed Elsevier 

RELX Group is a world‐leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. The group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs approximately 30,000 people of whom half are in North America. RELX PLC is a London listed holding company which owns 52.9% of RELX Group. RELX NV is an Amsterdam listed holding company which owns 47.1% of RELX Group. The shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX and RENX. The total market capitalisation is approximately £30.0bn|€34.4bn|$42.6bn 
www.relx.com

About BASF
At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The more than 115,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world.

Our portfolio is organised into five segments: Chemicals, Performance Products, Functional Materials & Solutions, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. BASF generated sales of €64.5bn in 2017. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (BAS).

For further information contact: 

Barbara Gerster

Tel: +49-621-60-59077

Email: barbara.gerster@basf.com

Web site: www.basf.com

About Maroon Group 

Maroon Group is one of the fastest growing specialty chemical and ingredient distributors in North America. Our operating verticals focus on end markets which include CASE, Plastics, Specialty Intermediates, and CARE. We leverage a common infrastructure of industry leading technology, value-add services, global sourcing & logistics network, and a commitment to Creating Customer Success®.

For further information, contact: 

Mike McKenna

Chief Operating Officer

Maroon Group

Tel: +1-440-937-1000

Email: mmckenna@maroongroupllc.com

Web site: www.maroongroupllc.com

About ExxonMobil Chemical 

ExxonMobil Chemical is one of the largest chemical companies in the world. Our unique portfolio of commodity and specialty businesses generates annual sales of more than 24 million tonnes of prime products.  We have world-scale manufacturing facilities in all major regions, and our products serve as the building blocks for a wide variety of everyday consumer and industrial products.

For further information, contact: 

David Woods

Opportunity Identification Manager

New Product Platforms

ExxonMobil Chemical Company

Tel: +1-832-625-4134 

Email: david.g.woods@exxonmobil.com

Web site: www.exxonmobilchemical.com

About Accenture 

Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialised skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions - underpinned by the world's largest delivery network - Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders.

With approximately 425,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives.

For further information, contact: 

Guy Cantwell

Tel: +1-281-900-9089

Email: guy.cantwell@accenture.com

Web site: www.accenture.com