Small business, commercial development

So my message to the chemical industry broadly and in particular to the segment of small businesses is to not let the PMN requirements limit your creative spirit in the development and commercialization of new chemicals. The Office of Toxic Substances in EPA stands ready to assist you at no cost in filling out the forms and distinguishing clearly what is minimally essential for risk assessment purposes from what is optional. We have trained consultants in the northeastern and mid-west sections of the country ready to travel to your location and advise you in a confidential way on PMNs. Our staff in Washington can be immensely helpful and you should feel free to discuss your specific situation with them. And, to top it off, we have one recently-retired experienced chemcial industry man concentrating his entire effort to assist the small business man in any TSCA-related matter. His name is Dr. Bob Toomey give him a call on the Industry Assistance Office toll-free line. 

Although medicinal plants have been used extensively in many countries, including Canada but also Mexico, especially in the context of traditional medicine as well as more recently by the natural products and phytotherapeutic industry, there are few studies that have focused on the commercial aspects of this phenomenon and its potential as productive engine of rural development and enhancement of livelihoods for the local communities living in semi-arid and arid zones. There is also a vacuum of information from a development perspective, where commercial factors, from small business creation and income generation are addressed. 

An interesting variety of the organization scheme is the combination of the positions of head of business development and R D in one and the same person. It eliminates the above mentioned friction. This structure is particularly suitable for small to midsize fine-chemical companies, where the total number of researches and business development managers does not exceed 10. The ideal candidate for this position is a scientist with several years of experience in industrial R D and pilot plant production, plus a commercial flair. 

The notion that it is possible to sprinkle a relatively small amount of money and effort on a great technology to create a commercialized product is, of course, completely false. Our students of entrepreneurship develop their business plans based on a developing technology. It can take them 5 or 6 months of commercialization activity before they realize some of the profound business difficulties associated with their activity. 

In about 2000, many microreactors were thus available, some even commercially and as off-the-shelf products. That these tools can improve reaction engineering was evident from more and more papers. Therefore, the raw potential was clear and anybody was free to use it. Nonetheless, academia and industry did not, largely, take this chance at least not for high-level science or commercial business. Development seemed to be stuck and relevant mainly for a small circle of specially interested scientists and developers. 

---