What does progress mean today?

Have you ever wondered what would be missing in the world if Solvay did not exist? What is our biggest impact? As we are now within a few weeks of sharing our Purpose that articulates answers to those questions, I would like to share with you a reflection inspired by our fabulous history.  

Since the very early days, the Solvay company has been run with an intimate belief that our scientific and technological capabilities had a positive role to play for the progress of mankind. Ernest Solvay, a “pragmatic idealist,” was a man practical enough to invent the disruptive soda process, and enough of a utopist to imagine a welfare society organized on scientific foundations. He declared that “from science would derive the progress of mankind”. This positivist vision of progress was deeply rooted in the buoyant second half of the 19th century in Europe. 

Progress is a belief

It is neither linear nor absolute: progress based on science and technology has pulled billions of humans out of poverty and pain. It has also been used to destroy lives. Power is greatly linked to responsibility. 

For Solvay, progress is a driving force which has to be reassessed and redefined periodically. 

Our track record as a source of positive technological-driven progress is impressive. Solvay enabled populations to access light and cleanliness with the ammonia-soda process, and countries to upgrade their whole socio-economic framework. Through sponsorship and personal involvement, Ernest Solvay contributed to the birth of modern physics with his unique Solvay conferences. And other disciplines made spectacular progress thanks to his scientific institutes. Employees and communities around Solvay sites benefited greatly from a full-fledged welfare system that included healthcare, housing, leisure, protection, and education. With this legacy behind them, his successors perpetuated to a large extent these humanist values and purposeful responsibility behavior.

Adaptability and resilience over time

Demonstrating adaptability and resilience over time, Solvay diversified and was enriched by the acquisition of great companies, always looking at areas in which it could make a difference. 

In the 1950s, we responded to the ardent desire of western populations to participate in the society of abundance. In the 1960s, we started to focus on lightweight materials to facilitate life. In the 1970s, we entered into partnerships with academia to co-innovate in an open manner. In the 1980s, we explored opportunities in life sciences, solving problems for men and cattle. In the 1990s, we multiplied solutions for lighter and cleaner mobility.

In the 2000s, we were on board the plane which flew around the world without fuel to demonstrate that chemistry and materials science are at the heart of a more sustainable future.

For decades, we have progressed ourselves, and we have contributed to the progress of mankind. 

But we shall certainly not rest on our past achievements!

Carry the torch of optimism

Today, many challenges lay ahead of us all: environmental deterioration, resource scarcity, social inequalities, growing population, political upheavals, geopolitics instabilities, to name a few. The human journey is at an unprecedented crossroads where humans are a force of nature, permanently impacting their planet. We must collectively carry the torch of optimism. Future generations aspire to live in a peaceful and prosperous world. The world needs a more balanced, respectful, and inclusive progress. Our responsibility is to think holistically, to take all factors into account, to align our businesses on megatrends with agility, in order to deliver the forms of progress required today and tomorrow. 

You have seen in our G.R.O.W. strategy our aspiration to bring technologies and businesses to be in the service of these issues. You will soon see how this idea of being ready to re-examine progress is integral to who we are, why we exist, and how we can continue our strong tradition of enabling the progress society needs at the moment.

Together, we can, and together we will.

Ilham Kadri