Éric Schaer is an engineer at ENSIC (French National School of Chemical Industries) and Professor at the University of Lorraine, France. His research extends to the implementation of homogeneous and heterogeneous chemical reactions.Jean-Claude André is Research Director at CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research), researcher at the University of Lorraine, France and an ENSIC engineer. He focuses his research on light-matter interactions and associated process engineering.

• Foreword viiPreface xiIntroduction xxxiChapter 1. Between Innovation in Process Engineering and Creativity 11.1. Innovations and process engineering 51.2. Creativity 91.2.1. Creativity and pedagogy 181.3. Innovation and boundary objects 201.4. Teleological approach, convergence, and interdisciplinarity 291.5. A look back at the notion of convergence 391.6. A look back at interdisciplinarity 471.7. The models 511.8. A little complexity 531.8.1. Hyperobjects 591.9. Reaching a decision 601.10. Findings and proposals 611.10.1. Technology: serve and/or partner 641.10.2. How to do or not to do? 721.11. Activities initiated from the “base” 761.11.1. Framing elements 761.11.2. Main results 781.11.3. “Scientific excellence” 891.11.4. Funding and research orientation 901.11.5. Foresight, opportunities for the PE research unit. 911.11.6. Collective projects? Risky projects? 931.11.7. Difficulties in the functioning of research 971.11.8. Concluding elements 1011.12. Conclusion 1071.13. References 118Chapter 2. Prospective Elements Applied to the Transformation of Matter and Energy 1492.1. From a local to a more global approach 1622.2. Some reminders 1702.2.1. General framework 1702.2.2. In reality… 1752.3. Influential trends 1772.3.1. Socio-economic context 1782.3.2. Innovation and means/ways/needs to support it 1922.3.3. Exhaustion of reserves 1982.4. Scenarios for tomorrow 2122.4.1. Background information 2172.4.2. Introduction 2182.4.3. The four scenarios 2192.4.4. Blocking factors; probable scenario(s) 2352.4.5. Potential effects on the development of process engineering 2382.5. Conclusion 2442.6. References 254Conclusion 279Index 317