Chemical Information — Promotion of Innovation in Science and Technology

An important factor in technological or scientific innovation is the ready availability of relevant information. In chemical research and development data and factual information on chemical species is of prime importance: in chemistry at present we know of about 9 Mil. compounds — this figure is increased annually as a result of the synthesis of another half a million substances. New compounds, new properties, new processes and new methods were reported in the last year in ca. 600 000 articles, with an upward trend predicted for the future. The state-of-the-art is documented in around 40 000 patent applications annually, more than 16% of which are from the Federal Republic of Germany.