Improve your business and entrepreneurial skills with this online course for chemistry undergraduates, featuring video lectures and interviews based on the chemical industry

Are you interested in joining a large multinational company after you graduate? Or perhaps you’d rather be part of a growing entrepreneurial startup? Whatever your ambition, this short online course is designed to help you identify and develop the skills you need to pursue a career in business.

Whether you’re learning remotely or studying in your own time, learn about key business skills through a combination of video lectures and interviews based on the chemical industry.

What’s on this page

This course is divided into four sections, covering the essential skills and knowledge you need to prepare for a future in business:

  1. Business basics focuses on introducing key business concepts such as business plans, market need, project management and routes to market through a series of six short video lectures.
  2. Chemistry in industry addresses some of the challenges and opportunities currently facing chemistry-related industries, and explores the role of chemistry in the UK and global economies, via a series of four short video lectures.
  3. Making money features three video lectures on the financial aspects of business, including cost, price and value, as well as risk and investment.
  4. Intellectual property introduces the concept of IP, focusing in particular on patents. This section includes two video lectures, plus a series of interviews with an intellectual property lawyer.

The sections are laid out in a logical order, but you can complete them in any order you wish.

 1. Business basics

Explore the video lectures below to learn about some of the basics of business in a chemistry context, from producing a business plan and assessing market need to project management and product design.

1.1. The business plan

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Find out more about the features and purpose of a business plan, including the key questions any plan needs to address in order to provide the foundation for a successful business.

1.2. Market need

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Explore the fundamental ideas behind market research and learn about the questions a business needs to ask in order to understand its market or customer and assess market need.

1.3. Capability

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Find out how businesses can assess their capability to develop and deliver a product by identifying potential issues in advance, ranging from product development and manufacturing to regulations and intellectual property rights.

1.4. Project management

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Learn how effective project management, including the 'stage–gate' model, can be used by businesses to organise their resources in order to achieve specific goals.

1.5. Value and product design

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Explore the relationship between product design, value and the consumer, and find out more about the elements that contribute to the perceived value and desirability of a new product.

1.6. Methods of commercialisation

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Learn about five typical approaches to commercialising an idea, including in-house development, joint venture, licensing or assigning IP and forming a new company.

2. Chemistry in industry

Watch the video lectures below to explore the economic contribution made by chemistry-using industries, including some of the challenges currently facing these industries and associated opportunities for innovation.

2.1. UK chemical-using industries

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Watch this video overview to find out more about the size, composition and economic contribution of the chemicals industry in the UK.

2.2. The global chemical economy

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Explore the composition, economic contribution and spread of the international chemical industry, from the UK and the EU to North America, Asia and China.

2.3. Current challenges facing the chemistry-using industries

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Find out about some the key challenges and issues facing the chemical industry, including energy, supply of raw materials and climate change.

2.4. Drivers for innovation

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Review some of the key trends shaping people's lives, demands and needs and explore how these can act as drivers for innovation in chemistry-using industries.

3. Making money

Use the video lectures in this section to develop your understanding of how successful chemistry-using businesses control their finances and make profit.

3.1. Cost, price and value

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Explore the relations between cost, price and value and consider the role of buyer's, seller's and product criteria in determining financial returns.

3.2. Finance

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Familiarise yourself with key financial terms and learn about some of the fundamental tools and reports that businesses use to control and monitor their finances.

3.3. Risk and investment

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Find out how successful businesses manage risk, identify commercial and technical unknowns and tailor their business plans to secure investment.

4. Intellectual property

Explore the video lectures below to familiarise yourself with key concepts concerning intellectual property and how inventions may be protected by patents.

4.1. Introduction to intellectual property

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Review the main forms of intellectual property, including patents, trade marks, registered designs and copyright, and consolidate your understanding of how they are used.

4.2. Patents

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Find out more about how patents are used to protect technical ideas, and learn about some of the key criteria and restrictions that apply to patented innovations.

4.3. Ask Rachel

Watch the videos from this interview with Rachel Oxley, a patent attorney, to find out more about intellectual property, patents and what intellectual property lawyers do.

About Rachel

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Watch this interview with Rachel Oxley to find out more about her role as a patent attorney and how her background in chemistry comes into her work.

Intellectual property

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

In this video, patent attorney Rachel Oxley explains the key concepts and protections relating to intellectual property, including copyright, trademarks, registered designs and patents.

Patents

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Explore patents in more detail and find out about the application process involved in this interview with intellectual property lawyer Rachel Oxley.

Money

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Watch this interview with patent attorney Rachel Oxley to learn about the costs, benefits and opportunities involved in gaining patent protection for an idea.

Additional information

This resource was originally published in 2012 as part of the Business Skills for Chemists website. It was developed by the University of Nottingham in association with the Royal Society of Chemistry, and funded by the National HE STEM Programme.

Business Skills for Chemists