Already in 2018 former Dean Herbert Danninger proposed the idea of starting a vision process within the leadership team of the Faculty of Technical Chemistry (TCH) with the major aim to support the long-term strategic thematic and personnel planning with an emotional dimension. During early meetings accompanied by our coach Peter Lendl, the analysis of key developments of the past two decades after the foundation of the Faculty of Technical Chemistry was conducted in view of identifying novel perspectives for the years to come. Several scenarios were drafted, discussed, dismissed, and re-drafted with the aim to provide a framework to be presented to the faculty staff after reaching a more mature stage. This work in progress was ultimately handed over to Marko Mihovilovic in his new function as Dean in early 2020.

The disruptive challenge of the Covid-pandemic brought this process to an abrupt halt with the immediate requirement to manage this most severe crisis in the recent history of TU Wien. As it turned out this was just the start of a period of uncertainty for the entire university, and in particular for this faculty based on the paramount role of lab-based experiments in chemical sciences. Having coped with the first lock-down during the pandemic, the faculty managed to resume lab-based research early on, just to face additional obstacles during the subsequent crises imposed by the energy price developments, the escalating inflation, and the university budget crisis at the end of 2022. Nevertheless, both TU Wien and TCH-faculty proved resilient to tackle these challenges and return standard operations in research and teaching. In fact, TCH-faculty demonstrated a remarkable come-back in particular in the scientific arena securing a number of highly prestigious grants in the post-Covid period.

During these phases of hardship, the desire of reviving the TCH vision process was always present. And as soon as a light at the end of the tunnel became visible after the multiple crisis situations, the leadership team of the faculty started to re-assess all available material and to bring it into context of recent developments. The appointment of a new rectorate at TU Wien and the announcement of a new strategy development process at university level introduced additional momentum. During several focused meetings and retreats since 2023, ultimately the key aspects of a new vision for TCH materialized and are now matured enough to be brought into the open. The 20 years anniversary of the faculty provides a perfect opportunity to unveil the work, so far, and to enter into the new phase of filling this vision with life by individual action and contributions. One may ask, why our faculty requires “a new vision”, and the typically Viennese proverb comes to mind according to which “a person with a vision may as well require treatment for hallucinations”. In particular, in view of the many strategic documents circulating at various levels of administration outlining thematic directions, fields of cooperation, and human resources planning, this seems to be highly redundant.

Yet, a vision is clearly more than the operative strategy. Actually, the vision should be at the beginning of all thoughts of future developments. As only with a vision, a clear picture about a mission can be obtained. The operative strategy represents the particular manifestation under certain circumstances and for certain time periods; it requires the vision as its foundation and the mission as its direction.

Looking back at developments in science, teaching, and outreach within TCH, we have indeed adopted a remarkable upward trend during recent years: personnel has increased by more than 25 % especially in third-party funded staff; the number of professors has tripled since 2010; third party funding has doubled within 10 years especially by a substantial increase of so-called excellence grants (ERC-grants, CD-labs, etc.); TCH is contributing to a growing number of curricula providing excellent job-opportunities for its graduates; the faculty managed to become an increasingly attractive employer in particular for female scientists; the list can be continued…

Rest assured: Nothing will deter us from our successful path and it is by no means the goal to throw everything overboard. It is apparent, that we are already on a promising and prosperous path. However, there are many research lines not necessarily taking advantage of each other. Better aligning ongoing activities offers the prospect of synergy and efficiency. It was the particular aim of the leadership team to identify the success factors of activities during the past years in order to provide a clearer direction to the top for those in earlier stages of their career. It is our intention to showcase individuals and approaches that developed well in our environment in order to display promising directions. We want to converge our efforts in science and teaching in order to strengthen our strengths and identify novel opportunities based on synergy and collaboration. We want to sharpen our view towards unmet challenges in our science and present chemistry as a problem solver in the ongoing transformation of our industry and society. The vision outlines a general direction that the faculty will take in the next decade, and we invite you to plot your individual pathway towards this goal. This all is expressed in our new vision:

We make chemistry a game-changer – creating responsible breakthrough solutions securing everyone’s future!

We do hope that many of you can align with this statement, take inspiration by the many testimonials who ventured already down this pathway, so this new vision and motto will stimulate and motivate people working at our faculty to go the extra mile to evoke change.

In order to provide guidance towards the vision, we have provided some “beacons” to highlight the way, which we refer to as our future endeavours. We have identified these statements by analyzing our existing strengths complemented by future aspects for improvement. We understand these endeavors as achievements to be reached requiring our efforts, dedication, and active input. There is no specific order or ranking, but the endeavors should be understood as comprehensive goals covering aspects of our scientific aims, individual career development, as well as our role vis-à-vis the society.

• We embrace the freedom of curiosity-driven science; co-operation and inter-disciplinary exchange are crucial in our task to achieve groundbreaking new knowledge.
• It is our goal to identify perspectives of application for the knowledge we generate, and embrace new opportunities by translational research. In doing so, we go for strategic gains rather than quick wins.
• We develop chemical know-how and technologies, changing the perception of our discipline towards a key science that solves problems.
• We critically reflect on our work and question standards; moving beyond the established and aiming for the unexpected are key success factors for us.
• Resilience and endurance are our success factors; we tackle the big challenges in order to achieve innovation by disruptive advances.
• In our passion for teaching, we strive to equip the next generations to be able to recognize and address the challenges facing them. We want to achieve excellence and attain a high impact in teaching for our graduates.
• We want to encourage, empower, and develop the potential of individuals and enhance their ability to contribute to teams and networks.
• We build bridges between the different fields of expertise and overcome the fragmentation of knowledge. In doing so, we bring together applied and basic research inside and outside of our institution in pursuing one overarching vision and focusing our resources on that vision.
• We consider ourselves as essential to society and want to be recognized as being relevant also on broader political level. We want to increase, deepen, and sustain trust for science in society.
• We want to be more visible and recognized at an international level, advocating our understanding of an institution promoting and embodying diversity, openness, mobility, and exchange.

With this new vision, together with the endeavors and the guiding principles as accompanying items, we aim to provide a framework to continue the upward trend of our faculty – nothing more, nothing less. To make this vision alive, commitment by everybody is required. Consequently, each and everybody in the faculty should identify her/his space in the landscape covered by the vision – there is room for everyone. The launch of the vision at the 20 years anniversary of TCH is not the final chapter, but rather the starting point of an ongoing process to render the vision into a mission into a strategy. It is the kick-off for general participation to fine-tune and further develop the vision with its items – now we want to collect your input. The event comes with the invitation to actively contribute to the living process defining our future aims.