It was not so long ago that innovation in the chemical using industries wassynonymous with the development of new molecular entities. Advances inmedicines, cosmetic products and chemical specialities were exciting and weredriven by developments in the understanding and the creative design of novelmolecules by talented synthetic chemists. At the same time the formulation ofchemical based products was usually seen as a mere finishing step, at best anempirical science understood only by a few and at worst a secretive “dark art” oftrial and error. However, if we fast forward a few years to the present day I believe it’snot an exaggeration to say that we are now living in the golden age of formulation. ...