Management of responsive research is a difficult balance between order and chaos. It is essential that each scientist has a room for initiative. Public research policy should focus on frontier research and not force universities into "non applicable applied research". Long-term basic research is important for a high tech company to establish a two-way collaboration with academia and to ensure future options for the company. The challenges to industrial catalysis are discussed in terms of a SWOT analysis. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.