In chemical engineering, research workers have always tried to relate their work to industrial needs. In all countries and in all subjects, there is now pressure from governments to do useful research. It is therefore helpful to review the origins of research in chemical engineering : do the best topics originate from planning for the greatest good of the greatest number, or do they happen adventitiously from accidental combinations of circumstances leading to bright ideas? The latter appears to be more effective, both for good research and for the greater good. Close contact with industry is stimulating. Research and teaching are mutually beneficial. These general conclusions will be illustrated by reference to the writer’s experience with the following research topics. To demonstrate the importance of long time scales, the starting date is given for each topic. 1. The study of bubbles in fluidised beds began in 1956, via a teaching experiment and undergraduate projects with minimal planning and negligible funding. 2. Work on coal combustion in a fluidised bed began in 1967, via a long-term plan of the British National Coal Board. The plan was subsequently mutilated by the vagaries of energy prices, but the research and some practical applications endure. 3. Work on bubble columns began in 1965 with the need to understand oxidation reactors. There was later stimulus from the ICI Pruteen process; the process was subsequently an economic failure, but the research results have found wide use. 4. Work on the velocity of sound in fluidised beds began in 1988, an offshoot from another project : the work was highly successful but, being an unplanned adjunct, was frowned on by the funding agency. 5. A project on treatment of pig slurry led, surprisingly, to work on rupture of thin liquid films (1990), now of interest to biotechnologists concerned with cell damage. 6. NMR research in Chemical Engineering began in Cambridge by accident in 1989 : a government agency happened, by maladroit planning, to have an unspent balance. 7. Cold extrusion of chocolate is a recent, industrially relevant, bright idea of Dr Mackley, arising from the propinquity of(a) his work on polymer extrusion and (b) work on food processing initiated via the ’New Blood Scheme’ in the 1980s. The conclusion is that it is crucial to be able to seize opportunities as they occur. No doubt there must be planning-especially as research becomes more expensive-but the keynote should be flexibility especially because industrial objectives are subject to rapid and unpredictable change. : do the best topics originate from planning for the greatest good of the greatest number, or do they happen adventitiously from accidental combinations of circumstances leading to bright ideas? The latter appears to be more effective, both for good research and for the greater good. Close contact with industry is stimulating. Research and teaching are mutually beneficial. These general conclusions will be illustrated by reference to the writer’s experience with the following research topics. To demonstrate the importance of long time scales, the starting date is given for each topic. 1. The study of bubbles in fluidised beds began in 1956, via a teaching experiment and undergraduate projects with minimal planning and negligible funding. 2. Work on coal combustion in a fluidised bed began in 1967, via a long-term plan of the British National Coal Board. The plan was subsequently mutilated by the vagaries of energy prices, but the research and some practical applications endure. 3. Work on bubble columns began in 1965 with the need to understand oxidation reactors. There was later stimulus from the ICI Pruteen process; the process was subsequently an economic failure, but the research results have found wide use. 4. Work on the velocity of sound in fluidised beds began in 1988, an offshoot from another project : the work was highly successful but, being an unplanned adjunct, was frowned on by the funding agency. 5. A project on treatment of pig slurry led, surprisingly, to work on rupture of thin liquid films (1990), now of interest to biotechnologists concerned with cell damage. 6. NMR research in Chemical Engineering began in Cambridge by accident in 1989 : a government agency happened, by maladroit planning, to have an unspent balance. 7. Cold extrusion of chocolate is a recent, industrially relevant, bright idea of Dr Mackley, arising from the propinquity of(a) his work on polymer extrusion and (b) work on food processing initiated via the ’New Blood Scheme’ in the 1980s. The conclusion is that it is crucial to be able to seize opportunities as they occur. No doubt there must be planning-especially as research becomes more expensive-but the keynote should be flexibility especially because industrial objectives are subject to rapid and unpredictable change.