Dow Chemical Company Chairman and CEO, Dr Andrew Liveris, says revisiting his alma mater, University of Queensland (UQ) is an important way of showing young people the value of an Australian education.

I’m very much a product of my home heritage, which is Greek immigrant
groups but also my Australian upbringing, and I am an advertisement or
ambassador for Australia.

“I’m very much a product of my home heritage, which is Greek immigrant groups but also my Australian upbringing, and I am an advertisement or ambassador for Australia,” Dr Liveris told Neos Kosmos.

“I consider it important to go back and show young people that with an Australian education and hard work you can do whatever you want to do; your education is a great starting point. I’m a great believer in encouraging people to aspire, because with hard work you can achieve great things”.

At his upcoming lecture at UQ, On the Centenary: The Next 100 Years. Queensland, Australia and the World, Dr Liveris will discuss Australia’s future global role.

“Australia has a very important capability, one is God given: our natural resources, everything below the ground, and the other is above the ground: human capital, which is being developed through a very strong spirit of adventurism, a can-do attitude, and our commitment to education,” Dr Liveris said.

However, Australia still needs to improve upon the way it uses these resources, Dr Liveris said.

“Australia has not done a good job of intersecting the two to create more value out of technology in this country,” he said.

“Australia should be able to generate multiple silicon valleys and to do that it has to have a natural outlook to research and manufacture with the resources it has.”

While in Brisbane next week the Dow CEO will also liaise with UQ, as Dow is investing in Biotechnology and nanotechnology within the university, to help develop scientific breakthroughs.

Dow is also investing in Victoria’s department of agriculture, as well as in genomics within Monash University, which is aimed at creating better technology for crops, especially in arid climates.

“At Dow we’re very interested in partnering with Australian education institutes,” Dr Liveris said.

“We’re also talking with various governments in Australia to see if we can take natural gas and use it rather than just exporting it as LPG.”

Dr Liveris, who attended Brisbane State High School and has a chemical engineering degree from UQ, took over the reins of the $45 billion global company in 2004.

Beginning in Dow’s Australian offices in 1976 as a graduate Dr Liveris worked in manufacturing, engineering, sales, marketing, and business and general management.

He spent the majority of his career in Asia, where he was general manager for the company’s operations in Thailand, and was later President of all Asia-Pacific operations.

“As someone who has dedicated his life to innovation, I would venture to say that we have never needed it more than today,” Dr Liveris said, adding “the world’s most pressing needs will be met – and mastered – by innovation through science and innovation of the sort that happens at The University of Queensland and, if I may say, at Dow.”

Dr Liveris was among a select few of the world’s most influential people, including, Madeleine Albright, Lance Armstrong, Tony Blair, Jim Carey and Laura Bush, who were recently invited to participate in the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative Summit.

Earlier this month Dr Liveris was given the oldest honour in Christendom and the highest honour a lay person can receive in the Orthodox Christian Church by being named Archon by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of the Orthodox Christian Church.


To register to attend Dr Liveris’ oration, on Monday, November 22 from 6:15pm, please go to http://www.uq.edu.au/centenary/oration-series