Records of the Commercial Development Association

The Commercial Development Association was a non-profit chemical industry association. It was formed in 1943 during a meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as the Technical Service Association of the Chemical Industry. The membership later voted to change the name to the Commercial Chemical Development Association (CCDA) to emphasize the increasing importance of processes, systems, and services to the chemical enterprise. The organization was concerned with chemical marketing in all its phases. The Commercial Chemical Development Association helped midwife the American Chemical Society Division of Marketing and Economics.

In June 1970, the association voted to remove “chemical” from its name to reflect the enlarging scope of the association’s interests. The Commercial Development Association formed the CDA Educational Foundation to extend the CDA’s expertise in the latest techniques for linking new technologies with market opportunities to the business community at large. The CDA’s Educational Foundation ran several short courses and workshops in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania’s Entrepreneurial Center of The Wharton School on Commercial Development and Corporate Venturing. In 1999, the Commercial Development Association merged with a like-minded trade association, the Commercial Marketing Research Association (CMRA) to form the Commercial Development and Management Association (CDMA).

Sources

Records of the Commercial Development Association, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Records of Chemical Trade Associations, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.