Chemical engineering originated from the need to design processes and equipment in the chemical industry; it evolved to encompass product design in other industry sectors, including (but not limited to) energy, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, and performance materials, and it has advanced to analysis and design of complex systems. It is believed that chemical engineering, in the near future, will focus on three areas: health, climate change and energy, and functional products. To support this belief, three unpublished paradigms one from each of these areas-are presented. The first paradigm-deals with encapsulation of pancreatic islet cells for transplantation in patients with Type 1 diabetes. The second paradigm presents an analysis of energy needs of Greece over the next 15 years, given the observed climate changes. Finally, the third paradigm is the design of a new material on which information is stored and recovered in replicated media optical discs.