















VIB and CropDesign have experienced a shut scientific marriage for a lot more than 15 many years. CropDesign, now portion of BASF’s Agricultural Alternatives division (basf.com), was set up in 1998 as a VIB spinoff and has grown into a biotech business specializing in plant phenotyping know-how. The divesture involves web site infrastructure and intellectual property. All previous CropDesign personnel found new work opportunities inside of or exterior BASF. Economic aspects of the transaction are not staying disclosed.
VIB will build a plant science and agricultural technological know-how incubator at the CropDesign internet site. These facilities will serve as Flanders’ premier middle for agricultural biotechnology (AgBio) improvements for start out-ups. VIB will give a actual physical room for early-phase corporations that get the job done on the long run of sustainable agriculture and foods output, supply greenhouse space and give an surroundings for likeminded firms.
Alongside one another with ILVO, the Flanders investigate institute for agriculture, fisheries and food items, VIB will also deliver mentoring applications, take a look at collaborative alternatives and unlock networks to help early-phase organizations experienced promptly. The initiative is backed by the Flemish govt to guidance financial recovery right after the coronavirus pandemic in Flanders.
“Our vision is to build Flanders’ initial AgBio incubator as the driving drive guiding innovations that create the agricultural methods of tomorrow. This will more gasoline the expansion of the AgBio R&D cluster around Ghent. With the acquisition of the CropDesign web site, we want to build alternatives for entrepreneurs to create their corporation in Flanders, taking benefit of the exceptional daily life sciences ecosystem and bringing high worth employment to the region,” said Jérôme Van Biervliet, Taking care of Director at VIB. “Plant science with an emphasis on sustainability and local weather improve is an essential sector for us at VIB. Leveraging the phenotyping platform will allow for us to complement our commitment to assistance agricultural analysis and focused corporations,” additional Dirk Inzé, Science Director of VIB-UGent Heart for Plant Programs Biology.
“By divesting our CropDesign web-site, we allow our extended-time period husband or wife VIB to further more create and utilize the modern phenotyping technology in which CropDesign is extremely skilled,” said Linda Trolinder, Senior Vice President Investigate & Development Seeds & Qualities at BASF’s Agricultural Alternatives division. “In the past many years, we have formulated lots of improvements in phenotyping at CropDesign that are effectively utilised at different BASF internet sites around the planet. At the exact time, this go will allow us to adapt our portfolio and to target even extra on upcoming crucial tasks of our enterprise approach. We are happy of our prolonged-standing commitment to the scientific group in the Ghent location.”
About BASF’s Agricultural Remedies division
With a fast escalating inhabitants, the globe is more and more dependent on our skill to develop and retain sustainable agriculture and wholesome environments. Operating with farmers, agricultural experts, pest administration gurus and other folks, it is our part to enable make this achievable. That’s why we spend in a sturdy R&D pipeline and wide portfolio, together with seeds and attributes, chemical and organic crop security, soil administration, plant health, pest management and electronic farming. With pro teams in the lab, industry, office and in generation, we link revolutionary considering and down-to-earth action to make serious world concepts that work for farmers, society and the earth. In 2019, our division produced profits of €7.8 billion. For a lot more information and facts, you should pay a visit to agriculture.basf.com or any of our social media channels.
About VIB
VIB (vib.be) is an excellence-primarily based entrepreneurial study institute in everyday living sciences positioned in Flanders, Belgium. VIB’s primary investigate prospects to new and ground breaking insights into normal and pathological everyday living processes. It unites the skills of all its collaborators and exploration groups in a one institute, firmly dependent on its close partnership with 5 Flemish universities (Ghent University, KU Leuven, University of Antwerp, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Hasselt College) and supported by a reliable funding programme from the Flemish governing administration. VIB has an great track file on translating simple scientific success into pharmaceutical, agricultural and industrial programs. Considering that its foundation in 1996, VIB has developed 27 start-up corporations, now using in excess of 900 people today.
VIB Media Call: Elisabeth Stes

P: +42 486 825 902 – E: elisabeth.stes[.]vib.be


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