The contract will foster synergies between academic research and industrial development, notably in the field of innovations derived from white biotechnology processes1.
The partnership between INRA and METabolic EXplorer is driven by a shared desire to promote technological advances in agriculture, the environment and renewable carbon chemistry. The framework will notably make it easier to implement joint programmes based on the pooling of skills and shared access to technical resources.
The framework cooperation contract will also strengthen the relationship between INRA and METabolic EXplorer which began in 2006 and which has led to the development of the production process for PDO, a chemical compound notably used to manufacture PTT for high-performance textile fibres. This process has now been tested and validated at pre-industrial pilot level.
Marion Guillou, President of INRA, said: “Our cooperation with METabolic EXplorer involves a major challenge already identified by INRA, namely the development of white biotechnologies. Non-food uses of products deriving from plant biomass or waste is set to grow steadily as an alternative to the use of oil or coal. PDO, which has benefited from INRA and METabolic EXplorer synergies, is the first practical example of this.”
Philippe Soucaille, Chief Scientific Officer at METabolic EXplorer, added: “Joint research between METEX and INRA will allow us to move faster in identifying new metabolic channels and in developing new microbiological reagents to manufacture the chemical compounds used to manufacture everyday products.”
METabolic EXplorer pilot plant in Saint-Beauzire (Puy-de-Dôme) - © METabolic EXplorer
INRA
INRA, Europe’s top-ranking agricultural research institute and world Number Two for its agricultural research publication track record, carries out its research programmes by interactively combining knowledge creation and innovation leading to high-quality, healthy food supplies, competitive sustainable agriculture, and a preserved, well-developed environment.
With its focus on sustainability, INRA drives its initiatives with socio-economic partners and society at large via a wide range of mechanisms designed to help share and circulate knowledge, identify worthwhile research areas, and guide and oversee joint research and innovation programmes.
INRA is seeking to step up its cooperation with private-sector companies in the bio-energy and renewable carbon green technology sectors, as testified by the creation of its 3BCAR network (renewable carbon bioenergy, biomolecules and biomaterials). The organisation groups 700 researchers and engineers, ten technology platforms and two transfer centres distributed across three sites in Versailles, Toulouse and Montpellier. The aim is to foster increased innovation, technology transfer, and public-private-partnerships in green and white biotechnology, biomass transformation, and eco-design of renewable carbon products.
INRA subsidiary Inra Transfert is a management consultancy for programmes to develop innovative technologies, and notably those developed in INRA’s own laboratories. INRA Transfert adds value to and manages INRA’s technology portfolio via production agreements with manufacturers and support for innovative start-ups. INRA Transfert also provides support for research teams for setting up and running pan-European programmes and joint research projects with INRA’s private-sector partners.
In 2009, Inra Transfert generated turnover of 12.5 million euros, partly derived from services provided for INRA, European Union grants-in-aid, and licence fees. INRA Transfert manages a portfolio of over 200 patents, and has granted 350 licences to use patents or know-how that generate fee income of over 9.4 million euros annually. Some 40 businesses have already been set up on the basis of INRA research. INRA Transfert itself manages 15 major European joint research programmes in agriculture, the environment, and food production.
About METabolic EXplorer - www.metabolic-explorer.com
METabolic EXplorer is a biological chemistry company which was incorporated in 1999. Its goal is to help industrial businesses deal with the heralded "end of oil", so that they can continue to manufacture but in a sustainable way.
Based on the tried and tested principle of industrial fermentation, METabolic Explorer's solutions circumvent the problems posed by today’s burdensome and expensive petrochemical processes via the use of a wide range of renewable, sustainable raw materials. By optimizing the metabolic yield of non-pathogenic bacteria in a contained, controlled environment, the company facilitates the production of chemical compounds used in a wide range of everyday goods (textile fibres, paints, solvents and adhesives ) and industrial products (such as animal feed).
METabolic EXplorer is currently focusing its alternative biological solutions (implemented by the development of renewable, fermentation-based bioprocesses) on the production of five compounds that together have an estimated, annual, end-market value of €11 billion. The company's strategy will be implemented worldwide in two ways: either via limited-exclusivity industrial partnerships, or via the creation of manufacturing facilities worldwide at METabolic EXplorer's own initiative.
1White biotechnology (also Industrial biotechnology): a term covering the science or technology that uses the biological functions of living organisms such as bacteria to manufacture chemicals, biofuels and other products, excluding farm, food, or therapeutic products.
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