Leveraging our deep understanding of plants
Growers around the world face multiple challenges which threaten to reduce yields and lower crop quality. Syngenta is in a unique position to provide them with complete solutions. We do this by leveraging the breadth of our scientific expertise and optimizing the interaction of biology and chemistry in plant physiology.
Research and development investment in 2009 amounted to nearly $1 billion, reinforcing our industry-leading position. We employ approximately 5,000 people at R&D centers and field stations around the world. Our scientists are dedicated to meeting growers needs by raising crop yields and improving quality in a sustainable way.
Syngenta is constantly striving to accelerate innovation to meet our customer’s needs by focusing on four key drivers: strengthening the organization, integrating the breadth of our expertise, developing our talent and working in partnerships.
Strengthening the organization
Our Seeds R&D leadership team is ensuring that we leverage our knowledge, capabilities and resources more powerfully across a range of crops. This allows us to build stronger global platforms utilizing cross-crop knowledge which benefits the whole of R&D. This team facilitates a closer working relationship with Crop Protection R&D to ensure growers’ challenges can be addressed on multiple levels through the combination of seeds, traits and chemistry.
In Europe, investment continued in our major Crop Protection research centers at Jealott’s Hill, UK, and Stein, Switzerland. We have established Jealott’s Hill as the center of our formulation expertise with the completion of a five-year project utilizing robotics. Our new formulation robot can receive instructions from any Syngenta laboratory worldwide and by running millions of samples 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it is accelerating formulation chemistry. Stein is the site of our Seed Care Institute as well as chemistry and biology Crop Protection research facilities. The site expansion was completed in 2008 and is already starting to yield results.
Emerging growth markets open up a wealth of knowledge and potential. We are ensuring that we capture scientific expertise and insights in these markets through expansion of the R&D organization in China and India.
In China, our biotechnology center in Beijing focuses on early-stage evaluation of genetically modified traits. Investment in a permanent site is underway, with plans to more than double local employment to 200 by 2011. We have also established a Scientific Know-how Exchange Program in partnership with the International Rice Research Institute to help build scientific capabilities in rice.
The site in Goa, India, which focuses on developing new chemistry leads for development at our sites in Jealott’s Hill and Stein, will expand facilities to enable focus on the interaction between research chemistry and process chemistry. This will help to further compress cycle times, thereby accelerating product development and maximizing the commercial value of new products.
Integrating our expertise
Through our deep understanding of plants and our breadth of knowledge, we can optimize the relationship between biology and chemistry in plant physiology. One example is thiomethoxam, an insecticide that increases plant vigor, leaf greening and root mass for a healthier plant with increased yield even in the absence of insect pressure. Used as a seed care treatment, it protects the seed and young seedling at their most vulnerable stages.
Our knowledge of biology and chemistry is also driving the development of integrated approaches to crop management. In soybean we have several examples: introduced in 2009 in Canada and the USA, the APHID MANAGEMENT SYSTEM™ is an industry first which brings together seeds, traits and chemistry. Aphids can reduce yields by more than half, and Syngenta’s system can control up to 90 percent of these pests throughout the growing season.
The management of soybean rust combines a native trait for rust resistance with broad-spectrum fungicides to protect the crop throughout its life cycle, ensuring good crop quality and yield. In 2009, Syngenta also entered into a collaboration with Evogene Ltd. to identify plant genes related to soybean nematode resistance. This collaboration complements our in-house trait discovery program to strengthen further our offering to soybean growers.
Syngenta is also improving its integrated offer to sugarcane growers. In 2009, we licensed gene-stacking technology from Chromatin Inc. In 2011, we expect to launch PLENE™ which has the potential to revolutionize sugarcane planting. PLENE™ provides the opportunity to grow sugarcane from smaller cane segments using proprietary treatments, potentially reducing production costs by 25 percent.
Developing talent
A culture supportive of innovation, collaboration and open exchange is essential in R&D. We have further supported this culture in 2009 by introducing the use of a web-based, open innovation platform. Using both internal and external audiences, we have successfully solved specific R&D challenges which have led to increased efficiencies and exciting new product opportunities.
We also piloted a training program specifically for R&D employees to gain insight into customers’ perspectives and deepen their knowledge of market-driven product concepts. These pilots were very successful, and we will now extend this program to the global R&D community.
Our focus on people is also recognized externally. Syngenta Biotechnology Inc. in North Carolina, USA, marked its 25th anniversary and was voted one of the top 20 biotech employers – out of 575 companies – in a survey by Science magazine and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Working in partnerships
Syngenta is continually striving to improve processes and procedures – be it through best practice, or through cutting-edge technology. One way to achieve these goals is through partnerships. We have several strategic partnerships in China, including the Hubei Biopesticide engineering research center to learn more about the potential of natural products, and the eminent Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry for crop protection innovations.
Syngenta is always investigating new technology platforms. In 2009, Syngenta Ventures invested in Metabolon, a US biotech company, to gain access to their metabolomics technology. This approach provides insight into the biochemical processes happening within a cell to accelerate the development of new native and genetically modified traits. This was the first direct investment by our newly established corporate venture capital subsidiary.
We are also exploring how we can improve agronomic practices. This work includes collaborations in the UK with Manchester University on the use of sensors in agriculture, as well as building predictive models for biological systems with London’s Imperial College.
