Biotech Research Center Opened at DuPont Knowledge Center

DuPont India today announced the opening of the first research facility at the DuPont Knowledge Center (DKC) in Hyderabad. The Biotech Research Center begins its operations with more than 80 scientists working on a variety of global research programs on plant and industrial biotechnology.

The India center is the first integrated agriculture and industrial biotechnology research center for DuPont outside the USA. The other research facilities at the DKC will come up in phases over the next couple of months, and the complete DuPont Knowledge Center is expected to be formally inaugurated sometime before this year-end.

“The global demand for agricultural crops is very strong. We have the science to help farmers and others across the value chain meet the growing demand and this research center is going to help us do that faster,” said William Niebur, vice president, DuPont Crop Genetics Research and Development and chief scientist at DuPont subsidiary Pioneer Hi-Bred International, while announcing the opening of the center.

The Biotech Research Center at DKC will focus on bringing new crop genetics to the market faster and on application of industrial biotechnology to produce biofuels and biomaterials for global markets. Plant biotech scientists at the DKC will work on developing biotech traits and technologies that will be incorporated into multiple crops for markets the world over. The trait discovery work conducted on site will help create advanced seed products to meet the growing global demand for increased food production, improved animal feed products and expanding energy needs. Research teams will work to deliver new technologies and products for the DuPont Agriculture & Nutrition platform and the DuPont Applied BioSciences business for India and global markets. Both research teams will work together to develop products from renewable resources for food, feed, materials and energy.

Starting with more than - 80 crop genetics and industrial biotech scientists today, DuPont expects the number at the Biotech Research Center to double by year-end. An estimated total of - 600 scientists and - engineers across all disciplines will work out of DKC once it is fully functional.

“By adding biotechnology to DuPont strengths in chemistry and material science, our scientists at DKC will work to develop biocatalysts that will utilize renewable feedstocks to deliver sustainable innovations to global markets,” said John Pierce, Vice President of Technology, DuPont Applied BioSciences, on the occasion of the opening of the Biotech Center at the DKC.

Emphasizing the significance of the DuPont Knowledge Center, Balvinder Kalsi, President and CEO, DuPont India, said, “The DuPont Knowledge Center will provide substantially increased competitiveness to build the future of DuPont and contribute to DuPont India’s growth. I expect DuPont Knowledge Center to be a global Center of Excellence for DuPont. This will enable us to increase our ‘speed to market’ with products that come out of our R&D and Innovations pipeline, not only for India but also for other growth regions”.

The DKC in India is very important to the global R&D and Innovation strategy of DuPont. This center reinforces the importance of India, and the city of Hyderabad, as the emerging center of knowledge excellence, particularly in the new scientific disciplines of biotechnology, bioengineering, bioinformatics, nanotechnology and other emerging sciences. The DKC at Hyderabad will undertake basic research and product application development across all five of the business growth platforms for global and local markets, as well as offer other knowledge services to DuPont businesses.

DuPont today has major plant biotech research centers in Delaware, Iowa and California along with 90 plant genetics research centers around the globe. Globally, DuPont has more than 50 R&D facilities, 20 in the United States and 30 in 11 other nations. DuPont invests an average of $1.3 billion annually on global research and development in a diverse range of technologies for many markets including agriculture, automotive, construction, electronics, chemicals and industrial materials. Today, DuPont has more than 5,000 scientists and engineers around the world.

Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, is the world's leading source of customized solutions for farmers, livestock producers and grain and oilseed processors. With headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, Pioneer provides access to advanced plant genetics in nearly 70 countries.