Research & Development
Syngenta has a deep understanding of plants, based on many decades of research and development. Around 4,000 employees at five main R&D centers and numerous field stations around the world are dedicated to raising crop yields and improving quality.
In 2008, the Company invested $969 million in R&D, again placing us among the industry leaders. With projects spanning crop protection, seeds and biotechnology, Syngenta has a uniquely diverse platform. This enables us to co-operate across traditional business lines and provide ideal combinations of genetic and chemical solutions to meet the challenge of raising growers' productivity.
One of the best examples of successful crossbusiness collaboration is Seed Care. We create maximum value for growers by combining selected seed traits with chemical treatments that protect the seed from the day it is sown.
Our Crop Protection and Seeds pipelines (see pages 25 and 29) provide clear evidence of the common direction and interlinkage of our research. Both pipelines are targeting drought tolerance technologies ranging from chemical treatment to drought tolerant corn seeds which can improve yield in conditions of limited water availability. We also see potential synergies between our second generation trait technology and our crop protection portfolio..
Innovation, life cycle management
International co-operation between R&D teams
accelerates the pace of innovation, bringing
new products to market more quickly and
increasing the return on investment. Recent
changes in our processes include simultaneous
management of previously sequential
development phases. This has enabled us to
reduce the average time from a compound's
discovery to its market introduction by about
two years. Syngenta now has an overall R&D
process that is among the fastest in the crop
protection industry. In Seeds, we have brought
traits such as AGRISURE® RW to market with
record speed.
The R&D process for chemicals is still a lengthy
one - around eight years - with environmental
testing a key element throughout. Respect for
the environment is inherent in the development
of our products, and is a cornerstone of
our commitment to make agriculture
more sustainable.
Life cycle management is also an integral
part of our R&D investment. It enables us
to maximize the value of our compounds
and to meet the challenge of dealing with
living organisms - weeds, diseases and insects
- that can frequently develop resistance to
existing solutions. The significantly increased
sales potential for our fungicide AMISTAR®,
for example, reflects our ability to combine
it with other products to achieve new effects
and solutions. Life cycles in Seeds are
continuously extended through the use
of molecular-assisted breeding to bring
new varieties to market.
New facilities, additional partners
Following on from the opening of our chemical
R&D center in Goa, India, in 2007, Syngenta
took significant steps to strengthen further
its global R&D capacity. In April, we officially
opened the Chemistry Research laboratories
and Seed Care Institute at our existing site
in Stein, Switzerland. At the same time we
announced the opening of a new biotechnology
center in Beijing, China. This facility will
concentrate on early-stage evaluation of GM
traits for key crops such as corn and soybean,
in the areas of yield improvement, drought
resistance, disease control and biomass
conversion for biofuels.
We are also investing £35 million at our
R&D centre at Jealott's Hill in the UK, which
focuses on the development of new herbicides.
The investment will enhance the center's
industry-leading technological capability
and will accelerate further the delivery of
new products to market.
Reseach at Jealott's Hill is complemented by
the work of Syngenta Biotechnology Inc (SBI),
based at Research Triangle Park in North
Carolina, USA, which focuses on biotechnology
solutions including herbicide tolerant crops.
As well as the extension of our own global
R&D organization, we continue to partner with
numerous other companies and institutions.
Additions to our network of collaborations
around the world in 2008 included agreements
with Athenix Corporation for the discovery of
novel corn insect and soybean cyst nematode
resistance genes, and with Dow AgroSciences®
to evaluate compounds for our Seed Care
portfolio. In total, Syngenta is involved in over
400 scientific collaborations worldwide.
Our venture capital fund LSPB announced two
additional minority equity investments last year.
One is in Asoyia, a seed company developing
soybean with low linolenic acid oil; the other is in
IBI, which develops and manufactures portable
testing systems for micro-organisms, proteins
and small molecules. These investments
increase the fund's portfolio to six companies.
Strong networks, wide recognition
Attracting and retaining talent is key to our
success in R&D. A part of this lies in enabling
and motivating employees by giving them
access to Syngenta's global network and full
awareness of its potential. In 2008, we
continued our series of "Syngenta Science
Live" information exchange events which
provided a broad forum for engagement at sites
around the world. We also began the follow-up
series "Science Matters" which will leverage
this engagement at a more technical and scientific level.
Our Syngenta Fellows organization for
distinguished company scientists held two
internal colloquia, and again awarded prizes
to younger colleagues for their first-class
R&D work.
Syngenta last year won external accolades for innovative R&D work that helps to address serious global challenges. The most prominent of these was a World Business and Development Award for the development and successful introduction of tropical sugar beet.
