DSM opens new biotechnology center in the Netherlands
Royal DSM, a global science-based company active in health, nutrition, and materials, has opened a new biotechnology facility at its site in Delft, the Netherlands, to accelerate the company’s biotechnology research and development capabilities for applications in food and nutrition, feed, fuel, pharma, and bio-based materials.
Royal DSM, a global science-based company active in health, nutrition, and materials, has opened a new biotechnology facility at its site in Delft, the Netherlands, to accelerate the company’s biotechnology research and development capabilities for applications in food and nutrition, feed, fuel, pharma, and bio-based materials. The completion of this new biotechnology center is part of a €100 million investment program by DSM to scale up R&D in the Netherlands since 2013. The center, which offers the broadest range of biotechnology specializations under one DSM roof, will house more than 400 research and developments experts.
The new biotechnology center is a further step in the development of the site in Delft, where DSM Food Specialties has its global headquarters. DSM has expanded the site in Delft over the years, including building a large, modern food and application center. DSM has also invested together with other industry players in a biotech fermentation pilot plant on the Delft site.
Innovations currently under development in the new biotechnology center include the production of fermentative steviol glycosides—the reduced-calorie, sweet-tasting molecules in the stevia plant—as an answer to the growing global demand for sugar-reduced food and beverages. Also, DSM scientists in the biotech center have developed a new technology that turns an inedible agricultural by-product of rapeseed, or canola, into valuable plant protein for a wide range of uses in food. These “proteins of the future” address the increasing demand for protein globally.