Syngenta ranked among top employers in biotech science

Science magazine, along with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), commissioned a web-based survey aimed at determining the companies with the best reputations as employers. There were more than 2,300 respondents to the survey. From a field of 575 companies, Syngenta ranked number 20. This is the first year Syngenta has been ranked in the top 20.

“Syngenta is honored and pleased that our employees and biotechnology industry peers responded so favorably to us on the survey,” said Roger Kemble, Head, Syngenta Crop Genetics Research. “The success of our business depends on the innovative people who work here, so nurturing talent and creativity is at the heart of our culture.”

Syngenta and other top-ranked companies received high marks for the following criteria: innovative leadership in the industry; respect for employees; level of employee loyalty; social responsibility; important, quality research; and top leadership that successfully moves the organization in the right direction.

“We are dedicated to our overall purpose of bringing plant potential to life, and we use innovative research to help solve some of the world’s most pressing issues,” said Kemble. “One example is the need to produce more food from existing agricultural land in a sustainable way. Sustainable agriculture is at the heart of everything we do at Syngenta.”

Syngenta has two key biotech facilities–the North American biotech headquarters located in Research Triangle Park and the other in Beijing, China. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Research Triangle Park location, Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc. The facility employs more than 400 people and has been growing rapidly, with 60 percent of current employees hired in the past five years and 70 positions filled in 2008 alone. The Beijing location, Syngenta Biotech China, opened in October of 2008 and is the first foreign-funded agricultural biotech research institution in China, with more than 60 employees.