Collaborations in 2024 biological industry: How Enterprises Lead an Industry Revolution through Multi-Dimensional Industry Chain Collaboration

Editor’s note: In 2024, the mode of collaboration in the biological industry was much diversified, which included collaboration in technology research and development, marketing, and manufacturing, having injected strong impetus into the development of the industry. The collaboration not only promoted technological innovation and expanded market channels but also promoted the sustainable development of agriculture. Looking ahead, the deepening of cross-industry collaboration, the strengthening of globalized collaboration, and the intensification of industry-school-institution collaboration will bring more development and innovation opportunities to the biological industry to help the industry achieve technical breakthrough and market expansion, contributing to the global agricultural development and environmental protection.

Mode of collaboration

1. Collaboration in technological research and development 

Technology R&D collaboration is one of the key modes of innovation in the biological industry. Close collaboration among enterprises, between enterprises and universities, and between enterprises and research institutions can accelerate the development and application of new technologies, promoting the rapid development of the industry.

• R&D collaboration among enterprises 

R&D collaboration among enterprises has greatly accelerated the biological research process by integrating the technological and resource advantages of all parties. For example, Syngenta’s partnership with Lavie Bio is a good example, where Syngenta leveraged its global R&D and commercialization capabilities, combined with Lavie Bio’s unique technology platform, thus rapidly identifying and optimizing biopesticide candidates in support of the co-development of novel biopesticides. This collaboration not only addresses the problem of pest resistance but also significantly shortens the research cycle and improves the market competitiveness of the product.

Syngenta’s partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks is a typical demonstration of the potential of joint research and development among enterprises. By developing and optimizing microbial strains, the two parties could accelerate the time to market of biological products. This mode of collaboration not only promotes the development of sustainable agricultural solutions but also significantly improves enterprises' innovation ability and market responsiveness, providing strong support to the green transformation and sustainable development of agriculture.

Similarly, the collaboration between Israel Chemical (ICL) and Lavie Bio demonstrated the great potential of digital tools in R&D of biological. The two parties used artificial intelligence technology to develop novel biostimulants, successfully screening a variety of highly efficient microbial candidates. This kind of collaboration not only significantly shortens the R&D cycle but also improves the accuracy and efficiency of R&D through digital means.

The collaboration between BASF and AgroSpheres also demonstrated the advantages of joint R&D activities among enterprises. BASF leveraged its technological strength to develop broad-spectrum biopesticides in combination with AgroSpheres’ AgriCell technology. This collaboration not only improved the product's performance but also accelerated its time to market, providing farmers with a more effective pest control solution.

Furthermore, BASF has partnered with the French Elicit Plant to jointly develop and promote the drought-resistant biostimulants EliSun-a and EliGrain-a, which aim to enhance the resilience of sunflower and cereal crops via the natural property of phytosterols, thus increasing yield and promoting the sustainability of agricultural production. BASF reached a strategic partnership with Huaheng Biological in the joint development of biostimulants and the establishment of a crop nutrition research institute, aiming to improve crop yield and quality, enhance stress resistance, and promote the sustainable development of Chinese agriculture.

The collaboration between FMC and AgroSpheres has accelerated the development and launch of RNAi biopesticides, as supported by the integration of AgroSpheres’ manufacturing and formulation technologies with FMC’s strength in high-throughput testing, evaluation, and marketing. This mode of collaboration not only improves the efficiency of product development but also accelerates the process of product commercialization through the integration of market resources.

• Collaboration between enterprises and research institutions

The mode of collaboration between enterprises and research institutions fully exploits the research strengths of universities and research institutions, which can accelerate the industrialization and marketing of new technologies generated in laboratories. This mode of collaboration not only improves the technical level of enterprises but also promotes the achievement of technical breakthroughs in the biological industry through the professional competence of research institutions.

For example, SugaROx’s collaboration with the Institute of Lausanne and the University of Oxford in the UK has accelerated the development and commercialization of the T6P biostimulant. By combining SugaROx's technological advantages with the research resources of research institutions, the collaboration has significantly improved the efficiency of product development and provided new solutions for sustainable agricultural development.

The collaboration between Beijing Multigrass Formulation and Henan Agricultural University reflects the key advantages of collaboration between enterprises and universities. The two parties jointly launched the RNAi biopesticide project, aiming to provide innovative green solutions for the prevention and control of wheat scabs. This collaboration not only promotes the development of biopesticides in China but also offers strong support for the green transformation of agriculture.

Overall, the collaboration of enterprise-to-enterprise and enterprise-to-research institutions has played an essential role in the development of the biological industry. By integrating the technological and resource advantages of all parties, the collaboration not only accelerated the development and application of new technologies but also promoted the rapid development of the industry, providing strong support to the green transformation and sustainable development of agriculture.

2. Collaboration in marketing and distribution

Marketing and distribution collaboration is an essential means of growing the biological market. By partnering with local and international agricultural retailers and distributors, biological enterprises could quickly expand their product market coverage and enhance market competitiveness.

In Asia, collaboration in marketing and distribution is characterized by a high-degree resource integration and rapid market penetration. For instance, Insecticides (India) Limited (IIL) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with BioPrime Agro Solutions to bring the environment-friendly biostimulant Relieve to the Indian market, which was quickly promoted to the Indian market via IIL’s market influence Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited (KRIBHCO), an Indian fertilizer-producing cooperative, has partnered with Novonesis to launch the advanced Mycorrhizal Biofertilizer product – KRIBHCO Rhizosuper, which could rapidly cover the Indian agricultural market via KRIBHCO’s market network; Phytochrome Japan cooperated with Azotic to bring Azotic’s nitrogen-fixing product N-Catch to the Japanese market, which quickly landed in the Japanese market via Phytochrome’s channel advantage. These cases of collaboration demonstrated the high efficiency of Asian companies in rapid promotion of biological using local market resources.

In the Americas, especially in the United States and Brazil, the mode of collaboration in marketing is very impressive. Pivot Bio partnered with Hefty Seed to bring the nitrogen-fixing agent PROVEN 40 to the US market through Hefty Seed’s sales network, which quickly covered the corn growing regions; the US GROWMARK has partnered with Indigo Ag to bring biological to the US market through GROWMARK’s network of cooperatives, leveraging its sales network in more than 15 states and provinces across North America to rapidly expand market share; FMC and Novonesis have expanded their strategic partnership to become the exclusive distributor of Novonesis’ improved biological in Canada beginning from the 2025 growing season, which will further enrich its product portfolio and provide Canadian growers with proven biological solutions to promote development of the sustainable agriculture; Acadian Plant Health announced a new strategic distribution partnership with Koppert USA to market biostimulants in a number of states in the United States, providing Acadian’s US customers with increased ease of access to products and local technical expertise, via Koppert’s logistics and local technical support; Lavie Bio and Ceres Global Ag Corp have collaborated to include Yalos™ bio-inoculant, in regenerative agriculture initiatives in the US and Canada, aiming to increase farmer productivity and agricultural sustainability by improving the availability and efficiency of nutrient use; MustGrow Biological Corp recently announced an exclusive distribution agreement with G.S. Long for distribution of MustGrow’s TerraSante™ biofertility product in Oregon and Washington State, which is a collaboration using G.S. Long’s local market resource to bring MustGrow’s products quickly into the US market; Seipasa, a Spanish developer of biopesticides and biostimulants, has partnered with the Guatemalan distributor Agrovalsa, enabling registration and launch of its product to the market, marking the beginning of Seipasa’s strategic market expansion in Central America. 

AgriLife Solutions in Brazil has partnered with Fyteko in Belgium to introduce the drought-resistant biostimulant to the Brazilian market, leveraging AgriLife Solutions’ market resources to gain farmer acceptance quickly. Also, FMC partnered with the Brazilian Ballagro to bring biological to the Brazilian market, via FMC’s local presence to rapidly expand its market coverage. These cases of collaboration reflect enterprises’ utilization of strong sales networks to rapidly market biological.

The European marketing collaboration mode focuses more on the in-depth combination of technology and marketing. For example, Eden Research in the United Kingdom partnered with Sumi Agro Europe to bring the biofungicide Mevalone to the Austrian market, leveraging Sumi Agro Europe’s market resource to quickly gain recognition from local growers. Moreover, BASF has partnered with Acadian to bring seaweed biostimulants to the global market, using BASF’s global sales network to rapidly increase the international recognition of the product. These cases demonstrate the high efficiency of European enterprises in global deployment utilizing technological advantages and market resources.

In other regions, such as Africa and the Middle East, the marketing collaboration brings about an intense market penetration. For example, Fresh Energy in Egypt has partnered with Koppert to introduce a number of integrated pest management (IPM) programs to the Egyptian market, leveraging Fresh Energy’s local market resource to rapidly expand the scope of product application. 

Indigo Ag has expanded collaboration with Galeri Ziraat, a leading crop input distributor in Turkey, to bring its innovative biological seed coating agents to the national market, which significantly improved crop yield and grower profitability. In contrast, further market expansion is being planned to cover the rest of the European countries. These cases of collaboration demonstrate the flexibility and efficiency of enterprises in utilizing local market resources and technological innovation to rapidly promote sales of biological.

New Zealand-based H&T (Hodder and Taylors Ltd) will introduce BioConsortia’s FixiN 33 microbial seed treatment during the 2024/2025 season. This partnership leverages H&T’s market resources in New Zealand to help BioConsortia’s products quickly enter the New Zealand market. 

Overall, the mode of marketing and distribution collaboration in the biological industry in 2024 is characterized by worldwide high-degree resource integration and rapid market penetration. Whether in Asia, the Americas, Europe, or elsewhere, biological enterprises worked closely with local and international partners to quickly bring innovative products to market, which significantly increased market reach and brand influence. This kind of collaboration not only accelerates the commercialization of biological products but also provides strong support for the sustainable development of agriculture.

3. Collaboration in production and manufacturing

The mode of collaboration in production and manufacturing enables the realization of the large-scale output and effective promotion of biological products by integrating the advantages of all parties in technology research and development, production facilities, and market channels. This not only improves the product capacity and reduces the cost of production and logistics but also ensures the implementation of high-quality standards and enhances the competitiveness of enterprises.

Vestaron has entered into a strategic partnership with ADM to use ADM’s manufacturing facilities and key expertise to expand the peptide pesticide production capacity to meet the global demand for environment-friendly crop protection solutions to the benefit of the promotion of sustainable agriculture; Novonesis and Biotalys have partnered to manufacture, supply and commercialize the biofungicide EVOCA NG to help global fruit and vegetable growers control gray mold and powdery mildew, via the optimized production process and the expanded production capacity, driving the development of biocontrol market; Scheffer has entered into a strategic partnership with Andermatt Brasil to localize the production of Phosbac®, a bio-input developed by ABiTEP, at the Scheffer plant in Sapezal, Brazil, so as to reduce lead time and improve efficiency while further expanding the Brazilian market and promoting sustainable agriculture.

Impact of collaboration on biological industry

1. Promotion of technological innovation

• Acceleration of novel product research and development: Through joint R&D collaboration between enterprises and enterprises, enterprises and research institutions, the advantages of technology, talent, and resources of all parties are integrated, which would significantly accelerate the process of research and development of novel biological.

  
  

• Promotion of technology convergence and innovation: Collaboration enables the convergence of technologies from different fields to create innovative solutions for the biological industry. 

2. Market channel extension 

• Increase of product market share: By partnering with distributors and other companies, biological enterprises can bring their products to broader markets and increase their market share. 

  
  

• Exploration of new market areas: Collaboration helps enterprises explore new market areas to achieve diversified market development. 

3. Promotion of sustainable development 

• Reduced use of chemical pesticides: Promotion and application of biological help to minimize the use of chemical pesticides, reducing environmental pollution caused by agricultural production. 

  
  

• Promotion of sustainable development of agriculture: Collaboration promotes the application of biological in agriculture, promoting sustainable development of agriculture.

Future trend of collaboration 

1. Intensification of cross-industry collaboration to continue

• Integration of biotechnology with information technology: In the future, the integration of biotechnology and information technology will become a significant trend, such as the use of artificial intelligence and big data for screening of microbial strains, optimization of biological formulations, and accurate prediction of market demand. The biological enterprises may establish more complete microbial databases and use AI algorithms to quickly screen out microorganisms with potential application value so as to improve R&D efficiency. 

  
  

• Cross-industry collaboration between the biological industry and other industry sectors: Cross-industry collaboration between the biological industry and other industry sectors will continue to increase, such as the development of novel biodegradable formulation carriers in conjunction with materials science or the collaboration with the energy industry to improve the production efficiency of biomass energy.

2. Collaboration for globalization to intensify 

• Increased collaboration among international companies: As global markets integrate, collaboration among international companies will become more popular. Multinational enterprises will continue to seek partners around the world to integrate resources and enhance competitiveness.

  
  

• Emerging market to become a hotspot for collaboration: The emerging market will become a hotspot for the development of the biological industry, attributable to its vast development potential. In some countries and regions in Africa, Asia, and South America, agriculture has been growing rapidly, but the biological market has not yet fully developed. The biological enterprises are expected to increase collaboration in these regions to establish production bases, R&D centers, and sales networks. 

3. Industry-University-Institution collaboration to move closer 

• Underlining of the function of universities and research institutions: Universities and research institutions will play an essential role in agricultural biological innovation. In the future, industry-school-institution collaboration will move closer, where universities and research institutions will continue to deliver their cutting-edge research results and professional talents while enterprises provide financing and market channels, thus facilitating accelerated commercialization of research results.

  
  

• Establishment of a long-term and stable mechanism of collaboration: In order to ensure the efficiency and sustainability of industry-school-institution collaboration, the parties to collaboration are bound to establish a more long-term and stable mechanism of collaboration, which will strengthen the communication and affiliation among enterprises, universities, and research institutions via execution of long-term collaboration agreements and joint establishment of R&D platforms. 

This article was published in the magazine of 2024 Annual Review. Follow this magazine to read more articles/stories.

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