Bayer CropScience Names new Head of R&D

To better serve its customers in the agricultural value chain with holistic solutions, Bayer CropScience has decided to integrate the full range of its Research & Development activities in the three operative business units Crop Protection, BioScience and Environmental Science into one global organization. The new unit will be led by Dr. C. David Nicholson, who will join Bayer CropScience as a member of the Executive Committee, effective March 1, 2012.

The new Research & Development function will bring together about 4,300 scientists from the company’s key research centers and development sites across the globe. With an annual budget of more than €720 million (2010), Bayer CropScience ranks among the most research-intensive companies in the industry. As part of its integrated research approach, scientists in the fields of agricultural chemistry and seed technology are increasingly collaborating to pool the knowledge acquired through chemical, biological and genetic research and field development, aligning this expertise to the company’s long-term research objectives and business strategies for the various crops in its portfolio.

"Innovating at the interface of biology and chemistry for the benefit of our customers is a key element of the Bayer CropScience growth strategy going forward”, says Bayer CropScience CEO Sandra Peterson. “By bringing our R&D capabilities together in one global organization, we aim at delivering superior solutions that draw on the entire spectrum of agricultural innovation from genetics and molecular biology over chemical research and trait discovery to global product development and regulatory affairs”, she explains, adding: “With his excellent background in the lifescience industry and his strong leaderhip skills, David Nicholson is highly qualified to further intensify this integration effort at Bayer CropScience.”