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KeyGene InnovatorsClub members
benefit from interaction
September 2009
Since its start in April 2008, seven motivated plant breeding
companies have joined the KeyGene InnovatorsClub. KeyGene
encourages companies to join and aims for 20 participants in
2010. The KeyGene InnovatorsClub enabled the participating
companies to implement new innovative molecular techniques by
collaboration between the companies and by the support of
KeyGene and its experience.
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Eugenio Gonzalez Clemente
Field Crops Director
Semillas Fito:
“The diversity of the group is the strength
of the collaboration. By sharing our backgrounds
and by picking up new market challenges together
we expect to benefit significantly from our
participation in the KeyGene InnovatorsClub” |
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The KeyGene InnovatorsClub is an initiative that offers small
and medium-sized breeding companies the opportunity to join
forces in implementing molecular marker technologies for crop
improvement. KeyGene supports the collaborations sharing its
vast experience in crop breeding. The members range from small
to medium-sized breeding companies that breed with a very small
to a large portfolio of crops. They interact with each other in
an environment of open innovation. Two small consortia of each
three and four members resp. with a focus on field crop and
flower breeding have been formed. The members of these consortia
all have access to KeyGene’s wealth of experience in molecular
breeding to develop molecular applications and new traits for
their preferred crops. Initially the companies started
bi-lateral projects with KeyGene, but the first pre-competitive
research programs in which open innovation is the key driver are
now in development.
It is well accepted in the industry that breeding companies that
do not employ molecular tools in their breeding processes will
eventually lose market share, since the larger breeding
companies heavily invest in these new technologies and implement
them in their research and breeding programs. The KeyGene
InnovatorsClub offers small and medium-sized breeding companies
the possibility to develop molecular tools in collaboration and
strengthen their competitive market position.
Collaboration between competitors is always a challenge even if
it concerns pre-competitive work. The KeyGene InnovatorsClub
provides companies the secure environment and long term
commitment to team up and make a difference in the market
together. The bi-annual workshops give the companies the
opportunity to get to know each other well and make them feel
comfortable to exchange ideas and communicate about research
strategies suitable for their particular crops.
In combination with KeyGene’s consultancy this leads to a
variety of different projects that stretch from standard genetic
distance analyses and backcross programs to more challenging
marker development programs and molecular mutagenesis projects.
In this way bottlenecks in the breeding programs are being
tackled that relate to seed quality control, disease tolerance,
abiotic stress, and quality traits.
The KeyGene
InnovatorsClub is still growing. New members are invited to
join. The InnovatorsClub aims to grow in 2010 to a select group
of about 20 breeding companies that dare to share their
innovation programs with competitors in order to reach market
dominance.
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Matthew G. Kramer
Research Director
Ball Horticultural Company:
“The membership card gives us the consultancy
that we need to make the right decisions in the
implementation of a variety of advanced
technology approaches in our breeding programs”. |
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Join the KeyGene
InnovatorsClub in accelerating your breeding processes, lower
your costs and the development of new varieties.
Features KeyGene InnovatorsClub:
- Biannual
workshop
- Consultancy
- Discount on
all research projects
- Reduced
development costs due to collaboration.
- Web based
secure knowledge exchange
- Online open
Innovation
For more information
and to become a member, please contact:
Niclaudi
Boons
Account Officer
KeyGene InnovatorsClub
niclaudi.boons@keygene.com
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