Dupont announces research facility in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Science based products company Dupont India has announced the launch of its first biotech research facility at the DuPont Knowledge Centre at Hyderabad.

The India research facility is DuPont's first integrated agriculture and industrial biotechnology research centre outside the US. 

Announcing the launch at a press conference, the company's vice president for DuPont crop genetics research and development William Neibur said that other research facilities at the DuPont Knowledge Centre would come up in phases over the next couple of months, with the complete facility being inaugurated in November.

The facility will focus on bringing new crop genetics to the market faster, and on the application of industrial biotechnology to produce biofuels and biomaterials for the global market. Plant biotech scientists at the DuPont Knowledge Centre would work on developing biotech traits and technologies that would be used in multiple crops across the globe, said Neibur.

Neibur said that DuPont would collaborate with ICRISAT and other agricultural research organisations to develop seed products that will increase productivity and bring down expenditure. The initial focus for research at the facility would be on hybrid rice and maize, and eventually, the centre would expand its areas of research. The trait discovery work conducted at the Hyderabad facility would contribute towards creating advanced seeds to meet the growing demand for food production, improved animal feed products and the ever expanding energy needs.

DuPont India's CEO Balvinder Kalsi said that research teams would work cohesively to develop products from renewable resources for food, feed, materials and energy. 

DuPont plans to double the number of scientists at the facility before the year-end. Over 600 scientists and engineers would work on the campus on different products.