CTT Selects First Bayer Recipients

The selection of companies that will receive germplasm for key crops has been completed.

The HSE Centre for Technological Transfer has completed the selection process for breeding companies for germplasm as part of the Bayer technology transfer. A total of thirteen applications were received, and the list of the final recipients approved by the Supervisory Board of the CTT included seven companies: three applicants received germplasm for corn, two for soy, one company for wheat and one for oilseed rape. Two more companies applying for germplasm for soy and wheat will be considered by the members of the Supervisory Board after providing additional information on their own breeding programs and existing agreements with research institutes.

In view of the active interest shown by potential technology recipients, Bayer decided to meet them and transfer the germplasm of corn and soybeans to not two companies, as previously stated, but to three.

All selected applicants are private breeding companies that include the most diverse regions of Russia from the Far East and Central Russia. Some organisations are already prominent market players, while others are just starting to develop their programs for accelerated selection methods.

At the end of the year, representatives of transfer companies will take part in educational training at the Bayer research centre in France about the latest technologies in crop production.

List of germplasm recipient companies:

1. LLC "Innovation and Production Agrofirm 'Otbor'", germplasm of corn;

2. LLC "Scientific and Production Association 'Seminovodstovo Kubani' of Kuban",

germplasm of corn;

3. LLC "IC Biryuch - New Technologies", soy germplasm;

4. LLC "Agroplasma", germplasm of corn;

5. LLC "Soy Complex Company", soy germplasm;

6. CJSC "Agrofirm Pavlovskaya Niva", wheat germplasm;

7. LLC "Selection Company Astra", germplasm of oilseed rape;

 

Nadezhda Dolmatova, CTT manager, notes:

“We are pleased that leading Russian selection companies have shown interest in the technology transfer. In total, about 70 clear strains will be transmitted across 4 crops - 20 strains of corn, 10 strains of non-GM soy, 10 strains of winter soft wheat and 10 strains of spring soft wheat, 10 strains of spring oilseed rape and 10 strains of winter oilseed rape.

This genetic material is provided on the basis of a licence agreement, it is not the final selection effort and it will be used to create new varieties and hybrids. Final recipients have the right to enter into commercial circulation to breed varieties and hybrids under their own brand inside and outside the Russian Federation.

For its part, the Centre for Technological Transfer will provide legal support to recipients when signing a licence agreement and will provide them with comprehensive support at the stages of development and commercialisation of selection achievements.”

 

Maya Draganova, project manager for the technology transfer:

“We are pleased that the selection of recipients has been completed successfully and now we can begin to implement the first directive of transfer of our technologies - direct transfer of germplasm. All transmitted germplasm of seed strains were selected taking into account Russian soil and climatic features. They possess useful features such as increased resistance to disease, high productivity, and high expression of certain valuable properties. We hope that the transmitted seed material will help create additional genetic diversity for Russian breeders and the transfer of these technologies will result in the creation of new commercially successful Russian hybrids and varieties."

 

 

Federal Antimonopoly Service Deputy Head Andrei Tsyganov:

“The genetic material transferred as part of FAS Russia's  order will be used in breeding programs implemented or planned for implementation by selected companies, which will facilitate the entry of private Russian companies into the selection achievements market. We believe that in combination with other measures taken by the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of the development of domestic selection, this will enable private companies to strengthen their market positions, thereby reducing the dependence of the domestic market on foreign selections."

 

Alexey Ivanov, CTT academic director, and director of the HSE-Skolkovo Institute for Law and Development, notes:

“Companies receive genetic material under very favorable conditions: licencing fees are not charged until a new variety or hybrid is introduced to the market, and then our recipients are given a substantial discount to the market royalty rate, and Bayer is motivated to assist recipients in creating a competitive product based on the transferred material, since only then will it begin to benefit from commercialisation. If our companies applied for germplasm on the world market, then, firstly, it wouldn't be a given that sales would go through, and secondly, royalties for such clean strains reach tens of millions of dollars."

The transfer of germplasm within the first directive of the Bayer technical transfer will occur within 2 months. The second directive of transfer includes the transfer of molecular breeding agents for crops such as corn, soybean, rapeseed, wheat, tomato, cucumber, and cabbage, in the context of current usage protocols. The application deadline was September 30, and the selection process will take another month and a half.

 

For reference:

The Centre for Technological Transfer was established in 2018 on the initiative of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation pursuant to the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated December 21, 2017 No. 618 “On the main directions of competition policy” to improve antitrust regulation and control of transnational transactions in markets with a high innovative component.

The aim of the Centre, under the aegis of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, is to develop competition, and the innovation environment and technological entrepreneurship in the Russian Federation, and in particular, to help increase the global competitiveness of the agro-technological sector for Russia.

Bayer is an international concern with expertise in the natural sciences; healthcare and agriculture. The company's products and solutions are aimed at improving humanity's quality of life. The concern’s commercial activities are based on innovation, economic growth, and high profitability. Bayer is committed to sustainability and acts as a socially and ethically responsible company. Bayer sales globally at the end of 2018 amounted to 39.6 billion euro. Capital expenditures amounted to 2.6 billion euro, and research and development costs: 5.2 billion euro. The group employs approximately 117,000 people.