In France, food multinational Danone, tire maker Michelin, biobased chemicals producer DMC Biotechnologies and Crédit Agricole Centre France have agreed to invest over €16 million ($18.2 million) to build a Biotech Open Platform at Clermont-Ferrand, France. The facility will develop and scale advanced fermentation processes and be located at Michelin’s Parc Cataroux Center for Sustainable Materials incubator.
The Biotech Open Platform’s aims to boost precision fermentation development by facilitating scale-up of products and processes already tested in the laboratory. By 2025, the project plans to install an initial demo-scale production line, including a fermenter and purification equipment. Additional equipment will be installed in the following years, including a second production line.
“We are enthusiastic about this new partnership with companies that are at the heart of French life,” Kenny Erdoes, CEO of DMC, said in a press statement. For us, as an American start-up, the development of the new Biotech Open Platform will enable us to accelerate the scale-up and commercialization of new products leveraging our transformative fermentation technology.”