German multinational Bayer will sponsor the research park’s new BioTransitions programme for the next three years.

The programme aims to help agrifood biotech companies based at the research park to scale up, as well as attract new businesses in the sector to the campus.

Bayer will sponsor Norwich Research Park’s new BioTransitions programme (Image: Supplied)

It will support companies with their investment strategies, patent applications and field trials, as well as with their access to advanced technology platforms and contacts in academia and industry, including programme sponsors Bayer.

The announcement was made at a reception at Norwich Research Park for a visiting delegation from St Louis, Missouri, in the US.

St Louis is home to a similar cluster of plant science and pharmaceutical research organisations and businesses, known as 39 North AgTech Innovation District, in which Bayer has two separate campuses nearby.

The signing between Dr Florian Jupe, Phil Taylor and Roz Bird (Image: Supplied)

Roz Bird, CEO of Anglia Innovation Partnership, the campus management organisation for Norwich Research Park, said: “The connection with Bayer and St Louis is part of the work we are doing to develop the role of the campus in the global agrifood market.

“Much like Norwich Research Park, St Louis is a global hot spot for agrifood biotech research and commercialisation activity, so we are looking at opportunities to work ecosystem-to-ecosystem, pooling our collective strengths and considering new opportunities for collaboration to help solve some of the world’s major challenges in agriculture and climate change.”

Dr Florian Jupe, strategic partnerships lead biologics at Bayer’s crop science division, said: “We have known about the potential at Norwich Research Park for some time, bolstered by numerous valuable collaborations over the years with partners at the campus.

“We are excited to now advance together current early-stage businesses and help them step up to the next level in their journey to commercialisation and ultimately their future success in agriculture and food security.”

© Norwich Evening News