The DuPont European Research & Development Center of Nambsheim
Celebrates its 20th anniversary
Nambsheim, Alsace, Sept. 12, 2014 – In 1994, DuPont de Nemours was opening in France a state-of-the-art research center dedicated to crop protection. Twenty years later, agriculture and nutrition have become DuPont strategic sectors, turning this site into a major asset of the company, which designs agriculture applications for Europe, the Middle-East and Africa (EMEA).
Nowadays, as a matter of fact, a third of DuPont revenues come from agriculture and nutrition. In addition, almost half of the R&D budget is dedicated to these promising markets. “The Nambsheim site activities are the perfect illustration of this”, explains Bernard Straebler, Site Director. “Within twenty years, the Center teams have developed and fine-tuned a dozen of active substances that are important for agriculture in the EMEA region”.
DuPont had settled in Nambsheim as the local weather conditions and soil properties were offering the perfect experimentation spectrum, most of the European cultures being able to grow there. Every single year, DuPont allocates almost a billion dollars to R&D dedicated to agriculture innovation.
The site is equipped with twenty-three laboratories, thirty-seven climatic chambers, three green houses and seventy-five hectares of cultivation fields. The European Research & Development Center focuses on optimizing and developing new molecules having a biological effect on most of crop parasites.
“This unique infrastructure makes possible the development of innovating solutions that ensure to our European farmers the proper control on insects, bad weeds and diseases”, explains Bernard Straebler.
The site anniversary has been the perfect occasion to organize a round-table discussion on tomorrow’ agriculture, gathering all stakeholders, from the academic to customers, invited from all parts of Europe. At stake: What kind of innovation do we need to sustain the agriculture, as 9 billion people will need to be feed by 2050.
“Since the very beginning of agriculture, it has been innovating to answer human needs as well as possible, constantly adapting to nature, and optimizing innovations to drive growth.” Concluded the round-table moderator Marie-Cécile Hénard Innovations & Markets Manager at SAF Agr’Idées, a think-tank dedicated to agriculture. “Agriculture are more than ever needed to answers the next decades challenges: Ensure food security worldwide with limited resources and climate change. The innovation stakeholders must be free to express and share their creativity, so that inventions can be turned into innovations, and then answer those challenges”.
About DuPont
DuPont (NYSE: DD) has been bringing world-class science and engineering to the global marketplace in the form of innovative products, materials, and services since 1802. The company believes that by collaborating with customers, governments, NGOs, and thought leaders we can help find solutions to such global challenges as providing enough healthy food for people everywhere, decreasing dependence on fossil fuels, and protecting life and the environment. For additional information about DuPont and its commitment to inclusive innovation, please visit www.dupont.com.
