Israeli biotechnology company Evogene Ltd., a leader in the food, feed and biofuel industries, has announced its participation in Horizon 2020’s photosynthesis research consortium.

Based in Rehovot, Israel, and the only commercial representitive in the research consortium, Evogene will lead discovery efforts for pathway modulation whilst undertaking plant proof of concept validation and commercialisation. The consortium will receive a grant of ~€5m for the programme, of which €902,000 will be earmarked for Evogene’s contribution.

The academic members of the consortium include the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology (Potsdam, Germany) and the Max Planck Institute of Terrestrial Microbiology (Marburg, Germany), the Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot), and the Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine (London, UK). The research programme aims for an innovative method in the modulation of photosynthesis-related pathways for the improvement of photosynthetic efficiency.

President and CEO of Evogene, Ofer Haviv, said: “Evogene is very proud to be a key member of this prestigious consortium, addressing a fundamental and critical aspect of ag-biology, further demonstrating the recognition of our expertise and ability to bring innovation to agriculture. This capability rests on our unique technology platform, combining proprietary scientific understanding and advanced computational technologies to utilise Big Data from agriculture. We are confident that our participation will both be of significant value to the research being undertaken by the consortium, and enable Evogene to establish novel expertise in photosynthesis as a means of yield improvement, thus adding to our world-leading scientific expertise in enhancing crop productivity.”

Evogene also participates in strategic collaborations with other world-leading agricultural companies such as BASF, Bayer, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta.

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