BASF Innovation Center Gent blows out 40 candles

The history of the Innovation Center Gent goes back to the early 1980s when professors Marc Van Montagu and Jozef Schell at Ghent University discovered that Agrobacterium, a natural soil bacterium, could be used to exchange DNA. In 1982, Plant Genetic Systems (PGS) was founded on the premises of Ghent University, from which the Innovation Center Gent continued to develop. Much of global plant research today is still based on the pioneering work of PGS.

The Innovation Center Gent has been part of BASF since 2018 and is an important Field Crop Seeds R&D site within BASF Agricultural Solutions. Earlier this year it was announced that all global Trait Research activities were going to be consolidated in Ghent under one roof to maximize the organization’s innovation power. As a result, headcount in the Trait Research department would significantly increase. In May, the Innovation Center Gent launched a large recruitment campaign to attract more than 50 new colleagues: technicians, researchers and scientists with a passion in plant biotech. With the campaign ‘Let’s bring the lab to the field’ the Center is preparing for a bright future, one that will last for at least another 40 years!

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