INDUSTRIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY: Corbion is a minority among industrial biotech firms in having multiple commercial scale plants. To what do you attribute the company's success?
Frederik Feddes: Corbion has been in business for over 100 years with commercial scale on almost every continent. The success of the company is based our strong capabilities in fermentation and downstream processing and our extensive application and product knowledge. As a company, our mission is to offer conscious choices through our customers to consumers, and so far, we've been successful in doing this. Behind this success is not only our strong heritage in biotechnology, but also our people. They make the difference by being creative and committed to finding new solutions for today's challenges. In terms of size, we are still small enough to be agile and react quickly to new changes that occur in the market, but are big enough to make a difference. We keep creating customer value by offering sustainable ingredient solutions in food, biochemicals and biomaterials. Actually, you could say that originally, we were more of a food company, and developed our biochemical and bioplastics business from expertise in food technology.
In food, we try to be a leader in keeping food tasty, consistent, and fully safe – the latter is especially important – from the first day of production to the day of consumption. Across our biochemicals portfolio, we focus on the functional performance of our products, production efficiency for our customers, and the safety of applications and end products. The fact that we offer safe and natural products is a great fit in most of our applications, including pharma, agrochemical, home and personal care.
IB: Where do you believe industrial biotechnology will contribute the most to sustainable development?
Feddes: The United Nations' goal of responsible production and consumption relates to a circular economy, which includes food waste reduction as a sub-target. Biobased chemicals and materials from Corbion play an essential role in promoting this initiative and furthering the transition to a circular economy. For example, when they are consumed or reach the end of their lifecycle, many of our products end-up as CO2 that is re-used to grow crops, which provide the key raw materials to develop Corbion products, thus enabling a circular economy. In addition, by increasing the shelf life of food products, we are able to have a positive impact on food waste reduction. Meanwhile, on the biochemical side of the business, we offer biobased alternatives to typical petro-based products. Our products provide a sustainable alternative, improving the safety environment for our customers, as well as securing the safety of finished products that are used by end consumers.
In line with this, we've aligned our strategy with two goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – aiming to maximize our contribution to zero hunger (SDG 2), as well as responsible production and consumption (SDG 12). In terms of achieving zero hunger, we bring significant experience regarding the food side of our business, by enabling the development of safe and healthy food, while also increasing product shelf life. This helps make food more accessible and affordable. Alternatively, for agrochemical applications, we look to develop solutions that help increase the yield of crops and therefore the amount of food that is available.
IB: How is Corbion going to maximize value from its fermentation capabilities?
Feddes: We recently launched our “Creating Sustainable Growth” strategy which is essentially based on maximizing value from our fermentation capabilities to tackle global megatrends, such as population expansion, food security, changing values, climate change, and resource scarcity. This strategy is expected to provide a platform from which our Ingredients Solutions business can grow, as well as give us the opportunity to capitalize on our capabilities within our Innovation Platforms – specifically our lactic acid technology for bioplastics (PLA) and algae ingredients. Last year, for instance, we started-up our new PLA (Poly lactic acid) facility as part of our joint venture with Total. At the beginning of this journey, we acknowledged that Corbion is not a plastic player. So, for us to be successful, we needed to team up with a partner with the expertise that we didn't have, to gain access to the plastic market. Through this joint venture, we can now offer a low carbon footprint bioplastic to the market to replace traditional fossil-based plastics, examples of which include food packaging. Now, we're looking to take this further by applying our knowledge to more demanding applications, such as the automotive industry, electronics and textiles. And that's where we start to maximize the value of these types of fermentation-based biopolymers. This is a similar case for our algae ingredients portfolio, which we added to our Innovation Platform.
We recently launched our co-creation campaign across our biochemicals business too. As exemplified in previous examples, it's often necessary for us to find partners with complementary expertise so we can work together to create new applications and maximize value in the market. A specific example of value creation in biochemicals related to our PURASOLV® product line – that's a range of solvents and adjuvants we offer to the agrochemical industry. The agrochemical industry is increasingly looking to boost crop yield to meet growing demand in food production as the global population continues to grow. At the same time, there is increasing regulatory pressure, due to concerns regarding the safety of agrochemical products for humans and the environment. As a result, we are seeing a push in the market, and something needs to be done to reconcile this.
The solution needs to be safer and more efficient. And that's why we teamed up with key players in the market – to bring products that enable higher crop yield, while also making crops healthier and the food production chain more sustainable. One way this is achieved is by delivering nutrients to crops via a controlled release solution. Part of our copolymer technology platform, controlled release allows farmers to be really efficient, by giving them a way to deliver nutrients to plants at the right time, in the right place and at the right dosage. In addition to improving efficiencies, this method also helps to reduce the amount of waste entering the environment. These are typical examples of how we try to maximize value from our capabilities and create greater value from our biotechnology.
IB: You mentioned your co-creation program. What attributes are Corbion looking for in partners?
Feddes: It's an important question. How do we partner? How do we find the right partner? Well, sometimes they find us. But in the case of co-creation, we also reach out and say, “Hey, we are out here to help you.” We look for partners that complement our strengths, because together we have more than if we work alone. Typically, as Corbion has in-depth expertise on the biotechnology side, we look for partners on the application or end user side. In particular, we want to work with organizations that are leading in their field. And then we have some softer criteria. We must see if, as companies, we can really work together. Can we foster a culture together in a project and develop an environment of trust and confidence where you effectively work together? These are not short-term projects either. You must commit for a longer period, and therefore, you need to trust each other. That is something that tends to occur over time. And the result must be a win-win situation. But we start with, “Where are our strengths and how can we add value.”
IB: Can you maybe discuss what makes a good target molecule?
Feddes: A good target molecule for Corbion should possess a potential solution to address a market need and is preferably based or built on our existing capabilities and technologies. For instance, as part of our new SENTIALL® product line, we developed new copolymers to serve a wide range of purposes and applications. These include safe and biodegradable adhesives for the food packaging industry, as well as controlled release for self-healing agents or fertilizers. All these new molecules or sustainable products within our SENTIALL® range are designed to deliver the required performance, while reducing the environmental impact of the specific application.
An additional example of new target molecules resulted in the development of our ALOAPUR® range. A product designed to improve gut health of animals and reduce antibiotic usage, this new technology was based on a combination of Corbion's product technology and experience in antibacterial performance in the food industry. As the industry is faced with increasing pressure from regulatory bodies, in addition to consumers demanding a move away from the use of antibiotics, ALOAPUR® helps our customers and farmers meet these needs, while also being sustainable.
In addition, our Innovation Platforms create completely new biotechnology solutions that further build on our capabilities. Our new algae ingredients platform was a great expansion of our capabilities, positioning us better to further develop natural-based products and bring innovative solutions to our customers. The addition of algae technology also gives us the opportunity to expand our offering into specialty applications, including lipids and proteins, structured fats and tailored oils.
IB: How do you maintain a culture of innovation at Corbion?
Feddes: To maintain a culture of innovation, you must be close to your customers and know and develop your capabilities. You must be connected to the markets, and to the trends. You must be motivated and energized by those trends and aware of the challenges being faced by different industries. This fuels brainstorming sessions, led by our competency leaders, that enable us to link our capabilities and possible solutions to the market needs. Having a clear connection to a market need keeps our enthusiasm for innovation high. And it keeps people excited.
We recently created a special group within Corbion, which we called our “Technology Transfer Group”. This allows us to develop and grow our ideas to industrial scale, allowing us to consider how a technology can be brought to market in a cost-effective way. So, we work on having a culture of innovation, but also ensure we can commercialize and capitalize on those innovations.
With our recently launched co-creation campaign, we want to increase the success rate of innovation by working closely with our partners. If we have a good idea in response to a market need, we first determine a path to commercial implementation together. We are looking forward to connecting with more partners, so we can co-create innovative solutions that meet the market needs of both today and tomorrow.
