WACKER and TUM Found Institute for Industrial Biotechnology

“Industrial biotechnology is a pioneering technology with huge potential for the future,” points out Christian Hartel, President and CEO of Wacker Chemie AG. “It can replace processes based on fossil raw materials, and reduce energy and raw materials consumption. That lowers production costs, conserves resources and protects the environment.” The Institute for Industrial Biotechnology will do invaluable work in the development and implementation of sustainable biotechnological processes for all kinds of applications, he stresses.

“Industrial biotechnology is one of the keys that will help us achieve the goal of a sustainable economic system,” says Thomas F. Hofmann, President of the TUM. “We will be linking the disciplines with each other, ranging from research at the molecular level to chemical engineering and process engineering. Through closely collaborating with WACKER, we will accelerate the effective transfer of the knowledge gained thereby to industrial practice.”

TUM and WACKER have been collaborating in different areas for many years, actively driving knowledge transfer between scientific research and industry. “With the foundation of the Institute for Industrial Biotechnology, we are now jointly focusing on a particularly promising field,” says WACKER President & CEO Hartel.

Industrial biotechnology is concerned, among other things, with the biotechnological production of specialty chemicals and active ingredients using optimized enzymes, cells, and microorganisms. Key feedstocks are renewable raw materials. Industrial biotechnology finds application in diverse branches of industry, such as food and health, as well as cosmetics and textiles. Examples here are pharmaceutical active ingredients and dietary supplements based on modified carbohydrates or proteins.

A key focus of the institute’s research in the field of biotechnological production systems will be the production of nucleic acids, which are used, among other things, to treat illnesses such as cancer. Further research areas will target the production of low-molecular compounds and the development of new process concepts. The new institute will collaborate closely with WACKER’s development department. Symposiums related to the research work will be held at regular intervals.

The TUM WACKER Institute for Industrial Biotechnology will become part of the Munich Institute of Integrated Materials, Energy and Process Engineering, an integrative research center that brings together all TUM’s strengths at the interfaces of new materials, innovative process and production technologies and energy engineering. The TUM WACKER Institute will be headed by Prof. Sonja Berensmeier, a high-profile expert in the field of new biofunctional materials and process development for the separation of biotechologically produced high- and low-molecular biomolecules. Over the next 6 years, 20 doctoral candidates will be doing research work at the institute.

WACKER has been conducting basic biotechnological research since the 1980s. The chemical Group launched its first bioengineered product onto the market in the 1990s. Nowadays, its biotechnology business is bundled together in the WACKER BIOSOLUTIONS division. This business division offers solutions and products for the life-sciences sector that are based on biotechnological processes. They include biopharmaceuticals, cyclodextrins and fermentation-generated L-cysteine.

During a Capital Market Day in March 2022, WACKER announced that it would significantly increase its investments in the further growth of its biotechnology business. WACKER wants to invest more than €80 million per year in this area in the next few years. By 2030, WACKER BIOSOLUTIONS plans to contribute around €1 billion to Group sales. The research funding being provided for the Institute for Industrial Biotechnology supports this strategy.

For more information on the Munich Institute of Integrated Materials, Energy and Process Engineering (MEP), please visit www.mep.tum.de

About TUM

The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is one of Europe’s leading research universities, with more than 600 professors, 48,000 students, and 11,000 academic and non-academic staff. Its focus areas are the engineering sciences, natural sciences, life sciences and medicine, combined with economic and social sciences. TUM acts as an entrepreneurial university that promotes talents and creates value for society. In that it profits from having strong partners in science and industry. It is represented worldwide with the TUM Asia campus in Singapore as well as offices in Beijing, Brussels, Mumbai, San Francisco, and São Paulo. Nobel Prize winners and inventors such as Rudolf Diesel, Carl von Linde, and Rudolf Mößbauer have done research at TUM. In 2006, 2012, and 2019 it won recognition as a German University of Excellence. In international rankings, TUM regularly places among the best universities in Germany.

About WACKER

Wacker Chemie AG (www.wacker.com) is a global company with state-of-the-art specialty chemical products found in countless everyday items, ranging from cosmetic powders to solar cells. WACKER’s portfolio comprises more than 3,200 products supplied in over 100 countries. WACKER has a global network of 27 production sites, 23 technical competence centers and 52 sales offices. In 2021, the Group's 14,400 employees generated global sales of €6.21 billion. Wacker Chemie AG is listed on the Deutsche Boerse Prime Standard and on the MDAX (GSIN: WCH888, ISIN: DE000WCH8881).