79
tomatoes. Calgene was also engaged in the development of herbicide-tolerant cotton, and canola that was genetically engineered to produce laureate, a key raw material used in the manufacture of soap, detergent, and personal care products.
Plant Genetic Systems (“PGS”), founded in 1982 by Marc Van Montagu and Jeff
Schell who, at the University of Ghent, Belgium, and the Max Planck Institute in
Germany, respectively, had developed a vector system for transferring foreign genes
into the plant genome by using the Ti plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, is
credited for significantly advancing the field of plant biotechnology. PGS was the
first startup company to engineer tobacco plants with a gene encoding the insecticidal protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). DNA Plant Technology (“DNAP”)
was founded in 1981 by William R. Sharp and David A. Evans, in New Jersey,
before moving to California “to develop tastier, value-added plant-based products
for industrial and consumer markets”
3
through the use of advanced plant breeding
systems, tissue culture, and later transgenic techniques. And with the advent of
Arabidopsis genetics, companies were founded to explore gene structure-function
relationships. Companies like Ceres Inc., founded in 1996 to explore gene expression patterns and functions; Mendel Biotechnology, Inc., founded in 1997 to understand gene expression through the study of transcription factors; and Paradigm
Genetics, Inc., founded in 1997 to focus on functional genomics, became the new
breed of innovators trying to revolutionize the industry. The new startup companies
quickly formed strategic partnerships with major seed and trait developers such as
Monsanto, Bayer, and DuPont. The large investments made by these seed companies to finance collaboration with the startups, combined with the support of venture
capitalists, allowed for a golden age of small plant biotechnology companies which
emerged in Belgium, the San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, the Research
Triangle Park of North Carolina, and progressively elsewhere in locations associated with major university centers.
For the next 10 years, further innovations involving recombinant techniques led
to ever more innovative companies. DNA shuffling (or directed molecular evolution), a method for in vitro recombination of homologous genes, was invented by
Dr. Willem (“Pim”) Stemmer while working at Affymax Inc. Stemmer’s invention
led to the foundation of Maxygen, Inc., a startup company, which further developed
the technology and innovated in the field of agronomic trait discovery and optimization through its Verdia, Inc. subsidiary. Maxygen and Verdia
4
formed several alliances, including with Pioneer Hi-Bred, Syngenta, and Delta & Pine Land Company,
to “provide proprietary product solutions to important commercial problems in
plant-based businesses through the application of advanced trait optimization
methods.”
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_Plant_Technology
4 Author MM was employed by Maxygen and Verdia, Inc.
3 Open Innovation and Value Creation in Crop Genetics
tomatoes. Calgene was also engaged in the development of herbicide-tolerant cotton, and canola that was genetically engineered to produce laureate, a key raw material used in the manufacture of soap, detergent, and personal care products.
Plant Genetic Systems (“PGS”), founded in 1982 by Marc Van Montagu and Jeff
Schell who, at the University of Ghent, Belgium, and the Max Planck Institute in
Germany, respectively, had developed a vector system for transferring foreign genes
into the plant genome by using the Ti plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, is
credited for significantly advancing the field of plant biotechnology. PGS was the
first startup company to engineer tobacco plants with a gene encoding the insecticidal protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). DNA Plant Technology (“DNAP”)
was founded in 1981 by William R. Sharp and David A. Evans, in New Jersey,
before moving to California “to develop tastier, value-added plant-based products
for industrial and consumer markets”
3
through the use of advanced plant breeding
systems, tissue culture, and later transgenic techniques. And with the advent of
Arabidopsis genetics, companies were founded to explore gene structure-function
relationships. Companies like Ceres Inc., founded in 1996 to explore gene expression patterns and functions; Mendel Biotechnology, Inc., founded in 1997 to understand gene expression through the study of transcription factors; and Paradigm
Genetics, Inc., founded in 1997 to focus on functional genomics, became the new
breed of innovators trying to revolutionize the industry. The new startup companies
quickly formed strategic partnerships with major seed and trait developers such as
Monsanto, Bayer, and DuPont. The large investments made by these seed companies to finance collaboration with the startups, combined with the support of venture
capitalists, allowed for a golden age of small plant biotechnology companies which
emerged in Belgium, the San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, the Research
Triangle Park of North Carolina, and progressively elsewhere in locations associated with major university centers.
For the next 10 years, further innovations involving recombinant techniques led
to ever more innovative companies. DNA shuffling (or directed molecular evolution), a method for in vitro recombination of homologous genes, was invented by
Dr. Willem (“Pim”) Stemmer while working at Affymax Inc. Stemmer’s invention
led to the foundation of Maxygen, Inc., a startup company, which further developed
the technology and innovated in the field of agronomic trait discovery and optimization through its Verdia, Inc. subsidiary. Maxygen and Verdia
4
formed several alliances, including with Pioneer Hi-Bred, Syngenta, and Delta & Pine Land Company,
to “provide proprietary product solutions to important commercial problems in
plant-based businesses through the application of advanced trait optimization
methods.”
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_Plant_Technology
4 Author MM was employed by Maxygen and Verdia, Inc.
3 Open Innovation and Value Creation in Crop Genetics