RD&I

Incubation Cluster

Life Sciences

By 2050, the world population is projected to reach 10 bn. people. This creates a unique set of challenges:

  • How will we feed a growing world population?
  • How can we improve quality of life and support a healthy lifestyle?
  • How will we treat and cure known and new diseases effectively and patient-friendly?
  • And how can we do this in a sustainable and resource-efficient manner?

Tackling challenges like these is what energizes and drives Creavis. In the Incubation Cluster Life Sciences, a diverse, cross-functional, and international team is determined to find new solutions that address these key human needs. Organized into three so-called new growth areas (NGA), they focused on the field of nutrition, care, and health.

The rapidly increasing demand for high-quality proteins can only be met in a sustainable way by new means of food production. Climate change will influence the conditions under which we grow our crops. A growing awareness of the environmental footprint of agriculture and farming will lead to stricter regulations. Animal-based foodstuff will be complemented or even replaced by alternative protein sources.
Creavis looks at the whole value chain, from farm to fork, to find sustainable solutions for our customers - from new approaches that improve the efficiency of pesticides and fertilizers, replacement of antibiotics in fish and meat production to alternative proteins for healthy human nutrition.

Transforming personal and household care towards sustainability in a growing society means that we need to re-think the way care and cleaning products are made. Ingredients of petrochemical or animal origin are getting substituted by better, greener alternatives. Microplastics have to be avoided.

In the NGA Prevention & Wellbeing, we tap into a broad set of competencies around biotechnology, chemistry, and formulation science to develop bio-based, economically friendly cleaning solutions as well as the next generation of cosmetics and microbiotic products. This understanding also extends to the complex interplay between nutrition, well-being, and health. A multi-functional team of experts develops new nutritional concepts with demonstrated health benefits which contribute effectively to a healthier lifestyle.

The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst to accelerate the adoption of new technologies that will play major roles in the future of healthcare. Messenger RNA will not only be used as a vaccine, but also as novel treatment of cancer and immune diseases. Cell and gene therapy will open new avenues to not only treat but cure chronic diseases. Novel bio-based materials will enable safer and more reliable therapeutic applications. But the challenges are manifold as well. Animal-derived components in manufacturing or formulation need to be replaced without losing functionality.  Better, safer ways to administer a drug or vaccine are required which also minimize the environmental footprint.

In the NGA Novel Therapeutic Concepts, an international team of scientists and business developers located in Germany and Singapore uses its broad expertise in drug delivery, mammalian cell culture and biomaterial science to develop breakthrough solutions that help pharma and med-tech customers to innovate.

Current Life Sciences Projects

Agriculture Solutions - BioStimulants for Agriculture

We develop products for agriculture based on natural microbes. They reduce the need for fertilizers and crop protection and make crops more resistant to climate stress.

VECOLLAN® - Next Generation Collagen

Collagen is an important material in modern medicine. Today, collagen is still produced from animal material (e.g. from cattle). We are working on a biotechnological process that enables the reliable, scalable production of high-purity animal-origin free collagen.

IN VIVO BIOTICS™ - TARGETING THE MICROBIOME

We develop synbiotic preparations that have a proven positive effect and could be applied, for example, in cases of celiac disease or gluten intolerance. We use a combination of microorganism, nutrient and active ingredient transport that triggers processes directly in the gut.

Tissue Engineering

The Competence Center Tissue Engineering in Singapore focuses on innovations in the field of advanced biomedical systems and biotechnology, regenerative medicine, and therapies.