Danone, Michelin and DMC Biotechnologies open new cooperative fermentation site

French dairy giant Danone, engineering materials group Michelin, US start-up DMC Biotechnologies and Crédit Agricole Centre France have joined forces to create the Biotech Open Platform. The new centre will focus on precision fermentation.

Located in the town of Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne at the Parc Cataroux Centre for Sustainable Materials, an innovation accelerator supported by Michelin, the platform aims to support the development of biosolutions on a larger scale. Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO of Danone, comments: “At Danone, we have always been focused on investing in the future of food, and this partnership is the next step in that journey. We look forward to working with our partners to develop cutting-edge fermentation technologies that will accelerate innovation, health benefits and decarbonisation in the food industry.”

Danone has previously invested in Imangindairy, a precision fermentation company developing cow-free whey proteins, and Wilk, which is developing cultured milk fat. The first biomanufacturing plans are aimed at scaling up innovative products already tested in laboratories. To this end, more than €16 million has been earmarked for the first phase, which will see the installation of a demo-scale production line, including a fermenter and purification unit.

The Biotech Open Platform is also supported by several public and private institutions: the University of Clermont Auvergne, the company Greentech, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Clermont Auvergne Métropole.