Biotech Open Platform opens €20 million fermentation scale-up facility in France

Biotech Open Platform has inaugurated its industrial biotechnology facility in Clermont-Ferrand, France, two years after the initiative was launched by Danone, Michelin, DMC Biotechnologies and partners to tackle one of biotechnology's persistent scale-up challenges.

• More than €20 million (US$23.5 million) has been invested in the first phase of the biotechnology platform in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
• Fermentation capacity of up to 15 m³ is combined with semi-industrial purification systems to support process development, optimization and validation.
• The open facility will work with start-ups, industrial companies and R&D organizations across food, cosmetics, agriculture, chemicals and biomaterials.

Located at the Sustainable Materials Center within Michelin's Innovation Park - Cataroux, the facility has begun welcoming its first advanced fermentation projects. It marks the transition of Biotech Open Platform from an initiative announced in 2024 to an operational industrial site.

The platform was founded by Danone, Michelin, DMC Biotechnologies, Crédit Agricole Centre France, Clermont Auvergne Innovation and Greentech. Its focus is the difficult step between demonstrating that a biotechnology process works in the laboratory and proving that it can operate under conditions representative of industrial production.

Biotech Open Platform provides integrated fermentation, purification and bioprocess development capabilities. Its infrastructure includes a complete fermentation line with capacity of up to 15 m³ and semi-industrial purification systems, with facilities designed to meet standards applicable to food production.

The facility will also allow companies to produce sufficient quantities of material for application testing and other validation work ahead of commercial production.

"Biotech Open Platform was created to address a very concrete challenge in biotechnology: how to move from a promising process at laboratory scale to a robust process that can work at industrial scale," said Khadidja Romari, CEO of Biotech Open Platform.

"The infrastructure is important, but equipment alone is not enough. Scale-up requires experience, technical know-how and the ability to solve the issues that appear as the process moves from one scale to another."

Romari added that confidentiality and intellectual property protection would be central to the platform's work, with dedicated teams and infrastructure intended to allow companies to develop processes securely.

Although several of the founders have their own interests in biotechnology, Biotech Open Platform is designed to serve companies outside the founding group.

The facility will support advanced fermentation processes, including precision fermentation, using microorganisms such as yeast, bacteria, microalgae and fungi to produce proteins, enzymes, food ingredients, cosmetic actives and bio-based materials.

Danone CEO Antoine de Saint-Afrique said the platform would strengthen the infrastructure available to companies seeking to industrialize fermentation technologies. "With Biotech Open Platform, we are strengthening a critical link in Europe's biotechnology ecosystem by accelerating the industrial scale-up of laboratory innovations," he said. "Biotech Open Platform demonstrates the value of shared infrastructure and long-term partnerships in enhancing European competitiveness."

For Michelin, the facility also provides a route to investigate biotechnology-derived alternatives to materials currently sourced from petrochemicals.

"By providing companies with an open infrastructure and leading expertise, we want to accelerate the transition from research to industry," said Florent Menegaux, Chairman of the Michelin Group. "For Michelin, this is an opportunity to explore new ways of replacing certain molecules currently derived from petrochemicals with more sustainable, bio-based alternatives."

DMC Biotechnologies CEO Jim Flatt highlighted access to scale-up infrastructure as a barrier facing companies developing industrial biotechnology processes.

"One of the main barriers to the development of industrial biotechnology is access to capabilities that can demonstrate that an innovation can be produced reliably and competitively at greater scale," Flatt said.

The project has received support from the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund, managed by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, as well as from Clermont Auvergne Métropole.

Biotech Open Platform said its model is intended to give companies access to both equipment and technical expertise without requiring them to build their own scale-up infrastructure.

The first phase represents an investment of more than €20 million (US$23.5 million), with the facility now moving into operation as its first fermentation projects enter the platform.

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