Amyris, Inc., and the Government of Queensland, Australia have announced a partnership to create a hub of sustainable ingredients production for the rapidly-growing personal care sector in Asia while supporting Queensland's local economy and sugarcane industry.
US-headed industrial bioscience company Amyris, Inc., and the Government of Queensland, Australia have announced a partnership to create the “leading industrial biotechnology hub in Southeast Asia” while supporting Queensland’s local economy and sugarcane industry.
With support from local partners, the partnership aims to develop a new production plant that will produce high-value personal care and nutraceutical actives, as well as farnesene-derivative products in a bid to meet growing consumer demand for high-quality skin care and nutraceutical products in Asian countries.
According to a statement, Queensland is the perfect location to build a strong Industrial Biotechnology hub and manufacturing base to supply these markets given its resources, cost-effective sugar supply source and geographic location. The combination of Amyris in partnership with Queensland to support additional manufacturing capacity and access to its local highly educated workforce and sugarcane is anticipated to create a leading source of product and strong economic development for the region.
We welcome Amyris to Queensland and look forward to their pursuit of innovative ideas. Amyris will enhance Queensland’s reputation as a supportive investment location for the industrial biotechnology and bioproducts sector. The Queensland Government is committed to continuing to work with Amyris and will assist in connecting the company with local suppliers and businesses, said The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk MP, Premier of Queensland in a statement.
Production targetted for 2020
Amyris and the Government of Queensland are actively working on this program to facilitate pathways for the development of a commercial plant and production. Through this alignment of each parties’ common goals, clear lines have been established and first industrial production of product at the new production facility is expected to occur in 2020.
The two parties have enjoyed a long-term successful relationship in working together to support global sustainability initiatives, growth in renewable products and diversification of Queensland’s economy. This initially began with the Queensland Government’s 2010 Queensland Sustainable Aviation Fuel Initiative, which studied the feasibility of locally producing aviation biofuels using Queensland sugar.
In June 2016, Amyris and the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at The University of Queensland signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support the development of a Queensland-based biotechnology industry using feedstock from local sugarcane.
We’re delighted to working with Queensland to facilitate the creation of what we expect will be a leading Industrial Biotechnology hub supplying growing demand in Southeast Asia.We’re very encouraged at the commitment to innovation and sustainability demonstrated by the Government of Queensland. The sustainability and performance of the local sugarcane industry enable us to make this our second global technology and manufacturing centre, beyond our strong base in Brazil. We expect this to be our first large scale implementation of our capital light growth model, where we bring the technology and the end customers and our partners fund and operate the manufacturing, said John Melo, President & CEO of Amyris.
