CBSG, the genomics centre that over the past ten years has helped decipher the potato and tomato genomes, will close as there will be no more funding after the end of this year. The same applies to the Green Genetics top scientific institute. The future of both centres depends on the Horticulture top sector but that body has rejected their requests for funding. The two sectors have a combined budget of around eight million euros a year, says Robert Hall, CBSG director. Now that money, enough for around 80 research posts, is gone. Hall: ‘This is a dramatic loss of work for the Wageningen plant scientists.’
Spin-offs
The absence of follow-up funding comes as a surprise. In both centres, companies and researchers collaborate in research programmes, just as the top sector policy intends. ‘The business community supports our joint plans and is prepared to invest ten million euros a year over the next few years,’ says Hall. CBSG focuses on generating basic knowledge about plants while Green Genetics concentrates more on the application. ‘Last year, an international commission reviewed us,’ says Hall, ‘and praised both the quality of our research and the way we turned knowledge into commercial applications. Each euro spent in CBSG leads to 4 euros in spin-offs, for example in EU projects. That will be much more difficult now.’
FES money
A big obstacle to getting follow-up funds is the fact that the Horticulture top sector hardly has any cash. The institutes used to get money from the FES fund (natural gas revenues) but that was abolished by the previous cabinet. This means a cut of 800 million euros in funding for research and innovation, including eight million less for CBSG and Green Genetics. Now these institutes have to try and get money from the regular DLO budget that is allocated via the Horticulture and Agri&Food top sectors. Next year, the Horticulture top sector will have 4.5 million to spend on new projects and Agri&Food only 10 million, to be divided among dozens of projects. ‘Our problems can be traced back to the loss of the FES fund,’ says Hall. ‘The government asks businesses to contribute 50 percent of the funding, but it has insufficient resources available to match the investments companies are making in the knowledge economy.’