CropDesign

CropDesign was an agricultural biotechnology company based in Ghent, Belgium, founded in 1998 as a spin-off from the Flanders Institute of Biotechnology (VIB) and the Institute of Plant Biotechnology for Developing Countries at Ghent University. Co-founded by Marc Van Montagu, a pioneering Flemish plant geneticist, the company developed a proprietary technology platform — TraitMill — for the discovery and validation of genetic traits that improve agronomic performance in major crops including corn, rice, and others. The company was backed by a venture capital consortium led by GIMV until 2006, when BASF Plant Science acquired it and integrated it into BASF Agricultural Solutions division. In 2021, VIB reacquired the Ghent site from BASF to launch new biotech initiatives.