30 Years BRAIN Biotech

The exact day the company was founded was September 23, 1993, but BRAIN Biotech celebrated its 30th anniversary at the Zwingenberg site in June 2023.

The 30-year history in a nutshell: Founded under the name B.R.A.I.N. Biotechnology Research and Information Network GmbH, BRAIN Biotech today trades as BRAIN Biotech AG; a German biotech start-up with a handful of employees has grown into an international group of companies with a total of around 330 employees.

The two-day celebration included a varied symposium entitled "Biotech the Future", an official ceremony with shareholders, customers, employees and guests from business, associations and local politics, and a concluding evening event for our employees at the Zwingenberg site.

The circular economy concept as the basis for business

BRAIN Biotech was founded as a technology spin-off by a team of scientists from the University of Darmstadt and has always been a pioneer in industrial biotechnology. The discovery of specialized microbial strains and the optimization of enzymes, the search for bioactive natural products and protein engineering have been the basis of the company's activities from the very beginning.

Accelerated by the IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2016 and several company acquisitions, BRAIN Biotech has developed over the years into a provider of integrated solutions in the field of industrial biotechnology and has consistently expanded its enzyme product business. Today, the product portfolio of BRAIN Biotech´s subsidiary Biocatalysts Ltd comprises more than 500 products, mainly specialty enzymes for industry with a focus on nutrition, health and environment.

BRAIN Biotech AG, listed on the stock exchange, is the parent company of the internationally active BRAIN Biotech Group - with fermentation facilities in the UK and further production sites in continental Europe and the USA. In addition to the product business with specialty enzymes, the group offers research-intensive custom solutions based on enzyme technology, production strain development, bioprocess development and natural product screening.

"For 30 years, BRAIN Biotech's excellently trained experts have been committed to developing solutions and products for sustainable industrial production using nature as a model," said CEO Adriaan Moelker during the ceremony with shareholders, customers, employees and guests from industry, associations and local politics at the Zwingenberg site. "The concept of circular economy has been the basis of our business model from the very beginning and I think today we can all be very proud of what this company has achieved over the past years," Moelker continued.

Proprietary CRISPR technology to drive future development

CEO Adriaan Moelker sees the company entering a new phase with the development of its own genome editing technology: "Our current activities in the field of genome editing, on which about 20 employees are working with great dedication and success, also form the basis for our future competitiveness. We are building our own CRISPR technology platform and developing an attractive business model to license the technology to industrial partners and for novel therapeutic applications. The market potential is considerable, as this technology is the basis for many biotechnological innovations in the fields of nutrition, health and the environment," said Moelker in his anniversary speech.

Dr. Martin Langer, one of the first employees, is now Managing Director at the Zwingenberg site. He says: "Zwingenberg is the nucleus of the BRAIN Biotech Group, which is now successfully positioned internationally. Here we develop innovative, sought-after solutions and products for sustainable business - for our partners as well as for our group companies. BRAIN operates at the heart of the bio-economy and is therefore ideally positioned to participate in the growth of this key industry and to make a significant contribution to sustainable industrial processes."