BIOBEST GROUP NV

Their core work

Biobest is a major commercial producer of biological crop protection products, including beneficial insects, mites, and bumblebees for pollination. They develop and sell integrated pest management (IPM) solutions as alternatives to chemical pesticides, serving greenhouse growers and open-field agriculture across Europe and beyond. In H2020 projects, they contribute industry expertise in biological control agents, biopesticide development, and real-world testing of pest management strategies against difficult-to-control species like whiteflies, aphids, thrips, and mites.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Biobest's H2020 participation spans a narrow window (2016–2018 project starts), making long-term trend analysis limited. Their earliest project (INTERFUTURE, 2016) focused on fundamental microbial interactions for developing new biopesticides and biofertilizers — a more upstream research angle. The two later projects (2018) shifted toward applied pest management challenges: monitoring bee health at European scale (PoshBee) and tackling insecticide-resistant super pests with diagnostic tools and green chemistry (SuperPests).

Biobest is moving from upstream biopesticide R&D toward applied solutions for the hardest pest management problems — insecticide resistance and pollinator protection — reflecting market demand for chemical-free agriculture.

How they like to work

Biobest participates exclusively as a partner, never as coordinator, which is typical for a commercial company contributing industry expertise and testing capacity to research-led consortia. With 63 unique partners across just 3 projects, they operate in large, multi-national research consortia (averaging 21+ partners per project). This makes them an accessible partner — they are accustomed to working within complex consortia and contributing practical, industry-grounded validation to academic research.

Biobest has collaborated with 63 unique partners across 18 countries in only 3 projects, indicating deep integration into Europe's agricultural research ecosystem. Their network spans a wide geographic range, likely covering major agricultural research hubs across Western, Southern, and Northern Europe.

What sets them apart

Biobest is one of the world's largest commercial producers of biological control agents, giving them a rare combination of industrial-scale production capability and deep scientific knowledge of beneficial organisms. Unlike university partners who contribute research, Biobest brings market access, product development pipelines, and real-world field testing infrastructure. For consortium builders, they offer a direct route from laboratory discoveries to commercial IPM products — a credible industry partner that can validate and scale biological pest control innovations.

Highlights from their portfolio

• INTERFUTURE
  Largest funding share (EUR 375,840) and focused on translating microbial interactions into commercial biopesticides and biofertilizers — directly aligned with Biobest's core business.
• SuperPests
  Tackled insecticide-resistant 'super pests' with an interdisciplinary toolkit spanning diagnostics, green chemistry, biological control, and plant resistance — a high-impact agricultural challenge.
• PoshBee
  Pan-European bee health assessment connecting Biobest's bumblebee rearing expertise to pollinator conservation policy — smallest funding but broadest environmental relevance.