Industry is looking for new chemical building blocks with special properties, and in particular for molecules that cannot be easily produced petrochemically. There is also a clear need for robust (bio)synthesis methods, eventually combined with chemical modification, for biologically active molecules that are currently produced via extraction.

• Pipeline 1: (Fine) Chemicals from Renewable Resources - fine chemicals and the production and/or modification of natural and "new-to-nature" biologically active substances. The Engineering of enzymes (biocatalysis) and of industrial microbial production strains (metabolic engineering, synthetic biology), bioprocess engineering and upscaling including downstream processing, and possible subsequent chemical modification of the fine chemicals produced in this manner are not only sustainable alternatives to classical chemistry, but allow for other additional benefits such as enantioselectivity, high purity and yield.
• Pipeline 2: Polymers from Renewable Resources - this pipeline focuses on the engineering plastics and more specifically on the synthesis of new monomers derived from natural building blocks, and polymerisation into polymers with special properties that stand out from those that are currently using monomers obtained from classical petrochemical routes.