Chinese-owned Syngenta to build new £100m bioscience hub in UK

Agrichemical group will open a research centre in Berkshire, in a move hailed by UK government as ‘clear’ vote of confidence Syngenta is to build a new £100m research centre for agricultural bioscience, a move hailed by the government as a vote of confidence in the UK’s science base. The Chinese-owned company, one of the biggest agrichemical groups in the world, will open the centre at its Jealott’s Hill site in Berkshire to host hundreds of scientists. The decision will provide a boost to relations between the research industry and government after a public row with the pharmaceutical sector over drug pricing and other issues, which led to big drugmakers cancelling or pausing nearly £2bn in UK investments last year. AstraZeneca’s planned £200m expansion of its research operations in Cambridge is still on hold. Switzerland-based Syngenta said the new bioscience hub would focus on a range of technologies such as biological pesticides – the next generation of crop protection. There will be significant investment in AI tools to underpin the research. Called BioSTaR (Biological Sciences Technology and Research), it will bring together its bioscience operations under one