Royal DSM, a global science-based company in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living, and TU Delft, ranked among the top universities in biotechnology research globally, has announced the establishment of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lab for Biosciences (the AI4B.io Lab).

This AI laboratory will be the first of its kind in Europe to apply AI to full-scale biomanufacturing from microbial strain development to process optimization and scheduling.

The AI4B.io Lab will be part of the Dutch National Innovation Center for AI (ICAI), which works to keep the Netherlands at the forefront of knowledge and talent development in AI. It will be led by Professor Marcel Reinders, Director TU Delft Bioengineering Institute.

Although AI is already widely applied in engineering research – for instance, to replace physical wind turbines or tunnels with digital twins – the AI4B.io Lab will be the first of its kind to explore AI’s potential in biosciences and biotechnology.

It will be the third ICAI Lab on the TU Delft campus, joining the AI for Retail Lab Delft of Ahold Delhaize, and the AI for Fintech Lab of ING. Additionally, TU Delft will invest in 24 interdisciplinary AI laboratories on a broad range of topics to further drive collaboration between scientists working in AI and scientists from other domains.  

The AI4B.io Lab will also collaborate with Planet B.io, the open-innovation ecosystem at the Biotech Campus Delft – for instance, by providing research insights and consultancy to biotechnology start-ups on the campus. Both DSM and TU Delft are founding partners of Planet B.io.

Marcus Remmers, Chief Technology Officer, DSM said, “TU Delft has a proven track record of ground breaking research in AI, bioengineering, and bioinformatics. DSM is a global, science-based company that creates sustainable, bio-based products and solutions at commercial scale. This makes our parties the perfect match to tackle important scientific and societal challenges together.”

Cindy Gerhardt, Managing Director Planet B.io said, ‘’At Planet B.io, we stimulate open innovation and collaboration between start-ups, corporations, and knowledge institutes to develop bio-based products and solutions. We look forward to working together with the AI4B.io Lab to maximize the potential of AI and biosciences.’’