Twenty new R&D jobs are to be created at UCD over the next five years as a result of multi-billion dollar player InVivo acquiring a 50pc stake in campus company Life Scientific.
InVivo has revenues of over €5.7bn a year and employs 8,800 people in 28 countries.
The company formally signed an agreement yesterday at the Irish Embassy in Paris to acquire 50pc stake in Life Scientific, which specialises in off-patent crop protection products.
Life Scientific currently employs 20 people at NovaUCD who are predominantly scientists and educated to PhD level.
The company, which has an annual turnover of over €10 million, was established by Nicola Mitchell in 1995.
“This agreement concluded with InVivo will allow Life Scientific to scale our proven business model, both in France and globally,” Mitchell said
“It will strengthen our engagement with our customers, the InVivo cooperative members, and is a major endorsement of Life Scientific’s continued capacity to innovate on a global scale.”
InVivo is the largest buyer of agrichemicals in Europe
InVivo is a union of 223 farming co-operatives and has combined membership of over 300,000 farmers.
The remit of InVivo, the largest buyer of agrochemicals in Europe, is to work together with its member co-operatives to develop sustainable and profitable solutions enabling farmers to secure their production and revenue.
As a result of the deal Life Scientific plans to create 20 new, predominantly R&D jobs over the next five years at its headquarters at NovaUCD, the Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs at University College Dublin (UCD).
“The alliance with Life Scientific gives InVivo access to a unique capability in crop protection R&D, across a range of potential integrated pest management solutions,” explained Laurent Martel, director of InVivo’s Agriculture Division, who will now also be chairman of Life Scientific.
