12.06.2024
A full belly doesn't like to study
Dear readers,
Even the ancient Romans knew that digestion is hard work. They rhymed: «Plenus venter non studet libenter». In fact, we are sluggish after a meal. When the stomach is working, there is less blood flow to the brain.
The satiety effect also exists in a figurative sense. Once our basic needs are satisfied, we prefer to make ourselves comfortable. Concerns take over. And in extreme cases, the use of new technologies is blocked. People in less developed countries are hungrier, both literally and figuratively. They want to get ahead. Above all, they see opportunities in the application of new technologies.
This can also be seen in the approval of innovative plant varieties. In China, a genome-edited wheat was approved for cultivation in May 2024.
The wheat variety is more disease-resistant and promises higher yields. Overall, China is a leader in the development of genome-edited crops: 509 of the 900 breeding projects known worldwide at the end of May 2024 came from China, reports the scienceindustries point newsletter. «The key breeding goals include increased yields, disease resistance, stress tolerance and improved food and feed quality.»
According to development expert Yuen Yuen Ang, China has liberated 800 million people out of poverty in the last 40 years. China needs enormous quantities of food to feed its population of 1.4 billion people. The country produces the most wheat in the world. At the same time, it is the country with the highest wheat imports. And the demand for high-quality products continues to grow. This is why agriculture is high on the agenda in China. New technologies such as genome editing are expected to make an important contribution.
In Europe and Switzerland, on the other hand, people are reluctant to embrace new technologies – they mainly see risks. The risks of non-application are ignored. For example, less productive agriculture requires more land, more water and more resources.
A good example of this is research on green genetic engineering: when it became clear that the moratorium would become permanent, the research companies turned away. The costs for test permits and surveillance at the so-called ‘protected site’ in Reckenholz were simply too high for research in an extremely competitive environment. Only government research can afford such high costs and restrictions. But state research has also suffered: co-operative research projects together with research-based industry have also moved away – and it has become more difficult to find good young talent for the universities.
But things are slowly starting to dawn in Europe:
the EU's AGRIFISH committee wants innovation-friendly regulation in the new legislature for breeding, biotechnology and plant protection. The committee draws the following conclusion: «To this end, the Commission and the Council are called upon in the future to consider how to make the existing regulatory regime within areas such as new genomic techniques, feed additives, and biological plant protection products simpler and more innovation-friendly, without compromising safety.»
The framework conditions for innovation are crucial.
After all, it is always private companies that ultimately bring products to market that change the world. Proximity to the market is proximity to needs. Patents are one of the most important framework conditions for innovation. Patents are the prerequisite for recovering investment costs for disclosed inventions. Companies use them to finance not only successful developments, but also the flops that inevitably occur. That is why an attack on patent law is also an attack on innovation. This affects not only corporations, but also innovative SMEs and start-ups in particular. They all rely on patents to protect their findings. Labour and production costs are high in Switzerland. Only patent protection ensures that disclosed inventions are not simply copied and produced more cheaply abroad.
As far as patents in the agricultural sector are concerned, many of the accusations levelled at the industry are not true. In Switzerland, it is not possible to patent naturally occurring plant traits.
Anyone who breeds old varieties using traditional methods is never affected by patents – only those who want to use the latest technologies in breeding must be familiar with them, as in any technical field. Only technical inventions that are worldwide novelties are granted a patent for a limited period of time. Federal patent examiners – like Einstein once was – have the task of examining each individual case for the criteria of patentability and novelty of the invention. However, one thing is clear: investments in research and development, for example in the field of genetics, are only made if they can be protected. Patents are also particularly important for young companies because they can show them to investors as collateral security and thus gain access to venture capital.
Patents are also important for new production techniques in the laboratory. We have reported on the animal-friendly innovations regarding Foie Gras and Planted meat replacement. SRF's science programme Einstein explores the sustainable production of food in the laboratory.
When the state itself wants to innovate or steer innovation in lieu of the industry, things become critical. The proposal for «more transparency on patents in the field of plant breeding», which the Federal Council submitted for consultation in May 2024, provides for the establishment of a clearinghouse system in which an interested party (‘breeder’) can send a notification asking whether any plant variety is protected by a patent. If the patent holder does not respond within 90 days, he loses his right to enforce his patent against the party concerned.
This is a completely unique approach worldwide. A typical isolationist effort. It favours the beneficiary of an innovation over the innovator. In addition to the financial risk of the research, the innovator also bears the risk of losing the protection of his invention if enquiries in the clearinghouse system are not answered in time or correctly – for example, because clarifications about underlying genetic are necessary if biological material from other companies is involved, to which access must first be obtained. Such a «reversal of the burden of proof» in patent law is completely out of place. There are more effective and simpler solutions to create transparency. For example, a binding public register in which variety owners enter all patents that have an effect on their plant varieties commercialized in Switzerland.
Research collaborations or platforms that facilitate exchange also contribute to innovation. Transparency is important and is also in the interest of the industry. In the area of patent protection for field crops, for example, the digital licensing platform ACLP makes patents easy to find and inventions accessible even for small breeders. With just a few clicks, a company can request a license via the platform under «fair» (FRAND) conditions and then use the technology for its own breeding. This simplified access to licenses makes it possible to ‘boost’ innovation and build on the technologies of others. Our society is dependent on this. swiss-food has also emphasised the importance of open innovation platforms in connection with the breeding of tomatoes by Bayer. Such solutions are close to the market. Novel plant characteristics contribute significantly to the constant innovation of plant varieties. The increased vitamin D content of Bayer tomatoes is a good example: vitamin D deficiency is widespread and can lead to health problems such as rickets or osteoporosis.
As the study «Switzerland, a society that worries? People's perspectives on economic policy and responsibility»
shows, people in Switzerland expect companies to innovate.
Especially when it comes to major problems such as climate change: they should be innovative so that people can continue to lead their lifestyles. The author is quoted in the NZZ as saying that hostility towards business sounds different. This can also make us optimistic about openness to technology and the relevant framework conditions. Sluggishness offers many opportunities for a research-based industry.
Your swiss-food editorial team
