Biotech platform opens at Michelin innovation site

Clermont-Ferrand, France – A new industrial biotechnology platform has started operations at Michelin's innovation site in Clermont-Ferrand, Michelin announced 28 Sept.

Biotech Open Platform inaugurated the €20-million first phase of its facility at the 'sustainable materials centre' within Michelin Innovation Park – Cataroux, to create a "strategic bridge" between laboratory-scale biotechnology and industrial production.

The project was launched in 2024 by Michelin, Danone, DMC Biotechnologies, Credit Agricole Centre France, Clermont Auvergne Innovation and Greentech.

The facility uses "advanced fermentation processes," employing microorganisms including yeasts, bacteria, microalgae and fungi to produce molecules and materials from renewable resources.

The unit has a fermentation capacity of up to 15 cubic metres as well as semi-industrial purification systems.

These, Michelin said, allow processes to be developed and validated from laboratory scale through to conditions representative of industrial production.

According to Michelin, the platform can scale production from around 10g to one tonne of ingredients and is open to startups, industrial companies and R&D organisations.

For Michelin, the technology could provide new routes to renewable alternatives to materials currently derived from fossil resources, according to group president Florent Menegaux.

“It is an opportunity to explore new ways of replacing certain molecules that today come from petrochemicals with more sustainable bio-based alternatives,” said the Michelin leader.

“With the inauguration of Biotech Open Platform, we are turning a firm conviction into an industrial reality: biotechnology will play an important role in the sustainable transformation of numerous sectors,” he added.