Strategy

R&D Strategy 2031

R&D Strategy 2031

Creating value

Our Research and Development has set its strategic goals so as to offer the best-possible support in implementing KWS’ Strategic Planning 2031 (SP31). The focus is on developing products that deliver value added for our Business Units.

Research and Development’s mission:

“We supply the world with integrated seed solutions by developing products that contribute to our customers’ success for generations to come.”

Shortly after the SP31 with its four Focus Areas was communicated for the first time, our Research and Development colleagues came together for several workshops last year. From January to November, they addressed the question of what the requirements from SP31 mean for Research and Development – and how the R&D Strategy 2031 can be developed on its basis.

At the heart of the R&D Strategy 2031 is a new mission: “We supply the world with integrated seed solutions by developing products that contribute to our customers’ success for generations to come.” To accomplish that, Research and Development will focus on three strategic subject areas in the future: the development of competitive hybrid varieties, high-quality traits and digital solutions that generate value added.

As has become clear, the lines between it and the company-wide Strategic Planning 2031 are also fluid. “The Business Units had formulated market and customer requirements, and these gave rise to the strategic goals for the next ten years,” states Constantin Schaefer, Lead R&D Strategy & Controlling. “Our task now is to translate these requirements from the market into concrete solutions.” In other words: Research and Development helps the Business Units achieve their strategic goals from the four Focus Areas by contributing to value creation.

How does it do that? “You can think of our R&D organization as a big set of cogs, where creativity and continuous improvement of our processes and development cycles intermesh,” says Constantin Schaefer. “And those cogs ultimately drive our product pipeline.” |

Four Focus Areas

The role of Research and Development

Sustainable Agricultural Practices

Our colleagues in Research and Development are working on a wide range of sustainable products and solutions. They help reduce greenhouse gases, minimize the use of pesticides, improve the performance of our varieties and help them unfold their full potential in an optimized crop rotation. Plant traits such as tolerance and resistance equip farmers to run their business more sustainably. There is increasing demand for varieties that can be grown using fewer inputs. Against this backdrop, the development of sustainable products will be expanded step by step over the next 10 years. |

Nutritional Food Ingredients

KWS intends to expand its breeding activities for relatively small protein crops, such as peas, and also for new crops in the medium to long term. For customers in the food industry, our Research and Development aims to offer flavor-enhancing properties for plant-based protein sources so that the end product is tastier for consumers and is less bitter, for example. Higher protein content is also one of the goals. KWS has the trait development expertise required for that. Now that is to be expanded more intensively for small protein crops, too, while methods for screening constituents are to be developed. |

Connected Seeds

Research and Development generates vast amounts of data. The goal is to use this data and translate it into recommendations for products and cultivation that are as precise as possible. Another topic is specific digital tools such as apps. They enable researchers at KWS to draw conclusions about the current condition of plants in terms of their nutrient supply, pest infestation and the like on the basis of photos, drone images or other image sources. The next step will be for such data from Research and Development to be the basis for tools that our Sales teams or farmers themselves can use operationally, for example to obtain information on the use of fertilizer or the ideal time for harvesting. |

Future Sales Models

In this Focus Area, the contribution of Research and Development seems small at first. But here, too, data plays an important role. It is the basis for detailed variety descriptions, which Research and Development prepares for Sales and are used as part of Connected Seeds to develop digital services. |

If you have any questions about the R&D Strategy 2031, please contact:

Constantin Schaefer

constantin.schaefer@kws.com

The key points of the R&D Strategy 2031

© KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA 2025