The Exchange Platform 2026 brought together researchers, companies and innovation experts to explore new collaborations and pathways for translating science into practice.

On May 18, 2026, CEPLAS held its „CEPLAS / TRANSPLANT Exchange Platform 2026”, at the Haus der Universität in Düsseldorf. After 2024, this was the second time this format was organized by CEPLAS, this year together with the TRANSPLANT team.

The overall goals of these events are to attract the interest of external organizations in CEPLAS research, to mediate opportunities for cooperation in the transfer of research results into socio-economic value and to further develop the entrepreneurial mindset within the CEPLAS-community. This year, over 60 participants from the five CEPLAS institutions and 15 external organizations met to showcase their work and discuss how to turn research results into socio‑economic impact. The discussions were based on the presentation of several transfer-oriented projects by CEPLAS scientists, reports of international companies from agri-business and the German Breeders Association about their engagement in public-private-partnerships, and key lectures addressing individual success factors and challenges in the process of research transfer.  

As moderators, Günter Strittmatter (CEPLAS) and Ricardo Godinez-Moreno (TRANSPLANT) guided through the comprehensive program of presentations and intensive discussions, in which both routes of translating research results into socio-economic value were equally considered, entering into public-private-partnerships with existing companies as well as the foundation of startup companies. 

Reflecting on the day’s discussions, CEPLAS Speaker Prof. Maria von Korff Schmising, concluded: Today’s exchange clearly demonstrated how essential close cooperation between CEPLAS and the private sector is for turning excellent science into practical solutions.

External speakers introducing the business, R&D concepts and the engagement of their organizations in public-private-partnerships:

• Corine de Groot: Bejo Zaden
• Chiara Volpi: Enza Zaden
• Wolfgang Koch: KWS Saat SE & Co. KGaA
• Marcel van Verk: Keygene NV
• Karl Collins: BAYER AG
• Tanja Gerjets: Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Pflanzeninnovation (GFPi)

Key lectures on selected transfer-related topics:

• Björn Schmitt (CEDUS):
  Challenges and Perspectives of Research Transfer at a University
• Ulrich Sentner / Felix Getzke (Vossius & Partner):
  Realizing the Impact of Patents for Academic Research, Innovation and Socioeconomic Value
• Lee Greene (FoodHub NRW):
  Success in Research Transfer by Cooperation

CEPLAS speakers: 

• Marcel Buchholzer (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf)
  Healthy Crops – Innovation for food security, climate and resource protection 
• Jürgen Zeier (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf)
  A natural product based, sustainable crop protection strategy
• Steven Cheng (MPI für Pflanzenzüchtungsforschung, Köln)
  Crop immunostimulatory ligands for optimal resistance and nutrient enhancement
• Götz Hensel / Dominique Schirmer (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf)
  CropNova – New precise breeding methods for crops
• Andreas Houben (IPK, Gatersleben)
  In-vivo haploid induction in crop plants by gametic degradation of CENH3
• Laura Merx (Universität zu Köln)
  ProteoGro
• Thomas Hartwig (MPI für Pflanzenzüchtungsforschung, Köln)
  Learning and designing the regulatory genome in crops
• Martin Lercher (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf)
  Deep-learning predictions for protein properties, function and interactions
• Inna Lermontova (IPK, Gatersleben)
  Towards a simple in planta haploid induction system through transient chemical and physical treatments of plant gametes
• Uriel Urquiza (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf)
  Plant synthetic genomics for massively scaling up production of high-value biomedical peptides
• Anooshay Khan (Universität zu Köln)
  Developing plant-derived therapeutics to treat neurodegenerative diseases
• Milan Zupunski (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf)
  AquaBoostNano