From Biodiversity Research to Agricultural System Health

Under this guiding principle, the department ''Biodiversity research'' embarked on a far-reaching strategic realignment in 2025, evolving from a broadly positioned biodiversity research unit into a specialized department for the biological safeguarding of agricultural systems. The focus is no longer on describing biodiversity as such, but on the evidence-based monitoring, protection and management of bioeconomic production systems in order to enhance their economic viability and ecological sustainability.

This transformation is driven by a clear observation: closed and semi-closed agricultural systems (e.g., insect farming, aquaculture and multitrophic polycultures) concentrate substantial investment while remaining highly vulnerable to biological failure. Pathogens, microbiome shifts and animal welfare issues can rapidly compromise both productivity and profitability. At the same time, open systems are seeing growing demand for smart farming applications that can predict and mitigate biological risks such as vectors, pathogens and invasive species. These developments create a distinct opportunity for a department that combines advanced biological analytics (i.e., genomics, metabiomics, eDNA/eRNA and pathogen diagnostics) with AI-based modelling to make agricultural systems safer, more resilient and more resource-efficient.

As part of this restructuring, the department’s former biodiversity research activities have been systematically aligned with three new areas of expertise. The first, “System Health: Animal Welfare & Process Optimization”, addresses closed and semi-closed agricultural systems. Its focus lies on pathogen and biomarker diagnostics, the monitoring of breeding and production parameters, and predictive AI models for the early detection of anomalies. Ongoing projects such as InFueSekt and TenEDEN are particularly well positioned within this field. muKs is also closely connected, as these projects address different facets of stable bioeconomic production systems — ranging from husbandry and process design to monitoring and quality-assured utilization and side-stream concepts. The second area, “Environmental Monitoring & Prediction”, focuses on open systems and their surrounding environments. It covers the modelling of pest and vector species, the analysis of interactions between production systems and adjacent ecosystems, and the eDNA/eRNA-based monitoring of invasive species and pathogens. The third area, “Molecular High-Tech Services”, bundles genomic analysis, bioinformatics and AI expertise as enabling technologies for internal partners and specialized B2B customers.

In this way, the department is positioning itself clearly as an R&D and validation partner for biological systems assurance and system intelligence. Value creation arises primarily from the interpretation, modelling and integration of complex biological data, as well as from the development of AI agents and data models that support decision-making for operators and investors. In 2025, key foundations for this transformation were established: the strategic sharpening of the portfolio, the definition of a 2030 target vision (“Agricultural System Health” positioned as a recognized technology partner for industry and the public sector) and the preparation of a roadmap with clear financial and thematic milestones (i.e. building industrial collaborations and strengthening the department’s contribution to the institute’s USP of “Sustainable Food and Feed Production”).

A central element of the restructuring is the department’s clear positioning within the Fraunhofer network and towards external partners. In contrast to the production-oriented biotechnological core systems emphasized at other sites, the department will serve as a complementary “systems assurance layer”, adding expertise in biosafety, system health and data science to both existing and emerging production systems.

For 2025, the department’s research activity is therefore best understood not as a conventional list of projects, but as a strategic transition: away from predominantly exploratory biodiversity research and towards an application-driven, industry-oriented research unit focused on prevention, monitoring and data-based decision support for agricultural systems. With this realignment, the department is laying the foundation for measurably reducing biological risks in agricultural systems while opening up new, scalable business models within the bioeconomy. This is already reflected in the reorganization of the project portfolio: projects such as InFueSekt and TenEDEN are being further developed towards system health and process-oriented systems assurance, Bio-Schmier is being repositioned as a transfer-oriented adjacent field, and more thematically distant activities are being located more clearly outside the future core portfolio.