Jealott's Hill Today

Jealott's Hill International Research Centre

The Syngenta site at Jealott’s Hill has a 90-year history, with the company heritage including ICI and Zeneca Agrochemicals. It is the largest commercial research facility in the UK dedicated to the development of new agricultural technologies for global use
850 people are employed here doing vital work to help feed the world
This generates £40million a year in salaries, much of which is reinvested in the area benefitting the local economy
This is Syngenta’s largest R&D site worldwide and the only site to deliver across all major research areas
Multi-disciplinary scientific expertise: Biology, Chemistry, Data Sciences, Human and Environmental Sciences, and Computer Modelling
This work is of vital international significance and has a global application, protecting millions of acres of farmland worldwide
The site has extensive offices, laboratories, glasshouses and growth rooms for research at scale
More than 240 collaborations are underway – the location within the UK is significant for working relationships with Universities, institutes and influencers including Imperial College and the Universities of Reading, Oxford and Cambridge
The team delivers proactive community and schools engagement – outreach, work experience, school visits, careers talks and teacher training
Ongoing financial investment in Jealott’s Hill International Research Centre includes a recent £10million investment into the Library and Dispensary and pioneering automated assays screening. Syngenta invests £200M annually on R&D at Jealott’s Hill

Jealott's Hill

The need for change at Jealott’s Hill

Significant investment is needed to revitalise older infrastructure, enabling Syngenta to attract the right talent and support the collaborations which will transform our ability to respond to future sustainable global food production challenges.

To be confident in making this level of investment, the vision for the wider site must be realised; this is critical if we are to make the most of the opportunities that new technologies bring.

The fast growing world of agri-tech is moving at pace and there is a huge opportunity for the UK to be at the centre of agri-tech R&D by delivering a Science and Innovation campus with Syngenta as its anchor institution.

This investment will not only secure the viability of existing jobs, but also create around 2,000 more skilled job opportunities as new clean growth, technology, life sciences and environmental management companies locate at this world-class facility. Find out more about the proposed Science and Innovation Park by watching this film

The scope, scale and activities of the proposed Science and Innovation Park go much further than Syngenta, visit the addressing global challenges page to find out more.

New technologies provide great opportunities

Driving change

Using new technologies such as artificial intelligence-guided synthesis, predictive toxicology, genome editing and computer-aided design to create molecules with built-in safety, sustainability and resilience to resistance.

Biocontrols

Optimising performance through understanding of underlying biology, and use of novel molecular and analytical techniques to explore the interaction of plants with the environment and microbiome.

Application methodology

Developing products and technologies to enable highly targeted placement, powered by machine vision & learning to minimise operator and environmental exposure.

Digital tools & analytics

Interpreting data from crop and environmental models, predictive models of product and pest behaviour, crop / pest imaging and remote sensing to simplify decision-making.