Working with nature to improve crops

Making plants more efficient

About Capitalise

CAPITALISE is an EU funded Horizon 2020 project. We are combining science and innovation to improve photosynthesis for higher yielding crops.

The problem

Our approach

Our solutions

Our impact

Our objectives

What do we want to achieve?

We aim to exploit natural variation in core elements of photosynthesis to identify and develop new genetic resources and support tools.

These outcomes will then be used to improve the photosynthesis of core crop plants to increase yields. Our approach will form the basis for a science and innovation roadmap to kick start a targeted plant breeding programme for Europe 2030.

The CAPITALISE project

CAPITALISE is a large, complex and highly innovative programme.

We will translate world leading state of the art work on key photosynthesis traits from laboratory proof of concept studies using model plants, towards a European crop breeding programme demonstrating more than 10% increase in crop yields.

To achieve this ambition requires several highly innovative steps to advance the scientific and industrial applications.

We will capitalise on the three most promising strategies identified in model plants to discover the genetic resources needed to improve the photosynthetic properties of crop plants.

The latest news

The importance of agrobiodiversity conservation for future farming

Coinciding with the Pre-Summit of the UN Food Systems Summit taking place in Rome 26–28 July 2021 CAPITALISE experts from SSSA introduce the importance of agrobiodiversity to food systems. Biodiversity is the diversity of life on earth, including plants, animals,...

Open Positions

1 PHD POSITION IN PHOTOSYNTHESIS AT VU AMSTERDAMPosition 1: Understanding the molecular basis of photoprotection in plants This position is now filled Position 2: Increasing photosynthetic efficiency tuning the absorption properties of the plantsREQUIREMENTS•...

Presenting the Photosynthesis roadmap to 2030

To support the CAPITALISE science programme a targeted stakeholder consultation and road mapping exercise is planned. This will gather a broad range of expert opinion and learn from other projects, industry experience, grower needs and international...