Transparency in Science Collaborations

Translating scientific knowledge into innovative solutions is key for societal progress and to bring our mission “Health for All, Hunger for None” to life. No one can leverage the full potential of these solutions alone – partnerships play a key role. That’s why we are working with both scientists and scientific institutions around the world to find new and sustainable solutions in health and agriculture.

Bayer Science Collaboration Explorer

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Strengthening transparency in science collaborations

While collaborations are essential, partnerships between the public and private sector are seen by some with skepticism and a plea for more transparency has been made. With our new Bayer Science Collaboration Explorer, we want to address this concern and have started publishing information related to our collaborations in science with external partners.

Explore our scientific collaborations with partners worldwide

Launch Switzerland

We constantly expand our scientific transparency efforts and recently added Swiss Bayer entities to our Science Collaboration Explorer.

Read here an Interview with Dr. Monika Lessl about the roll-out

Bubble size correlates to number of contracts

With the publicly accessible Bayer Science Collaboration Explorer, we invite you to discover our scientific collaborations using the database below where we disclose information on newly established contracts with universities, public research institutions, and individuals. The Explorer currently includes information about 1000+ collaborations with partners in 37 countries and will grow further over time. In spring 2022, the Explorer was successfully audited by Deloitte (view audit report). The database was initially rolled out in Germany in September 2021. By now, the Explorer also discloses contract-based collaborative research of Bayer entities in the United States (since December 2022), Switzerland (since February 2024) and Brazil (since November 2024). We aim to make the Explorer available in other countries in the future. Have a look yourself!

Disclosure details

The 'funding committed' data presented on this website is derived from signed contracts and may encompass multi-year collaborations with milestone-based payments and exclude certain other country-specific information.

As a result, the reported amount may vary from the actual annual spend captured in Transfers of Value that are disclosed and published pursuant to specific countries’ requirements. For example, the annually published transfers of value for U.S. healthcare organizations is available at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov.

Find out more

What is in scope of this initiative?

The Bayer Science Collaboration Explorer started with contract-based research collaborations in Germany in September 2021 and was extended to the United States in December 2022. Since February 2024, data is also being disclosed for Switzerland and since November 2024 also for Brazil. The disclosed partner types are universities, public research institutions, and individuals. The scope of the BSCE will be extended stepwise.

Please find here a detailed definition of the in-scope partner types:

Universities: Institutions of higher learning providing facilities for teaching/research and authorized to grant academic degrees (including Medical Schools & University Hospitals)
Public Research Institutions: Non-university and non-enterprise research-focused organizations with a considerable part of public funding
Individuals: Science experts except of Health Care Professionals – in accordance with data privacy laws

Commercial businesses and Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) are currently excluded; however, collaborations with HCPs are covered by Bayer’s “Transfer of Value” initiative and therefore not duplicated here.

What details are disclosed?

Balancing the transparency requirements of the public with confidentiality needs of Bayer and our partners, the following details are disclosed for each collaboration listed above:

ID: External reference number assigned to every disclosed collaboration
Division: Name of partnering Bayer division (Pharmaceuticals, Crop Science, Consumer Health or Enabling Functions)
Subject of Collaboration: Meta category that best represents the scientific area of the collaboration
Collaboration Type: Meta category that best represents the type of collaboration (Advisory Board Agreement, Consultancy Agreement, R&D Agreement, Speaker Agreement, Sponsorship Agreement, Other Agreement)
Contract Partner(s): Name of partnering legal entity or individual (in case a partner does not consent to the disclosure, the partner's name gets anonymized (“undisclosed”) – in accordance with the law)
Country of Partner(s): Partner’s country of incorporation / residence
Country of Bayer Legal Entity: Bayer legal entity’s country of incorporation
Funding Committed: Financial range of total funding committed by Bayer over the entire contract duration – might get adjusted retroactively based in actuals or proactively in case of contract amendments (ranges: 0 Euro; 1 - 10.000 Euro; 10.001 - 100.000 Euro; 100.001 - 500.000 Euro; 500.001 - 1.000.000 Euro; 1.000.001 - 5.000.000 Euro; 5.000.001 - 10.000.000 Euro; 10.000.001 - 25.000.000 Euro; 25.000.001 Euro +); for all financial ranges, additional non-monetary transfer of value may apply which are not listed here. These can include for example materials or know-how transfer.
Effective Date: Date as of which the collaboration becomes effective
Status: Indication whether collaboration is ongoing (active) or completed (inactive)

Where do I find further information?

Please find a more detailed Q&A document

Download here (PDF 377.38 KB)

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