The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
Innovation has become a key driver for seed enterprises to build core competitiveness. Taking L Seed Company as a case study, this paper constructs a three-dimensional analytical framework—“technological innovation-variety innovation-model innovation”—based on innovation theory. It delves into core issues within the enterprise regarding innovation resource allocation, innovation outcome transformation, and innovation collaboration mechanisms. The study proposes targeted and feasible strategies for enhancing competitiveness, offering practical pathways for China’s seed industry to achieve innovation-driven high-quality development.
Currently, international seed industry giants dominate the global market through substantial innovation investments and well-established innovation systems ([
The systemic and collaborative nature of seed industry innovation is a research hotspot ([
With the deepening advancement of China’s seed industry revitalization strategy, research related to seed industry innovation has shown rapid growth ([
In summary, existing research predominantly focuses on the seed industry as a whole, with relatively few in-depth case studies examining the innovation practices of specific enterprises. Moreover, most studies employ single- or dual-dimensional analyses, making it difficult to comprehensively grasp the core components and enhancement pathways of seed enterprises’ innovation competitiveness. Therefore, this paper adopts specific enterprises as its research subjects. Through an integrated study of the intrinsic relationships among “technology-variety-model,” it analyzes and proposes enhancement strategies.
1) Technological Innovation: Leading Investment Scale, Accelerated Deployment of Cutting-Edge Technologies
| Year | Research and Development Expenditure (in billions of yuan) | R&D expenditure as a percentage of revenue (%) | Number of Core R&D Personnel (persons) | Number of cutting-edge technology patent applications (units) |
| 2020 | 5.21 | 7.56 | 426 | 28 |
| 2021 | 5.87 | 7.80 | 458 | 35 |
| 2022 | 6.35 | 7.73 | 492 | 42 |
| 2023 | 7.12 | 7.72 | 531 | 51 |
| 2024 | 6.93 | 8.09 | 568 | 63 |
2) Variety Innovation: Increased Number of Achievements, Prominent Advantages of High-Quality Varieties
3) Model Innovation: Collaborative Mechanism Development, with Room for Improvement in Transformation Efficiency
| Year | Number of newly approved varieties (units) | Revenue Contribution from Premium Varieties (%) | Area of Transgenic Varieties Promoted (10,000 mu) | Variety Iteration Cycle (Years) |
| 2020 | 18 | 45 | 0 | 6.5 |
| 2021 | 22 | 48 | 0 | 6.2 |
| 2022 | 25 | 52 | 120 | 5.8 |
| 2023 | 28 | 55 | 350 | 5.2 |
| 2024 | 32 | 58 | 680 | 4.5 |
| Year | Number of Industry-Academia-Research Collaboration Projects (units) | Conversion rate of R&D achievements (%) | Area Covered by Contract Farming (10,000 mu) | Digital Promotion Channels Revenue Share (%) |
| 2020 | 12 | 66.67 | 350 | 8 |
| 2021 | 15 | 68.18 | 420 | 12 |
| 2022 | 18 | 68.00 | 510 | 16 |
| 2023 | 22 | 67.86 | 630 | 21 |
| 2024 | 25 | 65.63 | 780 | 28 |
1) Innovation Resources: Significant advantages in germplasm resources and hardware facilities. The company maintains over 100,000 germplasm accessions and has established three major R&D centers equipped with advanced facilities including gene sequencers and AI breeding platforms. In 2024, it received 120 million yuan in subsidies under the Seed Industry Revitalization Program. However, the precision utilization efficiency of germplasm resources remains low, with only 30% of germplasm resources applied in large-scale breeding programs.
2) Innovation Talent Factors: The core R&D team includes 12 experts receiving special government allowances and 8 leading figures in the seed industry, with a preliminary talent pipeline established. However, shortcomings exist in talent incentive mechanisms, as equity incentive coverage for R&D personnel stands at only 25%, below the industry-leading average of 40%. This elevates the risk of losing high-end talent. Concurrently, recruitment and cultivation of international high-end talent remain insufficient, with overseas R&D teams comprising just 35 individuals—accounting for 6.16% of core R&D personnel.
3) Innovation Collaboration Factors: Domestically, the company has established a relatively comprehensive innovation collaboration network with research institutions and upstream/downstream enterprises, with collaborative innovation achievements accounting for 45% of total innovation outcomes in 2024. However, internationally, it has only engaged in technical cooperation with a few companies in Brazil and India, without establishing overseas R&D centers. Its capacity for integrating international innovation resources remains insufficient, making it difficult to respond swiftly to global technological transformation demands in the seed industry.
4) Innovation Policy Factors: Deeply engaged in national policy initiatives such as the pilot program for industrializing biological breeding and the seed industry revitalization campaign, benefiting from preferential policies including R&D expense super-deduction and intellectual property protection. In 2024, R&D expense super-deduction reached 210 million yuan. However, policy alignment requires improvement, utilization of policies supporting international innovation cooperation remains insufficient, and the overseas intellectual property protection system is yet to be fully developed.
1) Low efficiency in innovation commercialization: The conversion rate of R&D achievements stands at only 65.63%. The core reason lies in the absence of a coordinated mechanism between R&D and market operations. Some varieties exhibit poor compatibility between yield and quality, while others fail to meet regional cultivation demands in terms of stress tolerance. Support services in the promotion phase lag behind, lacking integrated “variety + technology + service” solutions, resulting in slow adoption by farmers. The assessment mechanism for technology transfer is inadequate, failing to incorporate market conversion outcomes into core evaluation metrics for R&D teams, leading to significant disconnect between research and market needs.
2) Insufficient support for diversified innovation: Variety innovation is concentrated in rice, with newly approved rice varieties accounting for 65% of all approved varieties. Innovation in categories such as corn and vegetables lags behind, with high-quality corn varieties contributing only 42% of revenue and vegetable variety innovation contributing less than 5%—a mismatch with the company’s diversified development strategy. Technological innovation focuses on cutting-edge fields like GMOs and AI breeding, yet basic research investment remains inadequate. R&D expenditure accounts for only 15% of total investment, below the industry average of 25%.
3) Lagging Innovation Incentives and Talent Development: Equity incentives cover only 25% of R&D personnel, while compensation incentives are loosely tied to innovation outcomes, dampening R&D staff’s motivation for innovation. Specialized development programs for high-end innovation talent are lacking, resulting in delayed talent pipeline construction—young R&D personnel account for just 30% of the workforce. Insufficient recruitment and cultivation of international high-end talent, coupled with small overseas R&D teams, place the company at a disadvantage in the global competition for seed industry talent.
4) Weak international innovation collaboration: Overseas industry-academia-research cooperation projects account for only 12% of the total project portfolio. No overseas R&D centers have been established, and the capacity to integrate international innovation resources remains limited. The overseas intellectual property protection system is inadequate, with patents filed in 15 countries but granted in only 8. Additionally, insufficient adaptation of varieties to different countries’ conditions persists. Most varieties promoted overseas are direct imports of domestic varieties, exhibiting poor regional adaptability and hindering the realization of innovation value in international markets.
5) Germplasm utilization rate stands at only 30%, with vast quantities of high-quality germplasm resources remaining underdeveloped; R&D investment suffers from a “quantity over quality” approach. In 2024, 12 R&D projects failed due to unclear objectives and unreasonable technical approaches, resulting in an 18% waste rate of R&D investment. Concurrently, innovation resources are excessively skewed toward high-risk, long-cycle projects, while insufficient investment is directed toward variety improvement projects yielding short-term results. This misalignment between innovation resource allocation and market demand persists.
Establish a market demand research system at the front end, forming a variety approval committee comprising R&D personnel, marketing specialists, and farmer representatives to ensure newly approved varieties precisely align with market needs. During promotion, develop integrated solutions combining “varieties + technical guidance + post-harvest services,” offering planting training and field management guidance to boost farmer adoption. Increase the technology transfer rate of R&D outcomes to over 75%. Optimize the evaluation and incentive mechanisms for technology transfer. Incorporate commercialization metrics such as revenue and market share into R&D team evaluations, with a minimum weighting of 40%. Establish a dedicated achievement conversion bonus, rewarding R&D teams with 1% - 2% of commercial revenue for outstanding commercial outcomes.
Increase investment in corn and vegetable innovation, raising corn R&D allocation from 35% to 45% and vegetable R&D allocation from 8% to 15%. Establish joint laboratories with leading vegetable research institutions to increase vegetable variety revenue share to over 12%. Optimize corn variety structure by promoting specialized varieties like silage corn and high-oil corn, raising premium corn variety revenue share to over 60%. Increase basic research allocation to 25% of R&D investment, focusing on germplasm innovation and gene editing fundamentals to lay groundwork for breakthrough technologies.
Implement the “Core Talent Equity Plan,” offering personalized incentives through tailored strategies for international high-end talent and seed industry leaders. Establish an “Innovation Talent Special Fund” to continuously increase funding for R&D personnel training, advanced studies, and innovation projects. Create a fault-tolerance mechanism for R&D staff to stimulate innovation enthusiasm. Implement the “International Talent Recruitment Program” to attract 5-8 top global seed industry experts annually, establishing talent workstations. Collaborate with renowned agricultural universities to build a “Seed Industry Innovation Talent Training Base,” cultivating over 50 young R&D talents. Construct a three-tier talent pipeline of “Leading Talents - Core Talents - Young Talents” to ensure the stability and growth of the innovation workforce.
Collaborate with international seed industry giants to establish joint bio-breeding laboratories, expanding the scale of international industry-academia-research partnerships to increase the proportion of international cooperation projects to over 30%. Form an international intellectual property (IP) team to develop differentiated patent application strategies tailored to each country’s IP policies, achieving over 80% patent authorization coverage in international markets. Establish a variety infringement early warning mechanism to safeguard the value of innovations in international markets. Simultaneously, advance localized variety innovation by conducting targeted variety improvements based on regional climate and soil conditions to enhance the adaptability of overseas varieties.
Construct a “Digital Germplasm Resource Management Platform” to perform gene sequencing and trait annotation on germplasm resources, establishing a germplasm database. Utilize AI technology to screen high-quality germplasm resources, increasing germplasm resource utilization to over 60%. Collaborate with research institutions to establish a germplasm resource sharing platform, achieving complementary resource utilization. Implement a project approval review mechanism for innovation initiatives, incorporating external experts to assess feasibility and reduce project failure rates. Promptly adjust or terminate projects with slow progress or poor outcomes to optimize resource allocation. Establish an innovation resource sharing mechanism, opening R&D equipment, laboratories, and other resources to internal teams and partner institutions to enhance resource utilization efficiency.
Overall, from 2020 to 2024, L Seed Company has achieved remarkable results in innovation. It has established core strengths in technological innovation investment, variety innovation achievements, and domestic collaborative innovation. Breakthroughs have been made in areas such as the promotion of genetically modified varieties and the application of intelligent breeding technologies, laying a solid foundation for enhancing the company’s competitiveness. However, the company still faces prominent challenges, including low efficiency in commercializing innovation outcomes, an imbalanced innovation structure, lagging talent incentives, and weak international innovation collaboration. These shortcomings persist in the global seed industry innovation competition.
Moving forward, a multidimensional strategy combining “improved commercialization systems + optimized innovation structure + upgraded talent incentives + global innovation network building + enhanced resource allocation efficiency” can effectively boost the company’s innovation capabilities. This approach will transform technological and resource advantages into sustained market competitiveness and industry leadership. Moreover, L Seed Company’s innovation practices offer crucial insights for China’s seed enterprises: companies must establish a tripartite innovation system integrating “technology-variety-model” tailored to industry characteristics, strengthen resource integration and collaboration, and drive variety upgrades, technological breakthroughs, and model optimization through innovation. Only then can they consolidate their core position in fierce global competition and contribute significantly to national seed security and agricultural modernization.