IPBO was created in 2000 under the impulse of Professor Emeritus Dr. Marc Van Montagu of the Department of Molecular Genetics of Ghent University.

IPBO has as a mission of training and technology transfer and of stimulating developing countries to establish their own competitive plant biotechnology research. IPBO assists institutions and researchers in developing countries find the right partners to develop strategies to solve specific agricultural problems.

IPBO's research programs are oriented to the needs of developing countries and focus on agricultural productivity and biodiversity. Its initial projects are directed towards nutritional improvement of beans, and the response of rice to flooding.

IPBO's director, Prof. Dr. Godelieve Gheysen is a prolific scholar who will play a key role in the BTN project by supervising research activities aimed at developing a database of AFLP^® markers for bamboos.