Other Names: ICIDCA
Address: Vía Blanca No. 804 Carretera Central,
San Miguel del Padrón,
A. Postal 4026, Ciudad de Habana, Cuba
Website: http://www.icidca.cu (in Spanish)
Phone Number: 53 (7) 986501
Subordinate to: Ministry of Sugar
Director: Luis O. Gálvez Taupier
Size: According to its website, ICIDCA consists of 50 laboratories, five pilot plants, along with two semi-commercial plants. A 1989 Financial Times article suggested that ICICDA would employ 2,600 scientists and technicians by the end of the decade, and that the institute was composed of three separate institutions, specializing respectively in cellulose, fermentation, and sugar. However, the center's website reports that it has 144 university graduate employees, including 20 with doctorates, 26 with master's degrees, and 137 technicians.
Primary Function: ICIDCA has been prominent in sugarcane by-product research, development, and production, both for domestic use and consumption, and for export.
History: ICIDCA was founded in 1963 in order to support and develop technology to achieve more efficient use of sugar and its byproducts. The center initially focused on more basic engineering techniques to accomplish this goal; however, since 1990, ICIDCA has attempted to integrate more closely with the West Havana "Scientific Pole," concentrating on pharmaceutical and agricultural research.

Description:
Following the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology's (CIGB) successes with experiments with yeasts, ICIDCA began to use sugarcane derivatives as substrate for growing yeast for single-cell protein production. Single-celled protein may be used as animal feed, eliminating the need to import more expensive feed supplement products. According to a UN University publication, under ICIDCA, ten plants were producing 12,000 tons of single-cell protein per year.

ICIDCA's website lists many of their current products, including various types of biological fertilizers, biological pesticides, and alcohols.

Key Sources: Manuel Limonta, "Biotechnology and the Third World: Development Strategies in Cuba," Biomedical Science and the Third World, ed., Barry Bloom and Anthony Cerami, (New York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1989), pg. 325-333; Charles Cooper (ed), Technology and Innovation in the International Economy (Maastricht, Holland: Edward Elgar- United Nations University Press, 1994), p. 2.4.4; Juan O. Tamayo, "US skeptical of report on Cuban biological weapons," Miami Herald, 23 June 1999; ICIDCA website, <http://www.icidca.cu>; Robert Graham, "Sugar record in sight," Financial Times, 17 February 1989.

	Updated February 2004