Building strong relationships with major corporations and foundations involved in biotechnology was an important step in building the EBI. Today, every member of the EBI staff is involved in one or more research projects in collaboration with a corporate partner or a research foundation.

In the past three years the EBI has developed key research projects with Unocal Corporation, Xoma LLC, and Dairy Management Inc, as well as research partnerships with Los Alamos National Laboratories, the Dairy Products Technology Center, and the California Dairy Research Foundation.