AFP on Friday reported that BP will fund an Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), which will perform “ground-breaking research” aimed at producing new and cleaner energy.

It will initially focus on biofuels for cars and trucks.

The research will be conducted at the University of California, Berkeley and its affiliated Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and at the University of Illinois. The three institutions were selected from a worldwide pool of applicants.

An estimated 50 BP employees will be involved in the EBI research.

“The proposal from UC Berkeley and its partners was selected in large part because these institutions have excellent track records of delivering ‘Big Science’,” AFP quoted BP group chief executive Lord John Browne as saying.

Browne defined big science as “large and complex developments predicated on both scientific breakthroughs and engineering applications that can be deployed in the real world”.

The institute will merge academia and the private sector to create “the discipline of Energy Biosciences”, he said.

AFP also quoted LBNL deputy director Graham Fleming as saying that the institute will not have “any vested interest” in a particular outcome due to funding by one of the world’s largest petroleum companies.

BP claims it is already a “top player” in the global biofuels market with a 10% stake and said last year it blended 718 million gallons of ethanol with gasoline, a 25% increase from 2005.