E-mail: lisa.vanrenterghem@ugent.be With an annual production of 13 million tons worldwide, it is clear that surfactants are very important performance molecules. An emerging class of surfactants are the biosurfactants (BS) produced by microorganisms, offering a more environmentally friendly alternative compared to the traditional (petrochemically produced) surfactants. Unfortunately, there are some factors that have hindered the real market penetration of BS up until today, like limited structural variability, the production of mixtures, and often low productivities. One type of glycolipid BS are sophorolipids (SLs), naturally produced by the non-pathogenic yeast Starmerella bombicola in high amounts (> 200 g/L), explaining its large industrial interest. This non-pathogenic yeast can be genetically engineered to alter the production towards one specific tailor-made BS (for example bolaform SLs), transforming S. bombicola into a real platform organism. In this research, an integrated bioprocess design strategy is developed, covering the whole innovation chain from genetic engineering to fermentation and downstream processing (DSP), to final application testing for the production of new types of BS produced by S. bombicola.