As a national bamboo and rattan research institution rooted in China and facing the world, ICBR mainly carries out research projects in bio-resources preservation, cultivation, improvement, processing and utilization with five key research areas, namely biomass materials, genetic science, bio resources chemistry, resource cultivation and physiological/ecological studies and green economy. Since its establishment, ICBR has taken part in over 300 highly fruitful projects. The Research and Demonstration on Crucial Manufacture Technology of Bamboo Engineering Materials and the Establishment and application of mechanical characterization technology system for plant cell wall directed and completed by the ICBR won the first prize and the second prize of National Scientific and Technological Progress Award respectively; in 2013, the ICBR successfully  decoded the whole genome of bamboo and drew the world’s first “Sketch Map of the Whole Genome of Moso Bamboo”; in 2018, the ICBR decoded the whole genome data of two species of rattan and released the latest high precision moso bamboo genome data; ICBR successfully developed a high-performance bamboo-wood composite material meeting requirements of wind power blade; the ICBR made great breakthrough in terms of modern bamboo and wood structure construction technologies, achieving domestication of key materials.

Currently, ICBR is researching 19 national projects including Integration and Demonstration of Bamboo Resource Whole Industrial Chain Value-added and Efficiency-added Technologies, Innovative Research on Key Technology of High Value-added Processing of Bamboo Material and Research on Key Technology of High Efficient Nurturing Bamboo Resource under the key R&D plan in the 13th Five-year Plan Period as well as Pit Characteristics of Bamboo Material and Way of Moso Bamboo’s Dof Transcription Factor Regulating Flowering and Its Molecular Regulating Mechanism under the NSFC.