Speakers to Explore Key Agribusiness Issues at Ag Innovation Showcase
Featuring Top Scientific Investors, Leading Ag Companies
Featuring Top Scientific Investors, Leading Ag Companies
| April 14, 2009, St. Louis, MO – With an emphasis on stimulating strategic agribusiness deals and gaining insight on
future agricultural trends, the Ag Innovation Showcase will feature an elite group
of speakers and presenters during the two day event, May 18 and
19 at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Mo. Sessions will range from agbio and biofuels to crops and sustainable materials.
More information is available at www.agshowcase.com.
Monsanto’s key strategist, Carl Casale, executive vice president, Strategy and Operations, will keynote and focus on today’s most pressing issues in the ag space from a rounded and practical perspective. In addition, speakers and moderators representing leading agribusiness and life science companies and institutional investors will include: Arama Kukutai, managing director, Finistere Ventures; Sharon Berberich, early stage commercial assessment lead, Dow AgroSciences; Martha Schlicher, vice president of technology and business development for GTL Resources; Cheryl Morley, senior vice president of corporate strategy, Monsanto; Brian Clevenger, founder and managing director, Prolog Ventures; Mike Hoerle, principal, Cargill; and Ralph S. Quantrano, Ph.D., Spencer T. Olin professor in Arts and Sciences and chair of the Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis. (Speakers’ bios available at http://www.agshowcase.com/Speakers.aspx) Senior level executives attending the Ag Innovation Showcase will be representing companies and organizations such as Dow AgroServices, Kauffman, USDA, Monsanto, Cargill, Bunge North America, T2 Venture Capital, MidPoint Food and Ag Fund, Prolog Ventures, Finistere Ventures, Ltd., Sigma-Aldrich, and others. A special feature of the program will be presentations to investors and industry experts by promising entrepreneurs selected by a judging committee based on criteria including their development of innovative and commercially relevant technologies to increase yield, decrease inputs, and/or reduce environmental degradation. Entrepreneur presentations will focus on one or more of the following sectors: plant productivity, ag-biotech, food and nutrition, renewable energy, animal health and productivity, geospatial systems or bio-infomatics “As a prime relationship building opportunity for entrepreneurs, companies and investors in the ag community, the Ag Innovation Showcase is designed to stimulate strategic deals, partnering opportunities and collaborative business ventures in the plant science and agriculture markets,” said Sam Fiorello, President of Bio-Research and Development Growth (BRDG) Park, which in June will open the first of three buildings for fledgling plant and life sciences companies on the campus of the Danforth Plant Science Center. The Ag Innovation Showcase is a joint enterprise between BRDG Park, Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise, Missouri Biotechnology Association and Missouri Technology Corporation. It will be produced by Larta Institute, a Los Angeles-based innovation hub that also manages the national commercialization programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Institutes of Health. Coinciding with and following the Ag Innovation Showcase, the 2009 World Agricultural Congress will convene May 18-20 in St. Louis. The agenda will focus on seeking solutions to the issues of food supply and rising costs, impacts on global economies and the crucial resource of water. |
About BRDG Park at the Danforth Center
Bio-Research & Development Growth (BRDG) Park at the Danforth Plant Science Center helps life sciences companies bridge research, resources and relationships to achieve commercial success. In addition to providing world-class wet laboratories, office space and a prominent incubator, BRDG Park’s location on the Danforth Center’s campus facilitates access to the intellectual capital of top scientists, as well as to greenhouse, growth chambers, microscopy and proteomics facilities and other vital resources. Located in suburban St. Louis County, Missouri, BRDG Park is being developed by Wexford Science+Technology LLC, a privately held real estate developer and investment company that has developed six major research parks nationwide. More information is available at
www.BRDG-Park.com.