Young talent finding their way to the agbioscience sector doesn’t just happen – it takes boots on the ground and effort in spreading awareness about the career opportunities available. On this week’s episode, Gerry Dick with Inside INdiana Business is joined by Sylvia Harris, a Field Atlas Ambassador and senior at Huntington University. 

They dive into Huntington’s fast-growing agriculture program, connecting students to the agbiosciences through Field Atlas and what it’s like for soon-to-be college graduates searching for their first career.  

Want to learn more about Field Atlas? Visit myfieldatlas.com. 

 

Listen to Sylvia’s episode here:

It started in 1937 with three acres of hybrid seed corn offered by Purdue University and today, it is the largest family-owned, retail seed company in the U.S. Beck’s Hybrids CEO, Sonny Beck, joins Mitch Frazier on this week’s episode of the podcast. They talk family, using agbioscience innovation to help farmers succeed and exploring the “why” in your work.

 

Listen to Sonny’s episode here:

Wisconsin-based gener8tor has announced the fall cohorts for its gBETA Indiana, Bloomington-Columbus, and AgBioScience programs. The startup accelerator says the programs are designed to set a path for startups to participate in other equity-based accelerator programs and investment opportunities.

Each cohort includes five early-stage startups from throughout the state. gener8tor says the seven-week accelerator provides the startups with intensive concierge coaching and access to its national network of mentors, customers, corporate partners and investors. At the end of the program, the participants will pitch to investors, community partners and the public.

Click here to learn more about the startups participating in the fall cohorts.

Gates open at 10:00 AM EDT — Pre-registration required

Highlights:

 

The Indy Autonomous Challenge Powered by Cisco (IAC), the first autonomous racecar competition at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is preparing for thousands of fans to attend. On October 23, 2021, 21 universities from 9 countries forming 9 teams will compete in this first-of-its kind competition. The teams will be competing for $1 million in prize money, which will be used to advance the education and research missions of the winning universities.

Organized by Energy Systems Network and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the primary goal of the IAC is to advance technology that can speed the commercialization of fully autonomous vehicles and deployments of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). These enhancements will lead to increased safety and performance in motorsports as well as all modes of commercial transportation. In addition, the competition is a platform for students to excel in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and inspire the next generation of innovators.

Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc., one of the world’s largest philanthropic foundations, provided a grant to help Energy Systems Network develop the IAC and to fund the $1 million IAC prize purse. The Endowment is committed to advancing STEM education and to efforts to strengthen Indiana, including helping to attract to the state outstanding talent in advanced disciplines such as artificial intelligence (AI).

“The IAC would not be possible without the generous support of Lilly Endowment Inc. and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, which have been committed partners since the beginning,” said Paul Mitchell, president and CEO of Energy Systems Network, and co-organizer of the IAC. “The prize money will go to the winning team’s universities supporting their efforts to further autonomous technology research and development. We know that the work being done by our IAC university teams, alongside some of the best companies in the world, will certainly lead to acceleration of Indiana’s AI and automation industries well into the future.”

The IAC is also announcing that Boston Dynamics’ agile mobile robot, SPOT, will serve as the official flag waver for the competition.

In addition, hundreds of high school STEM students, the next generation of innovators, representing more than 50 urban, rural and suburban school districts across Indiana, will be in attendance. Beyond networking with world-class innovators, high school students attending the event can receive assistance completing their FAFSA and can engage with Indiana’s CollegeChoice 529 plan.

 

Autonomous Innovation Summit (invitation-only)

9:00 AM-12:30 PM (EDT)

 

Hosted by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and co-sponsored by Luminar, the Autonomous Innovation Summit will include sessions on the self-driving industry including accelerating commercialization, developing ideas and talent, and fostering innovation by bringing together top leaders from academia, industry and government.

 

Indiana Governor Eric J. Holcomb, US Senator Todd Young and US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves are among the speakers and panelists at the Summit. Others include (in alphabetical order):

 

 

The invitation-only Summit will be filmed and available on the IAC website for public viewing at a later date.

 

Technology Showcase and Demonstrations

10:00 AM-1:00 PM

Location: Gasoline Alley Garages, IMS

 

IAC university teams and industry leaders will demonstrate their autonomous technologies that have been at the center of the IAC competition. Industry participants include: Cisco, ADLINK, Autoware, Boston Dynamics, Aptiv, AutonomouStuff/Hexagon, Bridgestone, Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR), Luminar, New Eagle, PWR, RTI, and Schaeffler.

 

IAC Competition and University Teams

1:00 PM-4:30 PM (EDT)

 

 

COVID-19 Restrictions: All attendees of the DEX Imaging Media Center, Autonomous Innovation Summit, Gasoline Alley Suites, Legend’s Row Suites and personnel working inside the Gasoline Alley Garages, must show proof of vaccination or a 72-hour negative COVID-19 test.

 

 

 

Inari, the SEEDesignTM company, announced a strategic collaboration with Eden Enterprise, Inc. that enables access to Stine’s elite corn breeding program in order to further advance the development of unique and competitive products.

“We see tremendous potential with gene editing for our corn and soybean breeding programs,” said Harry Stine, president of Eden Enterprise. Stine’s unique approach to corn breeding is driving rapid performance gains in the market and the collaboration announced today further builds on the agreement announced in May with the soybean breeding program.

“By continuing to expand our genetic base, we enable greater genetic diversity using our predictive design and multiplex gene editing technologies,” said Ponsi Trivisvavet, chief executive officer at Inari. “Inari is committed to building nature-positive solutions that enhance productivity in order to build a more sustainable food system. Because of this commitment, we have built a unique technology platform.”

Inari’s SEEDesign™ platform is targeting to deliver a 10-percent yield boost per acre for corn while driving down the use of water and nitrogen by up to 40%. With a diverse genetic base, Inari harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to gain a true understanding of the complexities and opportunities of nature. From sequence to phenotype to field performance – data science and software engineering are used to power the platform to drive Inari’s advanced multiplex gene editing technology.

Collaborative partnerships continue to be a key focus for Inari as the company looks to apply its technology to more crops and geographies.

Scientists at IUPUI, the IU School of Medicine and two other U.S. universities have been awarded a $2.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to explore insects as food and feed in agriculture as a response to a growing population, climate issues and food insecurity. 

On this week’s episode, Gerry Dick with Inside INdiana Business talks with Christine Picard, an associate professor at IUPUI, about The Center for Environmental Sustainability Through Insect Farming. They talk about the basis for this research, why it’s necessary and the industry engagement with their work. 

Learn more about The Center for Environmental Sustainability Through Insect Farming. 

 

 

Listen to Christine’s episode here:

The firm’s third studio incarnation, backed by Emergence Capital and Foundry Group, will accelerate the creation, launch and scale of enterprise cloud companies.

High Alpha, a leading venture studio, announced today the launch of its third venture studio on the heels of raising their third $110M fund earlier this year. Venture studios have ushered in a new model of entrepreneurship that combines startup creation with venture funding. High Alpha Studio III, an enterprise cloud venture studio, raised $18M from repeat investors Emergence Capital, based in San Francisco, and Foundry Group, based in Boulder, Colo.

Founded by experienced technology entrepreneurs Scott Dorsey, Eric Tobias, Mike Fitzgerald and Kristian Andersen in 2015, High Alpha pioneered the venture studio model and has raised over $260M across three funds and three studios. Since its inception, the firm has founded and launched more than 30 companies, including leading cloud companies Zylo, Lessonly, MetaCX, Mandolin, Casted, Bolster and more.

“The venture studio is proving to be one of the most effective and efficient ways to conceive, launch and scale successful high-growth startups,” said High Alpha Managing Partner Scott Dorsey. “We’re proud of the 30 companies and thousands of jobs we’ve created over the past six years, but what we’ve found most rewarding is the impact the studio model has on our co-founders. High Alpha serves as a co-founder in the truest sense of the word by providing a game-changing platform of coaching, services and financial resources. I’m excited for the opportunity we have with this third studio to continue partnering with founders to shape the future of entrepreneurship.”

This announcement builds on recent funding and M&A activity across the High Alpha portfolio, including Shutterstock’s (NYSE: SSTK) acquisition of Pattern89, Cisco’s (NASDAQ: CSCO) acquisition of High Alpha Capital company Socio, Seismic’s acquisition of Lessonly and a $12M Series A financing for concert livestreaming platform Mandolin.

“There’s no way we would be where we are today without the partnership with High Alpha. Because of the studio model, we had a fully-staffed, cross-functional team from day one. This was critical to the momentum and growth we were able to generate in the first 90 days,” said Mary Kay Huse, CEO and co-founder of Mandolin and former executive vice president at Salesforce. “High Alpha’s venture studio model is the ultimate unfair advantage for a CEO and founder.”

The firm also added Foundry Group’s Jaclyn Freeman Hester and Emergence Capital’s Carlotta Siniscalco to its board of directors.

“Emergence Capital is excited to continue to partner with High Alpha as it solidifies its place as the leading B2B venture studio,” said Siniscalco. “We are bullish on the fact that High Alpha’s model provides opportunities for a broader range of individuals to step into entrepreneurship, a critical component for driving the next generation of enterprise software.”

“The High Alpha team are incredibly talented entrepreneurs and operators in addition to being wonderful humans,” said Hester. “Their track record speaks for itself as they continue to prove that the venture studio model will be one of the premier avenues for starting high-growth technology companies in the future. We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with High Alpha and help develop this emerging asset class.”

High Alpha Studio launched a record all-time high of 10 new companies in 2020 and has started 30 companies since its founding in 2015. Recent company launches include Mandolin, Bolster, Filo, Trava, Demandwell and Shaker.

Aaron Schacht transitions to lead the carve-out of Elanco’s microbiome R&D platform, aiming to create a privately funded, independent, biopharmaceutical company focused on microbiome-derived solutions for animal and human health

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated  today announced Ellen de Brabander, Ph.D., will become the new executive vice president of Innovation and Regulatory Affairs. de Brabander brings a proven background of accomplishment in animal health research and development, including the development of parasiticide blockbuster NexGard, as well as major vaccine products in Pet Health and Farm Animal. Current executive vice president Aaron Schacht will lead the initiative to carve out Elanco’s microbiome R&D platform as an independent biopharmaceutical company focused on developing solutions for animal and human health. de Brabander joins Elanco on October 18 and will work with Schacht to ensure a seamless transition.

Elanco intends to carve out its microbiome R&D platform, aiming to create a privately funded, independent, biopharmaceutical company focused on developing solutions for animal and human health. Elanco may retain a minority stake in this new entity. The potential carve-out is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2022 and will be led by Schacht. J.P. Morgan is advising Elanco on its separation alternatives for the platform.

“We are grateful for Aaron’s leadership to move this initiative forward as we aim to carve out our early-stage microbiome R&D platform into an independent entity that focuses on both animal and human health opportunities,” said Simmons. “The move allows Elanco to further concentrate and focus our resources on our high-value late-stage Pet Health pipeline, while our potential minority interest in a new entity would allow us to retain some upside in the longer-term strategic area of the microbiome. Importantly, I’d like to thank Aaron for his work at Elanco during these past six years, bringing us to the inflection point where we stand today.”

“These announcements are yet another step for our strengthened and expanded Innovation, Portfolio, and Productivity (IPP) strategy,” added Simmons. “We are performing against our long-term growth algorithm outlined at our December Investor Day and our teams are well-positioned to continue to drive consistent execution with these long-term strategic actions enabling accelerated value creation.”

de Brabander joins Elanco from PepsiCo, serving as senior vice president for R&D Technical Insights, Digital Solutions, and Compliance, with global responsibilities at the company. Additionally, de Brabander spearheaded the company’s R&D digital transformation.

Prior to PepsiCo, de Brabander spent nearly two decades in animal health and pharmaceutical roles leading global R&D organizations at Merial (now Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health), Intervet (now Merck Animal Health), and the specialty chemical company DSM.

“I am energized to join Elanco and drive its robust pipeline while we continue to build on the current early pipeline at such a pivotal time of growth and innovation for the company,” said de Brabander. “The team’s innovation and purpose-driven culture matches my own for pursuing disruptive, high-impact solutions to some of the world’s greatest and most urgent challenges.”

de Brabander earned her Ph.D. cum laude in bio-organic chemistry from Leiden University in the Netherlands and completed post-doctoral work in molecular biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the group of Prof. Dr. H.G. Khorana, a Nobel laureate. She is the co-author of over 60 publications in scientific journals, holds 18 patents, and has received multiple awards for her research, including the Golden Medal from the Royal Dutch Chemical Society in 2000 for Best Chemist. Additionally, she was named to last year’s National Diversity Council’s list of Power 50 in the U.S.

A once aspiring fashion designer, Anna Haldewang is now the founder and CEO of InsightTRAC based in Syracuse, Indiana. On this week’s episode of the podcast, she joins Gerry Dick from Inside INdiana Business to talk finding agtech as a career, developing a Rover to remove mummies and navel orangeworms in almond orchards and her biggest lessons as an entrepreneur.

 

Listen to Anna’s episode here:

AgriNovus Indiana today announces a staffing addition to support its public education programming. Kaylee Kerr will serve as digital media manager and will continue the ongoing conversation on both the AgriNovus and Field Atlas digital platforms.

Through various channels and strategic partnerships, AgriNovus delivers timely content about the latest innovation and collaboration in the agbioscience sector, where food, agriculture, science and technology converge. This information is vital to stakeholders and those working in the industry but is additionally important as education for the general public.

“AgriNovus has a bold ambition to grow Indiana’s agbioscience economy built on educating, inspiring and engaging people across the state and around the world,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “Kaylee’s energy, coupled with her passion for design, photography and digital communications, make her a great addition to our team.”

Kerr is a recent graduate of High Point University in High Point, N.C. She received her bachelor’s degree in electronic media production and a master’s degree in communication and business leadership. Kerr previously held digital media roles with Heartland Film, Newfields, Successful Culture International and High Point University.

This announcement follows several releases from AgriNovus in September, most recently the winning team of the 2021 Producer-Led Innovation Challenge. To learn more, click here.

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