Hear from the bio pioneers who are bringing ground breaking sustainable solutions to the market, investors funding the acceleration, consumer facing brands who are integrating bio within their wider sustainability strategy and the community enablers who can supercharge scalability and commercialisation.
The program addresses every part of the industrial biomanufacturing ecosystem from farmer to consumer and everything in between.
Paul MacDonald, Partner & Head of Community, Bio Innovations Midwest
Whether you are trying to source pre seed, seed or Cat ABC funding, finding the right investment blend and partners is crucial for the future of your bio innovation. Here we discuss the different sources of funding available and the pros and cons of each. Your considerations when deciding between potential investors (and their alignment) and how to spot red flags.
Hosted by Dan Hoffman, CEO, Invest Nebraska
Billy Hagstrom, CEO & Co-Founder, Bluestem Biosciences
Kaylee Williams, Investment Director, InnoVenture Iowa
Mike Jung, Managing Partner, Grit Road Partners
The growth and viability of bioeconomy clusters hinge on the development and deployment of advanced, disruptive and in many cases, integrated technologies that leverage regional assets across agriculture, life sciences, energy, chemicals, and other industries. Hear perspectives on how investment in research, commercialization, public-private partnerships, and other supportive resources are essential to the growth of new bio-based companies and a bioeconomy cluster.
Hosted by Stephen Rapundalo, President & CEO, MichBio
Brad Fingland, Director – Venture Creation, Michigan State University Research Foundation
Joseph Affholter, Program Director, MTRAC-AgBio Innovation Hub, Michigan State University Research Foundation
Jason Noel, Senior Vice President, Vestaron
Kousay Said, CEO, Ecovia Renewables
Driven by growing consumer demand, brands across industries—from packaged foods and personal care to high-end fashion, popular toys, and automobiles—are pursuing biobased options to replace fossil fuel-based materials in their products. Join us to hear from key players across the biobased product value chain on addressing adoption challenges and scaling biobased materials to meet the performance and environmental expectations of consumers and industry alike.
Hosted by James Glueck, Executive Director, Plant Based Products Council
Will Schroeder, Segment Director – Biobased Chemicals, ADM
Luke Palmer, Director – ESG, CJ Bio America
Eric Lee, Business Development Director – Fermentation, Primient
After 25 years of building Geno, Christophe will share his perspective on the state of the industry and what impact, strategic growth and success will look like to get the materials transition right.
Christophe Schilling, CEO & Founder, Geno
Creating the right environment is an often overlooked element of the biomanufacturing research, development and scaleup journey. Here we discuss what the perfect environment (from regulatory, operational, functional and space perspective) looks like in order to foster improved collaboration between agriculture, academia, laboratory, government and industry in order to grow the market and super charge the transition away from fossil and towards bio.
Hosted by Neal Suntken, Associate Principal Education Science & Community, HDR
Kate Engel, Executive Director, Nebraska Innovation Campus
Nigel Reuel, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Iowa State University
Chad Beeson, President, Rainwood Development Partners
Mary Anne Phillippi, Program Design Specialist, Waymaker Group
Performance-driven speciality markets are experiencing a paradigm shift as sustainability is mandated across value chains.
Damien Perriman, Chief Business Development Officer at Gevo, explores how speciality products play a crucial role as proving grounds for broader industry transformations. Blending performance with sustainability demonstrates how carbon abatement unlocks value for waste and renewable feedstocks. Through real-world applications, Gevo showcases that high-value, low-volume products provide a strategic “pole position” in accelerating towards a sustainable industrial future.
Damien Perriman, Chief Business Development Officer, Gevo
Three bio developers & producers, in various stages of their commercialization journey, present how their innovative mindsets and technologies are unlocking new uses for grain. Increasing demand and generating higher margin opportunities are the order of the day for these ambitious disruptors. The session will end with three community enablers joining Reid on stage to discuss what they have just heard and to highlight further opportunities and challenges that each may face along the way.
Hosted by Reid Wagner, Executive Director, Nebraska Ethanol Board
Bio developers & producers
John Hannon, COO, Vertimass
Kelly Davis, Vice President, New Energy Blue
Marilene Pavan, Innovation Manager, LanzaTech
Community enabler
Jessica Monserrate, Head of Sustainability, BASF Agricultural Solutions North America
Tim O’Mara, Process Technology Manager – oil, gas & chemical, Burns & McDonnell
Sponsored by
Join us for an engaging talk about Cemvita, the Houston-based start-up revolutionizing BioSolutions for the energy transition. Discover how our innovative carbon-reducing technologies cater to industries like oil & gas and chemicals. Learn about our sustainable vision, the world-class clients we’ve attracted, and our commitment to a net-zero economy. We will discuss how Cemvita is uniquely positioned to accelerate the production of cost-effective sustainable oil.
Nádia S. Parachin, VP Industrial Biotechnology, Cemvita
Manus is the world’s leading bioalternatives scale-up platform. We work with companies across industries and value chains to accelerate the transition to bioalternatives – better performing and more sustainable versions of complex molecules traditionally sourced from plants, animals, or fossil fuels. Our platform is proven to work across scales, bridging the Valley of Death between lab and manufacturing more efficiently and more reliably to deliver the benefits of synthetic biology, today.
Discover how Manus is driving biomanufacturing forward with sustainable solutions that benefit the Midwest and beyond.
Atul Rathod, President, Industrials, Manus
Sponsored by
