NCBiotech's Ag Tech Professional Forum Initiates Focus On Plant Health

Ever wondered how large ag tech companies decide what to pursue when they’re looking 15 years into the future? You’ll get a chance to find out at the next Ag Tech Professional Forum Feb. 19 at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

The United Nations has declared 2020 as the Year of Plant Health, the international effort highlighting that plants are essential to human, animal and environmental health, and the Biotech Center’s AgTech Professional Forum series will offer a yearlong focus on the topic.

The February 19 Forum will showcase a panel of industry experts discussing how they decide what to develop in this time of complexity and risk. Experts from Syngenta, Bayer Environmental Science, BASF, and the chief technology officer from UPL  will discuss how they develop long-term strategy in a discussion moderated by NCBiotech’s vice president of Agriculture Sector Development, Scott Johnson. 

“We always try to get large companies involved at first,” said Nandini Mendu, who helms the Biotech Center’s Ag Tech Professional Forums. So the first event includes Charles Baxter, head of trait development, at Syngenta, Gilles Galllou, from Bayer Environmental Science, Marianela Rodriguez-Carre, innovation scout for BASF, and Ardrian Percy, chief technology officer at UPL, and venture partner, Finistere Ventures..

Johnson said the discussion will explore how global innovation companies target their development projects in the face of the variables of local market demand, disparate regulatory policy and uncertainty of environmental change.

 “One of the discussions we’ll have,” Johnson said, “is how a large company looks at trends and hurdles and how often they review these base assumptions when they are working on products or technology that may not be commercial for more than a decade.”

He added, "We'll also be covering aspects of big-company innovation, including seeds, proprietary products and ornamentals."

Added Mendu, "We want participants to walk away having learned new ideas to apply to their own strategies."

Registration for the forum is $10 in advance and $15 on-site.