Tech behind better food | Organ regeneration | Augmented reality
“What gets measured, gets managed." — Peter Drucker, management consultant, educator, and author
Today’s itinerary:
January 14, 2021
CHAT WITH AN INNOVATOR
Making better food in St. Louis Image courtesy Benson Hill
Founded in 2012, Benson Hill is a company at the intersection of data science, genomics, plant biology, and food science. They employ a proprietary technology platform called CropOS™ to make food ingredients that are more sustainable, more nutritious, and better tasting. CropOS™ accelerates breeding by enabling greater precision and fewer breeding cycles. It’s like GPS for plant scientists, and breeders.
The company is housed in a new 160,000 sq. ft.-building on the campus of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Missouri, where the company was founded. In 2020, Benson Hill welcomed Jason Bull as Chief Technology Officer.
Fast Future spoke with Jason Bull to better understand how technology is improving the food system with healthier food options. Bull leads the company’s combined R&D and Data Science capabilities across predictive breeding, genomics, product discovery, big data engineering, and software development.
Benson Hill is located in St. Louis. What are some of the advantages of being there?
Jason Bull: St. Louis is ideal for us for a few different reasons. If you look at the agribusiness contribution to the local St. Louis economy it's about $43 million dollars and about a 160,000 jobs. Also, 50 percent of U.S. crop production is within 500 miles of the St. Louis. We’re right in the heart of agricultural productivity.
Do you draw talent from nearby colleges?
Universities, particularly in the Midwest and in St. Louis itself, are a great source of talent for us. The 39 North ecosystem where we exist has the highest collection of plant science PhDs in the world. We also attract a lot of people outside of St. Louis — especially on the data science side. People working for the big tech companies who want to work on something that has a profound effect.
You know, if you look at machine learning and artificial intelligence, which is part of our big data science push, and you think about where most of the top talent in that area ends up working, it's mostly around driving clicks for ads in the big tech companies. Compare that with improving the food system.
"Universities, particularly in the Midwest and in St. Louis itself, are a great source of talent for us. The 39 North ecosystem where we exist has the highest collection of plant science PhDs in the world."
— Jason Bull, Benson Hill
In October, Benson Hill announced the close of a $150 million Series D funding round. What does this mean for the company?
Jason Bull: That’s a great question. So what we see is that there's this disconnect between consumers’ demand for better food and the current offerings of the agri-food companies. And so we're specifically focused on using the funds in three areas to really drive that solution set: scaling in our commercial operations, partner development, and driving the innovation engine of CropOS™.
We're also doubling down on more typical product development activities around our breeding pipeline and gene editing pipeline. So yeah, we're pushing ahead on all cylinders.
And, of course, we would not be having this conversation now if Dr. William Danforth hadn’t used his influence and wealth to realize his vision of what's become the Danforth Plant Science Center. Share this story!
INNOVATORS PODCAST
How healthy is your data strategy? Fast Future launched its inaugural Innovators Podcast with Microsoft's Future of Work Initiative in Louisville. Each episode shares stories from experts at the forefront of data and artificial intelligence. Listen to gain valuable insight and inspiration for your own data strategy. Here are episodes that cover data and AI innovation related to healthcare. Your next big idea is one podcast episode away!
You can also listen to these episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, or wherever else you get your podcasts.
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PUDDLE HOPS
Dayton named Air Force innovation hub The U.S. Air Force has designated Dayton, OH, as an innovation digital hub. Dayton is already home to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Air Force Research Laboratory. Purdue develops tech to be used in public cameras A professor in Purdue’s College of Engineering, is leading a team working on several patented technologies related to public cameras. The team has created patented technologies that they combined into a computer system to acquire and analyze real-time visual data from millions of globally distributed network cameras. Organ regeneration LyGenesis, a Pittsburgh-based biotechnology company, has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance to move forward on its novel approach to creating working liver tissue in patients in lieu of transplants. A Phase 2a clinical trial is scheduled for this year for the novel therapy for end-stage liver disease. Supplementing the diagnostic process for ADHD The Ohio State University researchers are working on a way to gauge the severity of behavioral problems in children with ADHD. They are using computational psychiatry — comparing a computer-simulated model of normal brain processes to dysfunctional processes observed in tests — to supplement to the diagnostic process for ADHD. Augmented reality for students during COVID Ann Arbor's BrandXR, which offers a no-code platform for building immersive XR experiences, is collaborating with Wayne State University to launch a technology that helps medical and chemistry students learn amid COVID-19. An app for vacationers Iowa-based LeanTECHniques has collaborated with Iowa State University's Department of Computer Science to create an app that uses augmented reality to store and display information for vacation renters. The app allows guests to point the camera at something, like a sauna or grill, and get instructions and information. Share these stories!
FUELING THE FUTURE
What is fueling Fast Future Country innovation? In this weekly feature, we share a variety of announcements covering funding, acquisitions, exits, grants, and everything in between. Got something to celebrate? Click here to share your story.
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