by Peter Wren-Hilton | Apr 5, 2023 | 2023 Salinas Biological Summit
We are delighted to finally share the news that a key outcome of the 2023 Salinas Biological Summit will be the launch of the Global Biological Accelerator.
In extensive discussions with key sector stakeholders over the past few months, interest in building a Global Biological Accelerator program has been universally endorsed. The Accelerator’s founding stakeholder group identified some key drivers:
- The demand from regulators and consumers for ‘more biology, less chemistry’ is growing exponentially
- The sector requires a dedicated Accelerator to help scale qualified start-ups to build capability and capacity
- The Accelerator should be global in reach to capture ‘best of breed’ participants
- The Accelerator would target key global grower trial networks to enable its members to test solutions with different crops, in different growing environments, against measureable metrics
- Growers should play a key role in the innovation process to ensure effective commercial delivery and adoption.
The Global Biological Accelerator will be based out of the Western Growers Innovation & Technology Center in Salinas.
It’s model however will have a very significant global virtual component. To enable innovators everywhere to participate 100% in the Accelerator program, the program format will make full use of available online tools to support participant engagement.
One additional key driver. To accelerate the impact of Grower Trial Networks, the Accelerator will leverage the counter-seasonal opportunity offered by northern and southern hemisphere growing seasons. This will enable Accelerator participants to trial solutions across two growing seasons per year. This will accelerate R&D and the timeframe for its commercialisation.
Each trial will be monitored by local partners to ensure that trial results are formally qualified. This will provide real-time feedback to the innovators engaged in the program to assist plan their work and process.
The Global Biological Accelerator will be supported by an Investment Committee. This Committee will identify the Accelerator’s participants during the selection process as well as provide mentoring and advise around assessing and accessing capital and capability requirements. The Committee will use its extensive network reach to assist scale Accelerator cohort members.
To quote veteran Silicon Valley VC, Bill Reichert: ‘Building a start-up has never been cheaper. Scaling one has never been more expensive’. The Investment Committee will include experienced members of the global biological ecosystem and venture capital sector to provide the range of advice needed.
To support innovators, investors and key stakeholders learn more about the opportunity, we’ll be organising in-person workshops that will enable the Accelerator founding stakeholder group to provide more detail about the Program structure, as well as receive feedback from Summit delegates.
These will take place on Monday 19 June in Salinas, immediately prior to the main Summit. We’ll post an update on this and the Summit website, closer to that date with more details about the venue and agenda.
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Mar 27, 2023 | 2023 Salinas Biological Summit
At last October’s 2035 Oceania Summit, New Zealand Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor and the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) Secretary, Karen Ross, signed a joint Letter of Intent. The LOI was designed to increase the level of agrifood tech collaboration between New Zealand & California, specifically in the areas of ‘Climate Smart Agriculture’.
Next Thursday, New Zealand’s Ministry of Primary Industries and the CDFA are hosting a joint webinar to advance the purpose of the LOI. One key objective is to promote the 2023 Salinas Biological Summit which illustrates how New Zealand and California can work together.
You can view next week’s webinar via this public ZOOM link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85364223336
Passcode: #AgTech23
Webinar ID: 853 6422 3336
The Agenda: Thursday April 6th – All times NZT
9:00am Welcoming & Introductions
9:05am California & New Zealand Government
- Steve Kelly, Manager, Market Access North Asia and Americas, Ministry for Primary Industries, New Zealand
- Tawny Mata, Director, Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation, California Department of Food & Agriculture
9:15am Importance of Agri-Food-Tech (15m Panel Discussion)
- Dennis Donahue, Director, Western Growers Innovation & Technology Center
- Peter Wren-Hilton, Founder & CEO, Wharf42
9:30am Perspectives from California & New Zealand
- Ed Massey, General Manager, NZ Winegrowers
- Allison Jordan, California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance
10:00am A Lighter Touch – Future of Farming
- Julie Henderson, California Sustainable Pest Management – Director, California Department of Pesticide Regulation
- Livia Esterhazy, Programme Director, A Lighter Touch
10:30am Closing Remarks/END
Next week’s webinar will highlight some of the emerging opportunities being identified to accelerate the purpose of the LOI. In June, the 2023 Salinas Biological Summit provides a platform for growers, researchers, entrepreneurs and policy-makers to meet and engage with peers from around the world.
We hope you can join us next Thursday to learn more.
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Mar 27, 2023 | International
Last Tuesday, Jacqui and I revisited the Plug & Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale. It had been our Silicon Valley home for large chunks of time between 2010-2015. It was good to be back.
Whilst the address had not changed, the campus’s interior had. A new Events Center had been built on the ground floor and the reception area featured many more corporate partner logos than during our last visit in 2018. It reflects a clear change in direction for some of the Center’s thinking and strategy. This is seeing a much greater focus on corporate partner engagement and certain key technology verticals. Food & agritech is one.
The other big change over the past few years is Plug & Play’s offshore presence. It now has offices in over 40 locations. Sadly, Oceania (New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific Islands) are not part of this mix. Given that the region is home to a number of ‘unicorns’ – Atlassian, Xero, Canva, Culture Amp, Go1, LinkTree, Safety Culture, to name a few, it’s a missing piece in the region’s wider tech ecosystem. The flipside however, wearing my WNT Ventures hat, is that the number of local and global venture funds located in, or relocating to the region, is increasing. Investment activity over the past few years into high growth local technology firms has never been greater.
As we head back to the Bay area for June’s 2023 Salinas Biological Summit, it will be interesting to see how Plug & Play’s work in the food & agritech space develops. Their corporate partner engagement strategy will play a key part in this. It’s a playbook that has been rinsed and repeated. With over 30 unicorns on their own investment portfolio playlist, it’s a strategy that pays off.
Despite the rain and wind that met us on North Wolfe Road as we arrived at the Center, many thanks to Willian Li (pictured above) and Jackie Hernandez for welcoming us back. It was a blast!
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Mar 14, 2023 | 2023 Salinas Biological Summit
It’s been a fascinating 48 hours in San Francisco!
The focus of our 10-day visit to the Bay area had been to exclusively prep the 2023 Salinas Biological Summit. Silicon Valley Bank had other ideas.
Having worked and lived in Silicon Valley several years ago, I know just how important SVB was in terms of the broader startup / innovation ecosystem. Whilst the intervention of government regulators will ensure that depositors are repaid their funds (that’s good), the long-term consequences of SVB’s demise are not. It was the one bank that understood risk and was prepared to support startup companies with some novel products. It’s highly unlikely that early-stage companies will see that level of support coming from the more risk-averse banking entities that will now enter this market. The impact for a number of Silicon Valley-based companies sadly is not looking that flash in the short-to-medium term.
Last night, Jacqui and I had the opportunity to re-focus on the main purpose for being here. We caught up with the SVG/Thrive APAC cohort of companies (pictured above), led by Managing Director, Michael Macolino. The cohort are visiting the Bay area for a week’s programme of in-market immersion. They were joined by our good friends from AgriFutures Australia, Ang and Michael. Whilst SVG Venture’s intent is to bring New Zealand agritech startups into the Thrive APAC mix, this first cohort of companies is 100% Australian. The hope is to change this for Cohort #2. I’m looking forward to seeing how the conversation with NZ Inc. progresses on this. Building that trans-Tasman collaborative framework is key to raising our regional profile in the global market.
I learnt last night that we’ll all be meeting again later this week in Salinas. The group are visiting the Western Growers Innovation & Technology Center and other key players in the Salinas Valley region as part of their in-market immersion programme. The only potential obstacle facing their (and our) planned itineraries is an incoming atmospheric river that is threatening to blanket the Monterey / Salinas region with heavy rain. Following last week’s intensive flooding in the region, this was definitely not something we had put into our meeting agendas. The deluge hits tonight and tomorrow morning.
So it’s been an interesting start to our time in California. Later today, we will be catching up with Dennis Donohue from Western Growers and tomorrow with Undersecretary of the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA), Christine Birdsong. That’s when the prepping for the 2023 Salinas Biological Summit will seriously begin.
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Mar 3, 2023 | 2023 Salinas Biological Summit
We are delighted to be joined by the Undersecretary of the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA), Christine Birdsong, as we formally launch the 2023 Salinas Biological Summit in San Francisco on 14 March.
Undersecretary Birdsong was appointed by Governor Newsom as Undersecretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture in 2021. Previously, she was Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Director of People and Culture for the Sun Valley Rice Company. She has also served as General Counsel for the National Cotton Council of America, Counsel for the Committee on Agriculture for the United States House of Representatives and Federal Government Affairs Leader for CropLife America. Undersecretary Birdsong earned a Juris Doctor degree from the UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and is a UC Berkeley alumni.
Undersecretary Birdsong’s presence reinforces the CDFA support for June’s Summit. This was further highlighted in this Western Growers press release issued on 2 March.
Jacqui and I will be spending 10 days in California as we build on the Summit program. We have already lined up 22 amazing speakers from government, research, industry and investment. You can view them here. Over the coming weeks, we will be announcing more local and international experts who will add their voice to this essential conversation.
Regulators and consumers are driving the move towards increased use of biological solutions to improve soil and plant health. Next week’s launch will provide the platform to share the significant opportunity that June’s Summit will bring.
We hope you can join us. For more details, email Peter Wren-Hilton at peter@wharf42.co.nz
