It's about time...and it's about jobs...

The NC Biotechnology Center announced today that Gwyn Riddick will be promoted to the new position of Vice President for its AG/BIO initiative (view the press release here). As a member of the NC Biotechnology Center's Agricultural Biotechnology Advisory Committee and an ag biotech entrepreneur for the last decade, I am pleased to see this development and the recognition of the value ag biotech can bring to the state and to the world. I am also pleased to hear about the emphasis being placed on spinning out new technologies applicable to agriculture from NC research universities into commercial ventures such as start-up companies (view a follow up article in Tech Journal South here). It has been my experience that it is in small biotechnology companies that true innovations are being developed and real risk taken to find solutions for tomorrow's problems. It is also happens that small businesses (biotech start-ups included) are where true job growth occurs. However, it has also been my experience that traditional venture capitalists don't have much of an appetite for ag biotech ventures. Interestingly, State Treasurer Jane Colwell's recent proposal to focus a portion of the state's pension money to fund NC companies (view the Triangle Biz Journal article here) could potentially help jump start this initiative and help move ag biotech in NC from the benchtop to barnyard.

But by the grace of emerging markets...

This "great recession" (or whatever the economists call it) is far from over for the millions of unemployed and underemployed, for the retailers, for the home builders, for the automotive manufacturers. It's hard to find any sector of the economy or any corner of the world that hasn't been affected. I recently started subscribing to the Economist magazine for its comprehensive coverage of world markets, and on the last page of each issue is a table of GDP growth by country and region. Quite sobering - every single country listed has had negative GDP growth (i.e., shrinkage) in 2009, every one except for China and India (Indonesia, Australia and Pakistan are also notable for being in positive GDP territory). Interesting. It's no wonder then, the Asian markets are the hottest ones for my company's products (also helping is the devalued US dollar making our products cheaper in overseas markets). But have the emerging economies gotten a bit too "frothy"? My stake in the emerging markets mutual fund NEWFX is up over 60% for the year. How long can the party last, especially when everyone else (US included) is left out in the cold?