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.