1. Agricultural Technology in the Spotlight
Posted on June 11 2014 | Author: Kelly Laidlaw
The increasing demand for sustainable agriculture, food, water, bioproducts, and energy is driving
innovation in the agricultural technology space - and investors are taking notice.
Michael S. Fischer explains in the article Agriculture Tech The New Facebook? that agriculture
technology, or agri-tech, is one of the investing world’s best-kept secrets. Agri-tech has become a hot area
for investors given the current poor rates of return in traditional sectors, as well as the global, long-term
demand for increased amounts of food. With the UN predicting that the world population will reach nine
billion by 2050, agri-tech appears poised to become the ‘New Wave’ sector. As the world’s population
rises, agriculture is struggling to find ways to keep up with the increasing demand for food. The good news
is there are many exciting companies surfacing with technologies that offer solutions to these critical global
issues. For example, here at Bioenterprise, we have seen companies that have developed biological
solutions for weed controls that replace toxic chemicals; innovative ‘Big Data’ technologies; and advanced
technologies in animals health and welfare, to name a few.
“Just as technology has transformed other industries, from hotel reservations to finance to medical record
management, the technology developed at these firms is transforming agriculture,” says Fischer (2011).
These were the very sentiments reflected at the Global Corporate Venturing Symposium in London,
England on May 20-21, 2014.
The Global Corporate Venturing Symposium, now in its fourth year, attracted 40 high-level industry
speakers, over 50 innovators, 400 business leaders from the corporate venturing ecosystem. This event was
held at the Millennium London Mayfair and is the leading event for corporate venturing professionals. It
has experienced exponential growth since its inception in 2011, attracting an enviable list of speakers and
international senior delegates.
Some of the keynote speakers included industry leaders such as Rahul Sood, General Manager and Partner

2. at Microsoft Ventures; Arvind Sodhani, President at Intel Capital; and Issam Dairanieh, Head of BP
Ventures, plus many more. One of the major underlying themes of the conference was the role of
sustainability in corporate venture capitalism.
Bioenterprise’s Dave Smardon moderated the “Agri-Technology in the Spotlight” panel. The panel was
comprised of Alex Steel of Syngenta Ventures, Joseph Regan of Bioenterprise Capital, and Deborah Magid
of IBM Venture Capital Group. The panel had a lively discussion about how the importance of agricultural
technology, such as sensors and algorithms, continues to rise as the world’s population grows.
For more information about the Global Corporate Venturing Symposium, be sure to check our their website
at www.gcvsymposium.com.
Kelly Laidlaw
Project Coordinator
References:
Fischer, Michael S. (2014). Agriculture Tech: The New Facebook
Fischetti, Mark. (2011). World Population Set to Hit 9.1 Billion in 2050
Mawsonia. (2014). Global Corporate Venturing
Volans. (2014). Investing in Breakthrough: Corporate Venture Capital