Biofuels

“I don’t know how many people think that the American farmer is responsible for the food crisis,” Jim Spigarelli wondered. Although conceding that ethanol “is probably over-subsidized and overhyped,” he believes that biofuels will remain a key factor in our future energy policy, and that they will have particular import for the region.

Kansas, as Tom Thornton pointed out, is the seventh-largest producer of ethanol in the nation right now. He agreed with Spigarelli that ethanol is the subject of much misunderstanding. That much said, he believes that the region would be better served if its biofuel supply were diversified beyond corn. Fortunately, as he sees it, the area has the research capability to make this happen.

 

Biomedical

Bill Duncan raised the issue of biomedical devices and asked whether the region had made anyprogress.

Lisa Friis, engineering faculty and product development co-director for the Bioengineering Research Center(BERC) at the University of Kansas, said 12 percent of all venture capital nationwide is invested in the medical device field.

“That is where we need to be,” Friissaid. She added that BERC offers a new bioengineering graduate education program with an entrepreneurial focus, in the process creating opportunities for researchers to work with industry and grow together.

At UMKC, the new Health Sciences Building has consolidated the university’s health sciences in one place, and this, Drees believes, will make a difference in developing bio-engineering programs.

“One of the things that is attractive,” Franano said, “and that you can get from this discussion we have had today, is the idea that this region has some real strengths nationally, but has no enormous weaknesses.”

Were a venture capitalist to take a good look at this region, Franano continued, he would see the full spectrum of investment opportunities from medical devices to animal health to human health to biofuels and agriculture. “That has been one of the strengths of our regional economy–its diversity.”

Associate vice president for research at K-State, Jim Guikema, agreed and elaborated. “I think it’s important that we realize one medicine is what we should be focusing on. Animal health, human health, public health, it’s all in-tertwined.”

“If the next five or seven years are as effective as the last five or seven years,”said Ingram’s publisher Joe Sweeney in the way of a summary, “I see the Kansas City area competing much more effectively with the Research Triangle in North Carolina, the San Diego area, and so forth. So keep up the good work. It’s pretty remarkable.”