2010 Leadership Summit to Highlight Role of Biotechnology Innovation in Reducing Climate Change Emissions

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Tuesday, April 20, 2010) - BIO announces the 2010 Leadership Summit: The Role of Biotechnology Innovation in Addressing Climate Change, which will feature senior-level government officials and industry executives sharing developments in industrial and agricultural biotechnology that will make major contributions to adaption to and reduction of climate change emissions and contribute to carbon sequestration. The Leadership Summit will be held May 3 at the 2010 BIO International Convention in Chicago, Ill. at McCormick Place.

“Both the agricultural and industrial biotechnology sectors have the tools to develop technologies to new cutting edge climate change solution,” said Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of BIO. “With the 2010 Leadership Summit, our goal is to bring the leaders of our industry together to address how businesses and policymakers can help ensure the promise of these innovations is fulfilled. Biofuels are a key to making sure we have a low carbon future and advances in this space are proceeding rapidly. However, policy makers seem to be preoccupied with power plants and factories and have paid less attention to the transportation sector. Agricultural biotechnology offers new crops that will significantly help agriculture adapt to climate change, and yet regulatory systems around the world are slow to authorize this safe technology.  This high level leadership summit will highlight the key issues involved in  formulating a comprehensive climate change solution.”

Presentations will cover the spectrum from new crops and crop traits to industrial processes that recycle carbon, reduce energy and natural resource use and work toward developing systems for taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and sequestering it as well as providing new tools to adapt to climate change.

The Summit includes:

• Welcoming Remarks by Roger E. Wyse, Managing Director, Burrill & Company
• Keynote Address: Climate Change and Biotechnology – The Big Picture, by Roger N. Beachy, PhD, Director, National Institute for Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Keynote Address: Promoting Innovation in Biotechnology, by Jose W. Fernandez, Assistant Secretary, Economic, Energy and Business Affairs, U.S. Department of State

Panel Discussion: Is an International Climate Change Agreement a Boom or a Bust for Biotech?

o   Susan Ellerbusch, President, BP Biofuels, North America

o   Richard Hamilton, PhD, President  & CEO, Ceres

o   Adam Monroe, President, Novozymes, North America

o   Steffen Mueller, PhD, Principal Research Economists, UIC Energy Resources Center

o   Paul Schickler, President, Pioneer Hi-Bred

o   Michael Wang, PhD, Sr. Transportation Energy/Environmental Science Section Manager, Argonne National Laboratory

The annual BIO International Convention helps to support the association’s programs and initiatives. BIO works throughout the year to create a policy environment that enables the industry to continue to fulfill its vision of bettering the world through biotechnology innovation.

Attendees registered with full Convention access can attend the 2010 Leadership Summit. General registration can be accessed at http://convention.bio.org/register/.

Members of the media can register at http://convention.bio.org/media/.

Upcoming BIO Events

BIO Intellectual Property Counsels Spring Conference and Committee Meeting
April 19-21, 2010
New Orleans, LA 

Partnering for Global Health
May 3, 2010
Chicago, IL
McCormick Place Convention Center

BIO International Convention
May 3-6, 2010
Chicago, IL
McCormick Place Convention Center

2010 BIO Human Resources Conference
May 4-7, 2010
Chicago, IL 

World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing
June 27-30, 2010
Washington, DC

BIO India
September 21 - 22, 2010
Hyderabad, India

BIO’s Livestock Biotechnology Summit
September 28-30, 2010,
Sioux Falls, SD

About BIO

BIO represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the world’s largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world.

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