The 2022 Agriculture Technology Innovation Summit was a success yet again, bringing together the biggest agriculture companies and brightest minds in agtech for the seventh year in a row; this time returning to an in-person convention and garnering local media attention.
This year, Research Park held its AgTech Student Career Mixer prior to the AgTech Innovation Summit on Tuesday, March 8. This event allowed agtech professionals to connect with University of Illinois students, and engage in meaningful discussion and networking with one another on the night before the summit.
This year’s event included remarks from university and industry leaders including Chancellor Robert Jones, who delivered the opening remarks. In his speech, Chancellor Jones emphasized that “whatever the future of agricultural innovation and development may lead this world, the path of that future is going to be running right through the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and East Central Illinois.”
The 2022 panels included discussions on the agriculture supply chain, the ag sector’s role in carbon markets, investment, and RIPE project updates. In addition to the unique mix of panel discussions, key individuals participated in fireside chats, where they could give brief presentations on their company, their technology, and their plans for the future.
The AgTech Summit is a collaboration between the University of Illinois Research Park, the University of Illinois, the College of ACES, and the Office of Corporate Relations. Thank you to all those from the local agriculture community as well as others from across the country that attended the event. Another thank you to the moderators and panelists for sharing your time and talents. Last but not least, thanks to the AgTech 2022 sponsors who made this year’s event possible: John Deere, World Business Chicago, the Illinois Center for Digital Agriculture, Granular, Corteva, Bayer, ADM, AGCO, Sikich, and Cargill.
This year’s event garnered lots of local news attention:
March 9, WCIA: AgTech Innovation Summit
March 9, Brownfield: Vertical Integration has farmer/brewer less concerned about inflation
February 23, Speaker RFD Profit Watch
For more information on this year’s event, go here. Access the AgTech 2022 media gallery here. For this year’s agenda, look below. And don’t forget to save the date for next year’s Agriculture Innovation Technology Summit on Tuesday, March 7, 2023.
AGTECH 2022 AGENDA
7:30 AM REGISTRATION OPENS
8:00 AM WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS
- Laura Appenzeller | Executive Director, University of Illinois Research Park
- Chancellor Robert Jones | Chancellor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
8:15 AM OPENING REMARKS FROM ACES
- Germán Bollero | Interim Dean, University of Illinois College of ACES
8:30 AM THE AG SECTOR’S ROLE IN CARBON MARKETS
- Chris Harbourt | Chief Strategy Officer, Indigo Ag
- Moderator: Jed Taylor | Executive Director, Technology Entrepreneur Center
9:00 AM MORNING FIRESIDE CHAT
- Tami Craig Schilling | North America Knowledge Transfer Lead, Bayer
- Moderator: Laura Appenzeller | Executive Director, University of Illinois Research Park
9:30 AM CARBON NEUTRAL FLOUR BUSINESS
- James Scher | Director of Sales, Specialty Solutions, ADM
- Maneephan Keeratiurai | Director, Food Science and Wholesome Nutrition. ADM
- Moderator: Katheryne Rehberg | Director Of Business Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
10:00 AM REALIZING INCREASED PHOTOSYNTHETIC EFFICIENCY (RIPE) UPDATE
- Stephen Long | Director, Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE)
10:15 AM BREAK
10:30 FIRESIDE CHAT
- Tim Hassinger | CEO & President, IntelinAir
- Moderator: Kim Kidwell | Associate Chancellor for Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives, University of Illinois
11:00 AM GLEN “GB” BRANDT PRIZE FOR AG ENTREPRENEURISM
11:15 AM NAVIGATING THE AGRICULTURE SUPPLY CHAIN
- Martha Montoya | CEO, AgTools
- Moderator: Jack Marck | Managing Director, Illinois AgTech Accelerator
11:45 AM NAVIGATING THE AGRICULTURE SUPPLY CHAIN
- Patrick McEniry | Vice President-Crops, Commodities & Ingredients, Treehouse Foods
- Moderator: Germán Bollero | Interim Dean, University of Illinois College of ACES
12:15 PM LUNCH
12:45 PM TECH STRATEGY TO DRIVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
- Mark Theuerkauf | Director, Strategy and Transformation, AGCO
- Moderator: Susan Martinis | Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation, University of Illinois
1:15 PM AFTERNOON FIRESIDE CHAT
- Bill Hamer | Carbon Strategy and Operations Manager, Corteva
- Moderator: Gene Robinson | Director, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology , University of Illinois
1:45 PM MOORE INNOVATION PRIZE AND STARTUP PRESENTATION
2:00 PM BREAK
2:15 PM LIGHTNING CHAT
- Girish Chowdhary | Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, EarthSense
2:30 PM AFTERNOON FIRESIDE CHAT
- Matt Hancher | Engineering Lead, Google Earth and Earth Engine, Google
- Moderator: Brendan McGinty | Director of Industry, National Center for Supercomputing Applications
3:00 PM INVESTMENT IN AGTECH
- Dennis Beard | Partner, Serra Ventures
- Moderator: Carly McCrory-McKay | Executive Director, Champaign County Economic Development Corporation
3:30 PM INVESTMENT IN AGTECH
- Aaron Rudberg | Managing Director and COO, S2G Ventures
- Moderator: Tom Parkinson | Senior Director, Illinois Ventures
4:00 – 5:30 PM AGTECH SHOWCASE & NETWORKING RECEPTION