Nora Lozar

On November 14, Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture announced the 2018 recipients of its Sustainability Leadership Awards. Two Research Park companies, Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) and Agrible along with General Mills, Inc. were awarded the 2018 Collaboration of the Year Award. The three recipients were recognized for their efforts to aid farmers in the Southern Plains build soil health, conserve water, and extend the life of the Ogallala aquifer. ADM, Agrible, and General Mills are “helping farmers measure continuous improvement in soil health and water conservation,” says Rod Snyder, president of Field to Market. With the future potential of prolonged drought, these partners are helping farmers improve the resiliency of their fields, conserve water, and improve their bottom line through conservation or no-till. Field to Market has more than 140 members who represent all parts of the United States agricultural supply chain. Members employ more than 5 million people and represent combined revenues of over $1.5 trillion. For more information and to view the full story, click here.

Linda McMahon, the 25th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, visited the Research Park today to tour EnterpriseWorks, the technology business incubator that focuses on science- and research-based entrepreneurs. The visit was organized by the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Champaign County EDC.  McMahon heard an overview of the University of Illinois Research Park and talked with several EnterpriseWorks technology startups including Serionix, Reconstruct, AirScout, and Petronics.  In addition to showcasing small businesses, the visit highlighted the local entrepreneurial ecosystem and the programs in place to help small businesses succeed, including services through the SBDC / International Trade Center and programs like University of Illinois Research Park‘s Shared Services Program and the City of Champaign – Municipal Government‘s Small Business Incentive Program. To view media coverage, click here. To view video 1, click here. To view video 2, click here.

A Research Park startup is making great strides in providing healthcare providers with better diagnostic tools. The National Institue of Health’s Small Business Innovation Research program recently awarded Photonicare $2.1 million. This is not the first time the medical diagnostics startup has won significant funds and they intend to use this round for a several-hundred person study which will better help them earn FDA approval and bring the product to market next year. Photonicare founders, Ryan Shelton, Ryan Nolan, and University of Illinois Professor Stephen Boppart, believed that ear infections could be better detected if imaging technology were used to peer past the eardrum’s surface. Ear infections are a common affliction for children and when Shelton discovered this with his own child, he was inspired to help doctors make the best decisions with more accurate instruments. The tool can check against overdiagnosis and avoid unnecessary antibiotics. Photonicare was founded in 2013 and soon after began incubating at the Research Park’s EnterpriseWorks. They have utilized the tools at EnterpriseWorks to formulate plans and SBIR applications. More about the story can be found in this Crain’s Chicago Business article.

Big companies with small teams in Champaign-Urbana are often at the heart of industry innovation. In January of 2019, AGCO opened their Acceleration Center in University of Illinois Research Park. Site Director Lena Head (below, cutting the grand opening ribbon) promised that the team would “explore new ways to help farmers build smarter, stronger farms” while the center provided its student interns with “valuable growth opportunity to work on real-life projects with a global agriculture company.” AGCO, a Fortune 500 agriculture company developing farming tools, processes and storage systems, is well positioned to offer just that. Also speaking to the cutting-edge role of the Acceleration Center, Adam Weiss, a GSI director at the time, stressed that the center was designed to focus on both web development innovation and “big swing” projects. He described the latter as “research on things that in a public company you traditionally wouldn’t spend the time or resources to focus on. Long-term strategic things that may not even pan out.” Thus, the Champaign-based team was built to “take big swings and explore things that we typically wouldn’t.” Perhaps the best “big swing” of the office yet is in the realm of mixed-reality technology which may afford industry-insiders a new way to see agriculture. In a February interview to Illinois Farmer Today, then- AGCO Acceleration Center intern Rahul Surti expressed excitement about his work in augmented reality. “We are bringing 3D models of agricultural equipment to life in mixed reality,” he explained. As a Chicago-land native, Surti does not have a farming background but he found the 3D modeling agtech project impressive. While not ripe yet, the fruit of AGCO’s Acceleration Center has people buzzing. Adam Abels is from Iowa-based Ag Advantage Systems and he sells and installs GSI grain systems. Recently, he demonstrated GSI’s mixed-reality technology for an Iowan farmer, Jeff Divan, who was excited about the possibilities. Through goggles, Divan explored a 3D grain facility augmented over his real surroundings and expressed excitement. If that sounds hard to imagine, think about how Pokémon Go suggests a virtual reality over true surroundings but in 3D. Divan explained that the technology “really allows me to see how our farm’s storage system can expand. And this approach gives me confidence in the design.” AGCO’s Champaign-based team helped develop the technology in this demo. GSI Director of Global Learning and Development, Lance Brown, pinpoints the utility of such technology for GSI clients: “The customer can actually see the facility and get a sense of the scale, determine if a change is needed, and make that change before any work is done.” AGCO’s team has grown since January. Thanks to many of the factors which make Champaign-Urbana a strong tech and research area, Director Lena Head continues to coordinate her team’s “big swings.” To learn more about the AGCO Acceleration Center, watch the grand opening video here. For more on the GSI’s use of the technology click here.