Agriculture, technology and industry interests will converge during the 2016 Bioindustry Summit on May 12 in the NDSU Memorial Union.

The summit will explore changing consumer attitudes, and technological and political conditions, and their impacts on the region’s bioeconomy.

“With volatile energy and agricultural commodity prices, interest in value-added opportunities is growing,” said David Ripplinger, NDSU assistant professor and bioenergy specialist. “The summit is a premier venue for farmers, innovators, entrepreneurs, academics and government to meet.”

This year’s summit will include a government networking event where innovators, entrepreneurs and investors can visit informally with program specialists from state and federal agencies.

A research and development showcase will highlight research from regional scientists. Interested individuals should submit their ideas using the summit’s electronic system.

Featured topics and speakers are:

• “The fight for the future of food: Untangling the rhetoric and the science,” Bruce Chassy, University of Illinois professor emeritus

• “Vermont's genetically modified labeling law meets the Constitution and World Trade Organization,” Thomas Redick of Global Environmental Ethics Counsel

• “Toward sustainability and the biobased promise,” Dennis Hall, Ohio Bioproducts Innovation Center

The summit will open with registration and a continental breakfast at 7:45 a.m.

The summit is sponsored by NDSU, the NDSU Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Bioscience Association of North Dakota, North Dakota Farmers Union, North Dakota Corn Utilization Council, North Dakota Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Energy.

For more information, contact Ripplinger at 701-231-5265 or david.ripplinger@ndsu.edu or Ken Hellevang at 701-231-7243 or kenneth.hellevang@ndsu.edu.

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