Bayer Crop Science’s Louis Holloway Speaks to WGCIT Startups During April WG Insider
Posted on April 21, 2017 14:15 PM by WGCIT
On April 18, Louis Holloway, regional manager at Bayer CropSciences, visited the WG Center for Innovation & Technology to speak with thirteen of the resident startups about innovating to meet consumer needs.
Bayer Crop Science’s mission statement is “Science for a Better Life,” and they have incorporated this mission into the three segments of their multinational company:
1. Pharmaceuticals
2. Consumer Health
3. Crop Science
Bayer Crop Science is proud of their core strength: Innovation. Bayer Crop Science strategically chose to be a customer-centric company, focused on continually innovating and meeting consumer needs. Social responsibility is at the front of every decision Bayer makes. The Bayer Crop Science division currently employs approximately 22,400 technologists. U.S. Field Operations at Bayer Crop Science is made up of three main responsibilities:
1. Technology Stations
2. Field Development
3. Technology Services
An interesting fact noted by Louis was that on average, a discovery to market takes ten years and $250M. But, because Bayer is committed to being a market leader in horticulture, Bayer Crop Science has to constantly speculate on where the grower will be in ten years. Bayer is actively pursuing a digital platform, and is evaluating different drone technologies.
Holloway mentioned how Bayer Crop Science has a program in place called Grants4Targets, specifically aimed to support startups—such as the ones in the WGICT. The program information Bayer provided to the Western Growers CIT residents states:
“By fostering collaborations with excellent academic groups and start-ups, we aim to translate ideas from basic research into novel products for the farm. In order to further pool expertise and join forces for mutual benefit, Bayer has initiated the Grants4Targets program to support collaborative research projects on novel molecular targets for weed, pest, and fungal disease control in agriculture.”
The submission deadlines are March 31 and October 31. To apply or for more information about the program, visit http://grants4targets.bayer.com.