ABLC NEXT returns to San Francisco: The complete 2015 inside guide

A total immersion in the advanced bioeconomy’s cutting edge, hottest companies, winning strategies and brightest thinkers.

Forget then, forget now, NEXT is back in focus.

ABLC NEXT that is — November 2-5, 2015 – the 12th Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Conference.

Conference sessions Nov 3-4. Special aviation fuel “breakthroughs” in focus. 8 National Labs in a first-ever combined showcase. Return of the NEXT Store. And more fuels, chemicals, plastics, materials, drones, robots, processing technologies, mobile analytics, new strains. catalysts, and big data applications than you could ever imagine. All about ABLC NEXT’s program here.

THERE’S BIG MONEY IN “NEXT”.

In 2014, $2.36 billion was invested via a total of 264 deals in the advanced bioeconomy and AgTech.

AgFunder CEO Rob LeClerc observed earlier this year that “The opportunity for technology to modernize agriculture is massive. Agriculture is a $6.4T global industry that employs 1.3B people worldwide and new technologies are emerging which are promising to transform agriculture from a calcified industry to a tech industry as it races against a growing population and middle class, changes in taste and diet, and faces its impact on the environment.”

EARLIEST STAGE THROUGH COMMERCIAL.

What’s coming NEXT? From 8 of the national labs to companies like United and Boeing showing you how these technologies are getting deployed today.

SPEAKERS.

65 real leaders engaged with You in “real dialogue on the real issues and the real opportunities.”

Monster fuel success stories from REG CEO Dan Oh and LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren. How they make it happen, how you can too. Renewable chemical technologies such as Rivertop Renewables, and Verdezyne — where and why they are advancing, what that means for the sector. Strategic looks at opportunity from Aemetis CEO Eric McAfee, Evolva CEO Neal Goldsmith and United Airlines.

New product developers — Oberon Fuels president Rebecca Boudreaux, Global Bioenergies CEO Marc Delcourt, Mango Materials CEO Molly Morse, and Muradel CEO David Lewis. Why markets in DME, isobutene, microspheres and raw materials like algae and natural gas are ready for transformation.

Integrated refineries — think leaders like Virent CEO Lee Edwards and Vertimass CEO Charles Wyman. Why make a $2 fuel when you can make a $5 chemical? Why not make both?

AGENDA.

Think Advanced Drop-in Fuels. Especially think Aviation. And think Green Chemicals, Genetic Platform technologies. Strain Engineering. Plastics and Biomaterials. The new Aromatics. Precision Agriculture. Robotics,. Drones, Advanced Foods & Nutraceuticals. Advanced Carbon Capture & Use. Cutting edge feedstocks from the new sorghum to algae. And think “the policies (technical, regulatory and market-making) and emerging financial structures to make it all happen now”.

CONTENT.

Think 1000 slides from the most original thinkers in the sector, making real stuff from real feedstock at realistic prices. How do they do it — how can you be a part of it? That’s what you’ll discover in slide after slide of cutting-edge content.

NETWORK LIKE CRAZY.

This is the biggest industrial transformation in history  — no one is doing it alone. So, you have to network like crazy. And it’s time well spent — 33% of ABLC delegates are C-Level — from Cabinet ministers to your NEXT boss and NEXT project partner – you never know who you’ll meet on the floor.

RECEPTIONS.

8 National Labs. November 2, 2015. An Evening with the National Labs. 8 National Laboratories showcasing innovation in bioprocessing, pretreatment, feedstock development, organic and inorganic catalysts — how they are supporting the advances in the bioeconomy. At ABLC NEXT, meet Sandia National Laboratories, Argonne National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

40 Hottest Emerging Companies. November 3, 2015. The 40 Hottest Emerging Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy. Announced live at ABLC NEXT at a gala awards reception.

TOURS.

East Bay – Some of the biggest research jewels of the most powerful nation on earth —  via guided in-depth tours. The Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit, the Joint Center for Advanced Photosynthesis, the Joint BioEnergy Institute.

South Bay — some of the most cutting edge commercial pioneers of the advanced bioeconomy located in from South San Francisco and down the Peninsula towards Silicon Valley.

The NEXT STORE.

It’s not your Dad’s Wal-Mart. More than 100 products from 40 companies in an actual, advanced retailing environment where the prices are replaced with in-depth information. Think advanced fuels, Coca-Cola Plant Bottles, LEGO, NatureWorks’s packaging, 3D printing — think lubricants, fibers, fertilizers, seeds, foods, nutraceuticals, tires and more.

FAME & GLAMOUR DEPARTMENT.

Hey, you’re on TV! Yes, BioChannel.TV is covering every second of the action, and we’re also filming our regular programs The New Voices and Faces right at ABLC – be a part of it.

WHY NOW?

In two words, Convergence and Diversification.

Diversification — there’s a clear expansion into new fuels, novel chemicals, lubricants, surfactants, fragrances, flavors, proteins and foods, where every day it seems as if there is a novel set of molecules brought forward towards the market.

Convergence. — there’s a clear convergence of fermentation, catalytic, genetic, drone, sensor, computation, precision delivery, energy efficiency, water, and separation technologies, where every day it seems as if there is a new strategy to drive yields, rates, and titers with a transformative impact on the products once thought impossible.

It’s now, it’s global.