Then and Now: 120 Bioeconomy Pioneers look at yesterday, today, inspirations and challenges

Chris Somerville

Then: I was working on getting the Energy Biosciences Institute established at UC Berkeley and U Illinois. The agreement between BP and UC Berkeley was not signed yet but I had been appointed as Director and with the help of a couple of colleagues from Berkeley (Susan Jenkins), Illinois (Steve Long) and BP (Paul Willems), we were putting in place the space, equipment, policies and call-for-proposals needed to get the institute up and running for a Jan 1 start.

Now: I just retired from UC Berkeley and now work for a philanthropy in San Francisco. My role is to help find and evaluate opportunities for supporting basic and applied biomedical research.

Inspirations: I believe that the advanced bioeconomy is laying the necessary groundwork for a sustainable future.

Challenges: Cheap fossil carbon is a challenge in implementing sustainable energy solutions. However, that will gradually change because of environmental concerns and other factors (declining reserves, economics, geopolitics…).