BCN Retreat 2013: Day 1
Day 1 Twitter coverage of the BCN (Biorefining Conversions Network) Retreat held in Banff, Alberta, Canada on November 5-6
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Good morning from Banff, Alberta, Canada. I will be covering the #BCNRetreat for two days surrounded by this scenery pic.twitter.com/xzev842DKO -
Presentations in the morning include First Green Partners, Nawitka Capital Advisors, Intrexon and me! #BCNRetreat
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Opening remarks now by David Bressler of Biorefining Conversions Network #BCNRetreat pic.twitter.com/tuE2C9dcKG -
Alberta is an oil and gas province but ag, forestry and food are big contributors as well #BCNRetreat
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Now speaking is Doug Cameron, co-president and director of First Green Partners pic.twitter.com/u3duOkcrsj -
First Green Partners’ goal is 10 seed/early stage investment deals of between $500k and $10m. #BCNRetreat
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First Green Partners: Companies they’ve invested are more or less in stealth mode e.g. thermochem, methane, conversion companies #BCNRetreat
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Cameron: Invested in syngas utilization co., oilfield services/logistics. In discussion w/ sugar-related tech company #BCNRetreat
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Cameron: It’s hard to convince investors to look into renewable conversion companies given current public companies’ performance #BCNRetreat
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Cameron: Natural gas is a challenging barrier for renewables. Other barriers are lack of political consensus in CO2 #BCNRetreat
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Cameron: Other challenges – confusion on land use, carbon footprint, LCAs need to be addressed #BCNRetreat
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Cameron: Max yield you can get is 30% per carbohydrate at best. Maybe the best way to use biomass is combine w/ H2 from methane #BCNRetreat
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Cameron talking about Zeachem case study. Promising tech but investors bailed out. Last employees left a few weeks ago #BCNRetreat
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Cameron on Calysta Energy’s bioconversion of lactic acid from methane:1 lb/lb feedstock glucose, 1.875 lb/lb methane feedstock #BCNRetreat
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Cameron: It’s tough now to start a company with feeding frenzy over in 2005-2008, and w/ poor performance from public companies #BCNRetreat
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First Green Partners is still hopeful with the bio-based industry. Looking for company w/ great team #BCNRetreat
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Cameron: Looking for companies w/ significant tech advancement and clear mkt. More open to technical risk rather than mkt risk #BCNRetreat
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Cameron: If companies are in drop-ins, should have greater than 25% cost advantage over best available tech #BCNRetreat
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Cameron: If company is mktg new products, it should have significant performance advantage (2-10x) over current solution #BCNRetreat
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Cameron: Company should have strong potential for IP protection. This is the only thing you’ve got from being eaten #BCNRetreat
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Cameron: Basis of business model should be “How will the company make money?” #BCNRetreat
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Cameron: Problem with companies, over promised and under deliver. Lost credibility by shovelful and have to gain it in spoonful #BCNRetreat
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Of course twitter is down when I am just starting gggrrrrr
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Computer is rebooting and I’m taking lots of notes from Cameron which I will tweet later #BCNRetreat
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Speaking now is Don Roberts of Nawitka Capital Advisors Ltd #BCNRetreat Still working on my computer… pic.twitter.com/p5kPBqlgkF -
View by Don Roberts: VCs and private equity firms have been burned. Investors in renewable energy are pessimistic #BCNRetreat
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Roberts: Low natural gas price is significant deterrent to investing in renewable energy in N.America. #BCNRetreat
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Roberts: Again, challenges in the renewable space: low natgas price, policy uncertainty, feedstock uncertainty #BCNRetreat
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Roberts: Things to consider: How much biomass available? Delivered costs? How capital intensive the tech (Capex/litre) #BCNRetreat
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Roberts: Investment consideration: Is tech proven at commercial scale? Companies always underestimate the scale-up risks #BCNRetreat
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Roberts: Are there off-takers in place? Don’t always assume they are there! Is company profitable w/ or w/o govt support? #BCNRetreat
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Roberts: Newer investments still include biochemicals or in better/advanced biofuels. Less VC/PE capital on 1st gen projects #BCNRetreat
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Roberts cite case example of UPM that is turning away from paper and towards energy #BCNRetreat
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Speaking now is Gerardo Benitez, director of Intrexon #BCNRetreat pic.twitter.com/XkmlJK2ssr -
Intrexon: For those who want to enter the market, once you achieve a proof of concept, have a fully financed biz plan #BCNRetreat
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Intrexon: You need exceptional mgmt team with varied skills. All science teams or all sales teams have issues #BCNRetreat
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Intrexon: Don’t depend on another emerging tech. Biz that depend on cellulosics or change industry carry big risks #BCNRetreat
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Gerardo Benitez of Intrexon says too many R&D platform based on sugar biz models. They have to think about natgas challenge #BCNRetreat
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Intrexon: Natgas is the lowest-cost carbon. Sugar-based platform – feedstock is almost 80% of cost #BCNRetreat
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Intrexon: You need higher-value products. Fuel is a low-value commodity. Focus on plans that make money vs low margin products #BCNRetreat
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Intrexon: Don’t launch a biorefinery business to obtain a 5% cost advantage. New entrants must have superior economics #BCNRetreat
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Intrexon: Drop-in substitutes are a myth. Challenges in reformulation, certification, takes time/energy w/c means more cash burn #BCNRetreat
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Intrexon: New entrants need exceptional management with varied skills reqd. Don’t depend on another emerging tech #BCNRetreat
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Intrexon: Business that depends on cellulosics carry significant risks. if in doubt, buy small land #BCNRetreat
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Speaking now is Laurel Harmon, VP Govt Relations at @LanzaTech #BCNRetreat pic.twitter.com/RVlybqOAxr -
Your chance to get to know more about us at the #BCNRetreat! see you guys soon http://www.bcn.ualberta.ca/~/media/biorefining/AnnualStrategicRetreat/Documents/2013_Agenda_BCN_Annual_Strategic_Retreat.pdf …
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@LanzaTech: There is enormous potential for making fuels and chemicals if you just look at industrial gases #BCNRetreat
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@LanzaTech 1st commercial plant designed for 2014 construction. #BCNRetreat
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@LanzaTech: “We are bypassing steps that require H2O, land, time. Just received Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials cert. #BCNRetreat
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Tweeting now while I can! @LanzaTech says it has two demo plants (100 ktpa each) in China that started up in 2012 and 2013 #BCNRetreat
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In the chemicals sector, @LanzaTech is looking for new route to produce propylene via propanol, butadiene via 2,3 BDO #BCNRetreat
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Will give recaps later on @LanzaTech. Next speaker is Stephan Herrara, VP Strategy at Evolva #BCNRetreat pic.twitter.com/FEB1vC8PX3 -
More presentation recaps later, still having problems. Speaking is Cesar Rodriguez, sr research scientist, Autodesk pic.twitter.com/dxlOZ9kMwS -
Can’t report much on AutoDesk presentation as topic on software is out of my league. More about d company http://www.autodesk.com/ #BCNRetreat
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Speaking now is Peter Facchini, professor at University of Calgary, Dept. Of Biological Sciences #BCNRetreat pic.twitter.com/xzt7TUed7u -
Peter is talking about benzylisoquinoline alkaloids…no idea what this is but I heard something about opium poppies 🙂 #BCNRetreat
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Prof Facchini is heading this genome Canada-funded project ( http://www.phytometasyn.com ) #BCNRetreat
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Facchini: Canadians like their opiates. #BCNRetreat I just have to tweet this 🙂
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More on Facchini’s project on morphine biosynthesis in opium poppy. Too technical for me to explain http://www.bio.ucalgary.ca/contact/faculty/facchini.html … #BCNRetreat
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More about @SynBioBeta on http://synbiobeta.com/ . Cumbers will talk about synthetic biology startups and bioeconomy #BCNRetreat
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@SynBioBeta: US biotech revenues is around $300bn or 2% of GDP. GM Crops accounts for $110bn #BCNRetreat
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@SynBioBeta: Market size of DNA synthesis mkt is $230m in 2013, growing fast. As price falls, demand rises for DNA synthesis #BCNRetreat
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@SynBioBeta: Synbio stock price and mkt cap, companies making money is Thermo Fisher Scientific, Life Technologies Corp #BCNRetreat
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@SynBioBeta Funding climate – more popular are angel investments. Also international interests in synbio market #BCNRetreat
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@SynBioBeta It costs around $10k-$20k to send a kilogram into space. Gravity is the problem #BCNRetreat
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@SynBioBeta says it costs around $164K/day to send an astronaut in space. Now I know why I can’t afford space vacations #BCNRetreat
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@SynBioBeta Sustainability required to send astronauts into space. Opportunity for CO2 recycling, water/air purification #BCNRetreat
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@SynBioBeta: There are ~600m tons of ice water at d lunar south pole in the moon. We can use lunar resources for food production #BCNRetreat
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Interesting presentation from @SynBioBeta. Glad my wifi is working now, better late than never #BCNRetreat
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@NeilABurns Thanks. I spoke to him briefly yesterday. Looking forward to @p2science presentation this afternoon. #BCNRetreat
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Interesting dinner shindig #BCNRetreat Those two cowboys are very good with whips 😉 (@ Mountainview BBQ) [pic]: http://4sq.com/17OgAIo
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