Commercialization of Research Genome Canada September 27 th 2011 David T. Dennis Crops of the Future

Time to Market Takes - 8 to 10 years to commercialize Need patient investors High risk investment Usually need to be close to market

Arabidopsis – the little weed

Enhanced Breeding Using Mutagens Using Arabidopsis – the little weed

Parent era1 A Drought Tolerant Mutant of the Little Weed 7 days of drought 7 days of drought

Arabidopsis – the little weed What is the market for little weeds? Come back when you have a real product Real crops have already been highly bred – May not get the Arabidopsis effect – For example: the Green Revolution Gene

Targeting Products Don’t tell me about starving children Starving children have no money

Real Ag-Products 1.Corn, Soybeans and Cotton 2.Canola? Rice? 3.What do you need to market these crops? a.Multiple independent homozygous lines b.Field trials in multiple locations c.Field trials on several years d.No effect on yield e.Go through the regulatory process

Must Aim at World Markets Ontario corn is 2% of US corn belt Offered small investment for exclusive rights to our technology in Ontario corn You cannot ignore 98% of N. America market Your technology must have universal appeal

Place of Canada in the World Coronation Street !!! – The story of dysfunctional people in Manchester – Removal of people from the soap - Canada – Chicago Investors like to be near their money – Canada is a long way away

Size is Important Monsanto R&D budget is $1.2 billion Average Canadian biotech company less than 1% of Monsanto’s However – we are trying to do the same development programme

Government Money NSERC Granting Agency – University researcher should do basic research – Move there away from basic research – Inadequately funded Best government money is R&D tax credits Other Money – Too difficult to get for a small company – Too directed – Has often to be matched by another company

Management of Biotech Company Difficult – Still complex research Don’t let scientists BS you CEO must be a scientist to prevent this Also need an effective COO

The Anti – GMO Movement This has been a massive problem for investment in ag-biotech Investors do not like uncertainty People like David Suzuki have great influence Europe is still a problem