Developing a Roadmap for Bio-feedstock Transformation for a Public-Private Partnership

EVALUATING BIO-FEEDSTOCK TRANSFORMATION RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND WORKFORCE PREPARATION INITIATIVE IN SOUTH DAKOTA

Assignment

Develop a milestone-driven roadmap and economic impact report for a university bio-feedstock transformation research, development and workforce preparation initiative in South Dakota.

Deliverables Summary

Strategic Avalanche successfully created a 100 + page stakeholder document with supporting executive summary presentation allowing South Dakota to engage investors and other stakeholders to build a new bioproducts institute.

  • Benchmarked South Dakota among other Midwest states in the Bioeconomy providing best practices for public-private partnering to be to successfully contribute to growth in the industrial biotech sector
  • Scope guidance and best practices for the design of pre-piloting and bioprocessing capabilities slated for new 45,000 sq. ft facility
  • Foundational strengths, weaknesses, resources and opportunities in South Dakota for stimulating economic activity in bio-feedstock transformation through university research and development, and workforce preparation
  • Potential economic growth areas in South Dakota of the bio-feedstock transformation industry and magnitude of growth

  • Infrastructural and human resource capacity gaps at SDSU and SDSMT to provide sufficient research, development and workforce preparation allowing South Dakota to fulfill its growth potential in the emerging bioeconomy

Deliverables Details

Report

The 145 page report provides a summary of work done by Strategic Avalanche to support South Dakota State University and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and their vision to advance bio-transformation research, collaborate with corporate partners, and ultimately stimulate economic growth in South Dakota by leveraging its resources and contributing to the overall bioeconomy. The content and design was produced by Strategic Avalanche. Samples pages can be viewed below.

Results

Client was successful in securing approximately $30M in capital and ongoing operational funds from government, and industry partners. In late 2021, client broke ground on the new facility named Poet Bioproducts Institute which is expected to generate $6M in annual revenues from collaboration on the next generation of bioproducts. For more details read press release.

Rendering courtesy of SDSU Marketing and Communications

What are Clients Say

Daniel T. Scholl

Vice President, Research and Economic Development

South Dakota State University

The engagement

Our intital engagement with Strategic Avalanche was to develop a roadmap for to guide our building of a public-private partnered regional capacity for bioproduct research and development.

Strategic Avalanche thoroughly analyzed our partner organizations and potential partners, capabilities among higher education and the private sector in our state, the feedstock supply profile, the public investment landscape, and the global bioproduct environment. They synthesized these together to propose a roadmap for higher education to lead our state in developing new capacity for bioproduct development and commercialization. This enabled us to secure funding to develop an initiative and to put the roadmap plan into motion. We subsequently engaged Strategic Avalanche to analyze the bioproduct innovation and market landscape and map our strengths to the sectors that have the apparent highest potential in our hands. This engagement also included preliminary specification of the pilot-plant bioprocessing capabilities that would be needed to successfully implement the innovation map.

Expectations met?

Strategic Avalanche’s work was particularly useful and exceeded our expectations because of the wide diversity of global expertise they were able to focus on our specific questions.

There were able to explore diverse and cutting-edge innovation across biobased chemicals, materials, & fuels as well as animal, human and plant nutrition.

Not only did we receive solid actionable information and guidance, but we were also given a global profile by virtue of the people they brought into the analysis and discussion.

What stood out ?

Strategic Avalanche was exceptionally responsive and worked effectively on a short timeline. I would highly recommend the Strategic Avalanche team. Their ability to tap into their network and assemble a team suited to a specific problem is especially valuable.

Addendum

Additional Assignment

Strategic Avalanche was contracted for a follow-on project with the assignment of Mapping Cutting-Edge Innovation across emerging sectors for industrial biotech. Now that the new facility was set in motion, Strategic Avalanche conducted in-depth studies to determine which biotech innovation areas would attract partners and drive growth for the biotech institute.

With a team of eight experts across the five biotech sectors (see list following), Strategic Avalanche prioritized innovation areas that would best leverage local feedstocks into high value products, capitalize on university competencies and IP, and place South Dakota more prominently on the U.S. bioeconomy map.

Biotech Sectors Explored

  • Ag and Crop Biologicals
  • Animal Nutrition and Health
  • Biobased Chemicals and Material
  • Biofuels
  • Food Nutrition and Health