Roots & Shoots Blog

Your Plant Science Company Should Be Here

Monday, 14 September 2015
Guest Blog by Sheila Sweeney
Interim CEO, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership

If you work in plant science, St. Louis is the place to be. This week I am so happy to welcome the hundreds of Ag Tech scientists, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who will be in town for the Ag Innovation Showcase at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. This is the premiere global gathering for plant science startups, industry leaders and venture capitalists.

Each year, the Ag Showcase is the launching ground for companies that are working to solve some of the world’s greatest problems as we face feeding a growing world. 

Companies bring groundbreaking ideas to this conference; many of them find funding partners and some even decide to move here. Recently companies such as NewLeaf Symbiotics, Benson Hill and Kaiima decided to move their companies to Creve Coeur to be at the epicenter of plant science. Right now there are 750 Ph.D. plant scientists in our region.

At this one corner in Creve Coeur you’ll find the Danforth Center, the world’s leading agricultural not-for-profit research center, Bio Research Development & Growth (BRDG) Park and Helix Center, two outstanding ag incubators, and Monsanto, a global agriculture powerhouse. We believe there are big things to come. This year we competed for and won an extremely prestigious federal planning grant to develop a strategic master plan for a plant science research hub in Creve Coeur to expand on these incredible assets.

This $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, allows us to transform our plant science strength into a physical hub. This research park in Creve Coeur will be walkable, bikeable and well connected. It is everything today’s workers want: retail, residential and green space within steps of labs and offices.

Ultimately, it is the Partnership’s vision to tell the world about the breakthroughs happening here and attract new companies and talent from around the world. If you run a plant science company, we think you should be here. Connect with us.