Business Development
Innovations Development Facility (IDF)
Innovations Development Facility (IDF) is a major activity within the Plant Sciences Institute to promote business activity in the area of plant biotechnology and economic development for the state of Iowa. IDF encourages ISU faculty, staff, and students to commercialize their research in the plant sciences and promotes the development of start-up companies among aspiring entrepreneurs. IDF is housed in the Roy J. Carver Co-Laboratory and consists of a Co-Laboratory Business Incubator (CoBI) and a Public/Private Partnership (3P) Program.
CoBI serves as an incubator facility for start-up companies associated with the Plant Sciences Institute (PSI) and the 3P Program is designed to promote collaboration between ISU and private sector entities. CoBI offers an environment to transition research from a university to a business setting. The CoBI incubator facility is a productive research location where scientists from academe and industry can work together to advance the mission of the Plant Sciences Institute and to promote economic development in Iowa.
Goals of IDF
- To promote public (university)/private partnerships that lead to economic development in the area of plant biotechnology;
- To connect university faculty, staff and students to the business community and to encourage them to develop commercial entities or transfer technology to the private sector;
- To create opportunities for the private sector to work interactively in a university environment with faculty, staff and students; and
- To operate in a manner that promotes the learning, discovery, and engagement missions of ISU. (ISU Strategic Goals can be found at: http://www.iastate.edu/~president/plan/2005/goals.html)
Services
IDF provides business assistance, in addition to the incubator facility (CoBI) with leased office and wet laboratory space. IDF encourages the creation of plant biotechnology companies, and helps companies succeed as entrepreneurial entities. IDF provides business start-up assistance to ISU faculty, staff and students who are contemplating the creation of a business, or have already started a commercial entity. These services include:
- Business plan development
- Assistance with obtaining research funding, including access to information and help with Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) proposal writing and finalizing the grants or contracts
- Provide helpful information about the formation of a business
- Make important contacts with other business resources within ISU, as well as contacts for specialized business services outside of ISU, such as lawyers, insurance agents, human resources, and accountants
For more information about the IDF, please contact Steve Howell, , 515-294-5252.
Innovations Development Facility (IDF) Industry Mentoring Group
Keith Barnes
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Mr. Keith Barnes is a business graduate of Parsons College and
received an MBA in Marketing from Syracuse University. Prior to joining
Proliant Inc. (formerly AMPC, Inc.), headquartered in Ames, Iowa, as
President and COO in April, 1991, Keith was President and CEO of
Farmstead Foods, Inc. of Albert Lea, Minnesota from 1984 to 1991. From
1970 to 1984, he held various sales, operations and management
positions with Land O'Lakes, Inc., a Minneapolis food cooperative,
rising to the position of VP and Division General Manager. After nearly
13 years serving as President and CEO, Keith recently retired from
Proliant Inc., a global leader in the manufacturing and marketing of
value-added proteins, carbohydrates, and fractions thereof. He will
continue to serve as a consultant for Proliant's parent company, The
Lauridsen Group, Inc. (LGI), which is headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa.
Ted Crosbie, Ph.D.
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Dr. Ted Crosbie is VP of Global Plant Breeding of the Monsanto
Agricultural Sector. Ted is responsible for six crops worldwide and is
a member of the Monsanto Leadership Team. Monsanto's plant breeding
organization is one of the largest breeding efforts in the world with
more than 900 employees and over 100 sites worldwide in 20 countries.
In 2002, Ted was named a Distinguished Fellow in Science in recognition
of his broad strategic impact in Monsanto through scientific
leadership. Ted joined Monsanto in 1996 as Director of Global Wheat
Breeding. In 1998, he became part of the Seeds Business Team in the Ag
Sector of Monsanto. Prior to joining Monsanto, Ted was the President
and CEO of ICI Seeds, USA, from 1990-95. He began his career as a
faculty member of the Department of Agronomy at Iowa State University
(ISU) from 1979-82. Ted earned a B.S. in Agricultural Education in
1973, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Cytogenetics in 1976
and 1978, all from ISU.
David Hettinga, Ph.D.
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Dr. David Hettinga is CEO and Chairman of the Board of Thermo
Solutions, Inc. and is principal of his consulting company. David
Hettinga retired as Vice President and Chief Technical Officer at Land
O'Lakes, Inc. in 2003. He has over 35 years of experience in the dairy
food industry, having worked for Kraft and Clorox before joining Land
O'Lakes. Prior to joining industry, David spent three years in academia
as an instructor in dairy and food science at California State
Polytechnic University. His prior responsibilities at Land O'Lakes as
Vice President included department/division management of Food and Ag
R&D, corporate purchasing, aviation services, printing services, fleet
management, analytical testing laboratory, engineering departments
(process, packaging, project, environmental, health and safety
engineering) and the for-profit business units: R-tech Laboratories,
Inc. and Q.C. Inc.
Rick McConnell, Ph.D.
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Dr. Rick McConnell retired in 2003 as a DuPont VP and President of
Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Des Moines, Iowa, a wholly owned
subsidiary of DuPont since 1999. Pioneer is the largest plant
genetics/seed company in the world with R&D in 25 countries and
revenues of $2.5 billion from sales in over 70 countries. Twenty-six
years of Rick's 30-year career was in R&D. He was a Senior VP for
Pioneer's global R&D from 1994 to 2000. In September 2000, he was named
President of Pioneer, leading the integration of the seed business into
DuPont's Ag and Nutrition business platform. Rick earned B.S. and M.S.
degrees from Colorado State University and his Ph.D. from the
University of Nebraska. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business
School's Program for Management Development. Rick serves on the
non-profit boards of the Iowa State University Plant Sciences
Institute; Keck Graduate Institute, Claremont Colleges; Farm
Foundation; Central Iowa Health Systems; and The Nature Conservancy in
Iowa.
Jack Staloch
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Mr. Jack Staloch is President of Cargill Acidulants. He began this
position in 1994 and is responsible for the worldwide activities for
the Acidulants business unit. Jack is also the R&D Director for the
Cargill Biotechnology Development Center. He took this position in 2003
and is responsible for Cargill biotechnology R&D worldwide. Jack was
hired by Cargill in 1981 and started in the Corn Milling Division in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In 1984, he went to Eddyville to start-up the
Eddyville Corn Milling Facility. After 1987, Jack focused on Cargill's
entry into the biotechnology arena. He was involved in the design,
construction, and start-up of the Acidulants business for Cargill, and
was a member of the Midwest Lysine Board of Directors. Jack graduated
from the University of Minnesota with a degree in chemical engineering.
Tom Steen
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Mr. Tom Steen is a graduate of the University of Iowa, BBA in
finance/accounting, and has completed graduate work at the University
of Minnesota in finance. He is the founder of Transition Capital
Management, a firm designed to take advantage of shortfalls in
traditional methods used by the financial industry to form risk capital
for privately-owned companies. Steen was the initiating principal and
one of the founding principals of Cybus Capital Markets when it
organized in 1995. Cybus was a merchant bank specialized in private
capital for middle market food and agribusiness firms. In 1985, Steen
founded MONY Capital Markets, a subsidiary of Mutual of New York. His
positions and responsibilities prior to 1985 included building a
central U.S. food and agribusiness loan portfolio for Aetna Casualty and
Surety and performing tax-exempt financing for new manufacturing
facilities built in the Midwest, as an employee of Dain Bosworth,
1977-1980.
Innovations Development Facility (IDF) Information
- Companies in the IDF
- Innovations Development Facility Brochure (PDF)
- IDF Policies and Procedures Guide - Version 2 (PDF)
- IDF Application Form - Company (PDF)
- IDF Application Form - Nonincorporated Company (PDF)
