Biorefinery Conference: Investing in Agriculture

A biorefinery industry conference, Investing In Agriculture, is being held in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin on 14 December 02006.

Because the concept of a PPNB industry supercluster in Northeast Wisconsin seems to make a lot of sense, I'm headed to Wisconsin Dells on the 14th to network with the conference attendees, speakers, vendors and organizers. PPNB stands for pulp & paper, printing, nonwovens and biorefinery industry segments. These are four industrial categories that fit well together because of common or related raw materials, processes and products, and because they are tied together in other ways, such as the products from one sector being a raw material for one of the other sectors.

One of the concepts related to industry superclusters is that innovation occurs at the interfaces or intersections of the different industries in the supercluster. In some cases, products from two of the sectors may be complementary and result in new products or new uses. In other cases, people working in one industry may have knowledge very useful in a second industry but that process or product knowledge may not be commonly available in the second industry.

Northeast Wisconsin needs to explore many ways to become more competitive on both a national and global basis. Innovations, investments and collaboration in and around the biorefinery companies are good opportunities for the New North, as well as other parts of Wisconsin, to create good paying jobs and stable regional economies where the traditional agricultural and manufacturing jobs are being lost to productivity improvements and lower wages in other regions.

If you have an interest in biofuels, bioenergy, bioproducts or other aspects of the biorefinery industry segment and want to talk about those interests, please contact me.

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