Dr. Norman Borlaug, known as the “Father of the Green Revolution,” would have turned 100 on March 25 this year. He dedicated his life to feeding the world by improving the health and yields of cereal crops. To honor his legacy a Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security set out to continue his work throughout the world.

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In a forthcoming article in the Journal of Business Venturing, EMAC researchers Kolympiris, Kalaitzandonakes and Miller examine where university-employed scientists start their firms.

The authors find that proximity to venture capital firms and key research infrastructure, such as medical schools, may help to attract new firms and create entrepreneurial environments that can boost local employment and encourage economic growth at large.

Nevertheless, the personal characteristics of academic entrepreneurs dominate the choice of location. For instance, academic entrepreneurs at later stages of their career are considerably more likely to start their firm away from their academic homes. These findings, therefore, suggest that a deeper understanding of the location choice of firms spawned by universities may require more attention to the characteristics and incentives of the academic entrepreneurs that establish them.

In the recently published “The Size and Distribution of the Benefits from the Adoption of Biotech Soybean Varieties” EMAC researchers and collaborators from WAEES and the University of California Davis, measured the global economic impacts of herbicide tolerant soybeans in their first 15 years of adoption. Their analysis finds economic benefits amounting to a total of about US$46 billion. These include benefits to consumers and producers all over the world (86% of total) as well as benefits to the innovator (14%).  (more…)