Entrepreneurship and Plant Bioengineering
If Kentucky is to prosper in future years, the Commonwealth’s innovation-based economy must expand and alternatives must be found to offset the decline in traditional tobacco-based agriculture.
The Joint Project for Entrepreneurship and Plant Bioengineering responds to these Kentucky issues, teaching high school and college students entrepreneurship skills, accelerating the commercialization of technology, and creating new market opportunities for tobacco and other Kentucky crops.
Development of New Crop and Market Opportunities in Kentucky
Headed by Joe Chappell and H. Maelor Davies in the College of Agriculture, this project aims at using biotechnology and genetic engineering to make Kentucky-native plants, like tobacco, usable as sources for new natural products for medical and other applications. The goal is to demonstrate the viability of UK-developed agricultural biotechnology to the investment community at large, thereby encouraging growth of this industrial sector within the Commonwealth.
The application of this program will provide UK students and area high school programs with opportunities to be involved in entrepreneurship and technical training activities and to gain hands-on exposure to technology-driven entrepreneurial efforts in the life sciences. Area high school and technical school students will be trained in conducting DNA fingerprinting with cattle herds in Jessamine County and in integrating the effort with local farmers and cattle cooperatives. The aim is to highlight the value of technical skills and further educational opportunities in building Kentucky’s knowledge-based economy.
Gabriel Wilmoth, UK Natural Products Alliance, and Dean Harvey, Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship, will complement these efforts by bringing together UK student teams, expert faculty, and community mentors to accelerate the commercialization and technology transfer process. They will provide students with opportunities to be involved in entrepreneurship and technical training activities and gain hands-on exposure to technology-driven entrepreneurial efforts. Students will research and develop a business plan for feasible technical concepts. Work will include laboratory experiments, team building and assessment, IP assessment, market research, travel, and financial planning.
Actions and Outcomes to Date
In supporting the recently opened Tech Transfer Center in Jessamine County, the Chappell initiative is providing technical training and hands-on exposure to a technology-driven entrepreneurial activity for Jessamine County High School students. A herd of 25 cows has been DNA fingerprinted, establishing the pedigree and cross-relatedness of the herd, and correlating their agricultural performance with the genetic markers. The project involved education officials from Jessamine County and the Kentucky State Department of Education, students and farmers in the county, and personnel from the UK Chappell laboratory. Direct outcomes of the project include outreach education to the Jessamine County agricultural community about the uses of biotechnology, advanced training for Jessamine County High School students, and an articulation agreement between Jessamine County High Schools and UK supporting college-level credit and student recruitment to the UK Agricultural Biotechnology Program. The Kentucky Department of Education has also asked to expand the program to other counties in the near future.
2006-2007 activities at the Jessamine Career and Technology Center continued the earlier year’s effort, with high school juniors and seniors learning how to isolate DNA from hair samples of a variety of animals. The class also learned how to measure genotypic variability, and then genotyped a small herd of beef cattle. Additional outreach activities included operation of the UK DNA Science Center as a resource center during the academic year, offering materials, supplies, and experimental protocols to area middle and high schools and through special programs coordinated via the UK 4H organization.
The Wilmoth-Harvey initiative has seen the following. An Idea Fair student business plan competition was held. Teams presented concepts and competed for $3,500 in cash awards for use in advancing their innovations. Nearly 100 students, faculty, staff, and community members attended. The top four teams delivered 10-minute presentations and answered questions about their concept to a group of judges, composed of local leaders, venture capitalists, and business professionals.
Awards ranged from $1,500 for 1st to $400 to 4th place. Winning concepts included plans for: providing specialty equine pharmaceuticals and community pharmacy services in Midway, Kentucky; scaling up of ongoing online Book Exchange services by which students buy and sell textbooks directly to each other; conducting product placement campaigns within video games; and an exercise machine for rehabilitating and strengthening injured leg muscles. Finalist teams will represent UK in national business plan competitions or launch their businesses.