RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., USA – Syngenta welcomed visitors to its new Digital Innovation Lab at the University of Illinois Research Park today during a grand opening event and forum. Faculty members, students, industry leaders, government officials, Syngenta customers and company leaders toured the lab and exchanged insights regarding the future of digital innovation in agriculture.
Bringing together the resources of a global agribusiness, the intellectual capital of a major research institution and the business mentality of a tech start-up, the Syngenta Digital Innovation Lab at the University of Illinois Research Park represents the first of three planned sites in Syngenta’s global digital innovation lab network.
“We are excited to embark on this chapter in our digital ag journey,” said Dan Burdett, global head of digital agriculture at
Syngenta. “The Syngenta Digital Innovation Lab supports an excellent opportunity to collaborate with dynamic students and researchers from a diverse cross-section of disciplines.”
The Syngenta Digital Innovation Lab provides a forum for students in computer science, biology, physical sciences and other related subjects to apply their specialized expertise—and cutting-edge technology—to address some of agriculture’s most pressing challenges. Data analytics, cloud technology, mobile applications and smart farm technology are among the platforms students will use to explore and test disruptive ideas in pursuit of solutions to complex issues.
Establishing the Syngenta Digital Innovation Lab builds on an existing industry relationship with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois, a collaboration that has yielded notable success for the Syngenta plant breeding program.
“The NCSA’s specialized expertise in high-performance modeling, simulation and Big Data has helped deliver on some of our key business challenges,” said Bill Danker, domain head of seeds research and breeding at Syngenta. “For example, collaborating with the NCSA has resulted in the development of an improved predictive algorithm to compute genetic allele data sets with greater scope and speed.”
Syngenta recently appointed Brandon Dohman as full-time site director of the Syngenta Digital Innovation Lab, with plans to recruit additional professional staff members and student talent.
Syngenta has been a leader in digital agriculture since the company’s introduction in 2000 of AgriEdge Excelsior
®, a whole-farm management program that helps farmers use their crop inputs, land, water and resources more efficiently. Most recently, Syngenta has aggressively leveraged data analytics in its plant breeding program, which has resulted in improved seed varieties and recognition from experts within the advanced mathematics community.
With digital innovation and data integration playing an increasingly pronounced role in bringing successful ag technologies and solutions to market, the Syngenta Digital Innovation Lab is poised to help accelerate the development of these tools, ultimately helping farmers grow more from less. Making crops more efficient is among the six commitments set forth in
The Good Growth Plan, the company’s global strategy to sustainably feed a growing population.
About the Research Park at the University of Illinois
The Research Park at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a technology hub for startup companies and corporate research and development operations. Within the Research Park there are more than 100 companies employing students and full-time technology professionals. More information at
www.researchpark.illinois.edu.
About Syngenta
Syngenta is a leading agriculture company helping to improve global food security by enabling millions of farmers to make better use of available resources. Through world class science and innovative crop solutions, our 28,000 people in over 90 countries are working to transform how crops are grown. We are committed to rescuing land from degradation, enhancing biodiversity and revitalizing rural communities. To learn more visit
www.syngenta.com and
www.goodgrowthplan.com. Follow us on X at
www.twitter.com/Syngenta and
www.twitter.com/SyngentaUS.
Media Contacts:
Chris Tutino
919-226-7238
chris.tutino@syngenta.com
Karyn Ostrom
919-870-5718
kostrom@gscommunications.com
Web Resources:
Know More, Grow More
Syngenta Newsroom
Syngenta U.S.
Thrive
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This document contains forward-looking statements, which can be identified by terminology such as ‘expect’, ‘would’, ‘will’, ‘potential’, ‘plans’, ‘prospects’, ‘estimated’, ‘aiming’, ‘on track’ and similar expressions. Such statements may be subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from these statements. We refer you to Syngenta's publicly available filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for information about these and other risks and uncertainties. Syngenta assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changed assumptions or other factors. This document does not constitute, or form part of, any offer or invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer, to purchase or subscribe for any ordinary shares in Syngenta AG, or Syngenta ADSs, nor shall it form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract thereof.
©2017 Syngenta. 9 Davis Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. AgriEdge Excelsior® and the Syngenta logo are trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.