DuPont is a big ship, and it doesn’t turn quickly, but it is clear that it is turning in the direction of industrial biotech.

By using crop wastes as well as grain, we could be producing tens of billions of gallons of ethanol in this country every year and lessening our dependence on foreign petroleum.

Industrial biotechnology offers the tools for the Western world to adapt to a more competitive marketplace and also keep some of those jobs in the local economy. It also offers new hope for the environment.

The purpose of the conference is to highlight the emerging field of industrial biotechnology.

Biotechnology is creating a new industrial revolution based on biology instead of petroleum. As biotech processes replace old rust-belt technologies, they are enabling a transformation from a petroleum-based economy to a bio-based economy.

BIO sees regional bio-based economies emerging in various states of complexity and development. The trend is clear that industrial biotech is growing in importance in the Pacific Rim countries.