Just one year after a nonprofit was established to run the 39 North AgTech Innovation District, the organization has made strides to further solidify St. Louis’ reputation as a national and global leader in the agriculture sector.
Some of the key developments include the expansion of the nonprofit’s staff and the opening of a dedicated physical space for the innovation district’s headquarters, said 39 North Executive Director Emily Lohse-Busch. Establishing a physical location was especially front of mind when the nonprofit launched, she added.
“There wasn’t a physical front door or meeting place in this district that plant scientists, company founders and people from all walks of life in the agtech world could come together,” Lohse-Busch said.
The 39 North Collaboration Hub will occupy a little more than 10,000 square feet of unused space at the EDGE@BRDG alongside Benson Hill’s headquarters on North Warson Road, she said.
“If we would have had to build out that space or refurbish or rehab something, it probably would have still been eight to 12 months out,” she said.
Once that space formally opens on June 1, it can be used to host meetings between companies and investors or scientists, public events, or as a coworking location, Lohse-Busch said.
“All of that is critical for this agtech sector that’s so dependent on connections and knowing what’s happening up and down the value chain from you,” she said.
Lohse-Busch explained the agriculture sector operates at such a large scale that a smaller company introducing any innovation must understand how it can effectively fit into that broader landscape.
Physical places to gather are the kind of feature that's a hallmark of a thriving innovation district, said Stephanie Regagnon, executive director of Innovation Partnerships at the Danforth Plant Science Center.
“That’s a big part of community building,” she said. “For people to gather, network and hopefully form the spontaneous partnerships that can only happen when you’re in person, you really need spaces to do that.”
39 North is also pushing to develop more of the real estate into spaces for offices and labs, which are important for companies that are ready to exit the existing incubators, like the Helix Center Biotech Incubator, she added.
Adding these kinds of locations requires strategy since 39 North’s 600-acre footprint is mostly developed and not a blank slate, she said. The innovation district is working with PGAV planners to study the best way to build out new spaces, Lohse-Busch said.
“You don’t want one thing here and then another thing a half-mile away that you’d have to get in your car to go to,” she said. “Right now we really need to focus on moving slow, steady and intentionally toward building community within buildings but then also between buildings.”
That’s part of the power that comes from 39 North being a stand-alone nonprofit, Regagnon said.
“At the end of the day the Danforth Plant Science Center, we’re a global plant science research institute, we’re not going to get in the business of real estate,” she said. “39 North as its own entity with a very clear focus is going to make all of this happen with so much more speed.”
It comes at a critical inflection point for the agriculture and plant sciences because the status quo isn’t sustainable, Regagnon said. She added there is now urgency in responding to climate change and making the sector sustainable.
“St. Louis has had excellence and expertise in this area for a very long time,” Regagnon said. “But we really need to be able to tell our story. And we need to be able to draw people in physically to this region and partnering with our existing network and ecosystem.”
St. Louis will get an opportunity to do that later this year when the Association for Corporate Growth’s AgTech Investor Symposium comes to the region after spending the past two years in Raleigh, North Carolina. Lohse-Busch explained the idea isn’t to permanently relocate the symposium but to strengthen the connection between the two regions to find viable solutions to climate change.
“None of our regions are big enough that we’re going to solve all the problems in ag and sustainability,” she said.
It’s an opportunity to bring companies and investors from across the country to St. Louis, which is an established place where people in the plant science community will likely relocate to at least once in their career, Lohse-Busch said.
“What an incredible opportunity for us, if it's already known that this region is a powerhouse, what potential exists when we are able to kind of even push that to the next level,” she said.
Lohse-Busch admits 39 North has set an aggressive pace in its first year as a nonprofit.
“My hope and expectation is that you’re going to see this momentum continue and even accelerate as we continue to grow for the next several years,” she said.
