The University of California, Davis, announced today a strategic collaboration agreement with Bayer Crop Science to foster innovation and economic development in the Sacramento region by providing dedicated facility support for university-affiliated startups — particularly those in the areas of agriculture and food-related technologies. 

Located within Bayer’s West Sacramento Innovation Hub for Crop Science, the 3,000 square-foot CoLaborator is designed to house and foster innovative new ventures to transform modern agriculture. It consists of a flexible floor plan that has the capacity for eight to 10 researchers and provides basic equipment for ag-tech startups to quickly begin putting their ideas to the test.

“Working with Bayer provides our campus entrepreneurs with another tremendous resource and further strengthens the growing regional innovation ecosystem,” said Dushyant Pathak, associate vice chancellor of Research and executive director of Venture Catalyst at UC Davis. “The value of this effort extends much further than addressing the need for appropriate facilities, it creates an opportunity for entrepreneurs to engage with other experts in and outside their field and build relationships critical for their success.”

As part of the agreement, Bayer joins the university’s Distributed Research Incubation and Venture Engine (DRIVE^TM) network of startup incubators. The DRIVE network is part of a platform of resources offered by UC Davis Venture Catalyst to support the successful translation of research and new technologies emerging from the university into new commercial ventures. Venture Catalyst is part of the Technology Management and Corporate Relations division of the UC Davis Office of Research.

“We are thrilled to be working with the University of California, Davis, to help grow new ventures with the possibility to transform modern agriculture,” said Jon Margolis, head of Research and Technologies Biologics at Bayer. “While we at Bayer are proud of the advances in our own laboratories, we recognize that the challenges today’s growers face will require an open innovation strategy that taps into the larger scientific community.”