POET Founder, Chairman and CEO Jeff Broin to Receive 2017 BIO George Washington Carver Award

Broin to accept award and deliver remarks at 2017 BIO World Congress
on Industrial Biotechnology

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) today announced that
POET Founder, Chairman and CEO Jeff Broin will receive the 10^th
annual George Washington Carver Award for Innovation in Industrial
Biotechnology. The award will be presented on Monday July 24, 2017,
during a morning plenary
session of the 2017
BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology. The world’s largest
industrial biotechnology and partnering event will be held July 23-26,
2017 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal in Montréal, Québec, Canada.

“It is an honor to receive this award. George Washington Carver was a
true visionary, recognizing the enormous potential of agriculture to
meet all of our world’s needs,” Broin said. “At POET we follow that
vision, seeking new ways to produce biofuels from both starch and
cellulose as well as developing additional products and bioprocesses to
replace petroleum-based products. We believe that the agricultural
potential of the world is virtually untapped. The world is beginning to
learn that we need to return to the sun, the soil and the seed.”

Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial &
Environmental Section, added, “Jeff Broin is one of the great innovators
and entrepreneurs in the industrial biotechnology sector. He ranks among
the most influential leaders in agriculture as well. Biofuels have
created new markets for agricultural products and rejuvenated rural
America. Jeff Broin has positioned POET at the forefront of developing
cellulosic ethanol and improving the economics of biofuel production.”

The George Washington Carver Award is also sponsored by the Iowa
Biotechnology Association. Joe Hrdlicka, executive director of the
Iowa Biotechnology Association, said, “Jeff Broin has created an
environment at POET where new ideas thrive throughout the value chain of
new economic opportunities for American agricultural producers and rural
communities. His business model truly reflects the ideas and passion
spawned by George Washington Carver a century ago.”

Jeff Broin led the growth of POET from a small 1-million-gallon facility
30 years ago to the current POET network of 28 biorefineries in 7 states
with 1,800 team members. The network annually generates revenues of
about $6.5 billion by producing:

• 1.8 billion gallons of ethanol;
• 10 billion pounds of distiller’s grain; and
• 600 million pounds of corn oil.

Each biorefinery contributes an average of $200 million annually to its
local community, and POET purchases over 600 million bushels of grain
each year from more than 20,000 farmers. POET has achieved 800 percent
growth since 2000.

POET’s contributions to the industrial biotechnology sector include:

• Patented BPX process. The process uses enzymes to reduce heat in the
  production process and drastically lowers the plant’s energy needs.
  POET worked with biotech partners to incorporate additional enzyme
  developments that enable greater process efficiencies.
• Branded distillers grain (DDGs). Broin’s focus on maintaining product
  consistency and his efforts in marketing POET’s Dakota Gold turned
  “by-products” into “co-products.” Today, these co-products improve
  economics at biofuel plants and improve nutrition for livestock
  producers everywhere.
• Cellulosic ethanol. POET researched for years in its labs and at a
  pilot-scale facility to develop a process that uses corn stover to
  produce ethanol. POET-DSM, a joint venture with the Dutch life and
  biosciences company Royal DSM, built their first commercial-scale
  cellulosic ethanol plant and opened it in 2014.

The annual Carver award recognizes an individual who has made a
significant contribution to building the biobased economy by applying
industrial biotechnology to create environmentally sustainable products.
It serves as a lasting memorial to the original vision of George
Washington Carver who, over a century ago, pioneered biobased products,
materials and energy derived from renewable agricultural feedstock.
Industrial biotechnology is the modern-day equivalent of Carver’s vision.

Broin becomes the 10^th recipient honored with the award; past
recipients include:

• Dr. J. Craig Venter, Co-Founder of Synthetic Genomics and Executive
  Chairman of Human Longevity in 2016;
• Jonathan S. Wolfson, CEO of Solazyme in 2015;
• Ellen Kullman, CEO & Chair of the Board, DuPont in 2014;
• Dr. Jay Keasling, Hubbard Howe Jr., Distinguished Professor of
  Biochemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley in
  2013;
• Steen Riisgaard, president and CEO of Novozymes in 2012;
• Feike Sijbesma, CEO of Royal DSM in 2011;
• Gregory Stephanopoulos, the Willard Henry Dow Professor of Chemical
  Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010;
• Charles O. Holliday, Jr., chairman of the board of DuPont in 2009;
• Dr. Patrick Gruber, CEO of Gevo, Inc., in 2008.

All programs at the 2017 BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology
are open to members of the media. Complimentary media
registration is available to editors and reporters working full time
for print, broadcast or web publications with valid press credentials.

For more information on the conference please visit https://www.bio.org/events/bio-world-congress.
For assistance, please contact [email protected].

About BIO

BIO is the world’s largest trade association representing biotechnology
companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and
related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other
nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of
innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental
biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO
International Convention, the world’s largest gathering of the
biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and
partnering meetings held around the world. BIOtechNOW
is BIO’s blog chronicling “innovations transforming our world” and the
BIO Newsletter is the organization’s bi-weekly email newsletter. Subscribe
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Contacts

Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)
Paul
Winters
202-962-9237
Web: www.bio.org
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