in cleantech is coming back—last year, it reached $6.8 billion, with algae companies taking in close to $60 million. But this time, advocates say, the growth is fueled more by strategy, not speculation. For its part, the ABO has concentrated on helping to build an ecosystem around algae that brings together scientists, corporations, entrepreneurs, and investors to share and promote commercialization ideas.
To make sure that algae is part of the national policy conversation on cleantech and alternative fuels, ABO has also hired its own lobbyist in Washington. The main goal is to get the U.S. Congress to put algae on par with other crops so it could qualify for crop insurance and other government programs.
Lakeman, who joined ABO in 2008 and was previously a researcher with the New Zealand Institute of Crop and Food Research, said Boeing’s interest in biofuels like algae makes sense. “We are building planes right now that may fly for the next 30 years,” he said. “We need to make sure the aviation market is going to have a fuel supply.”
So while Boeing does not do its own research in algae, he said, the plane manufacturer can still support the field by advocating for investment and policy changes that create a clearer path for commercialization.
The challenge is to mainstream algae and bring it in from the outer fringes of scientific possibility, which, in turn, builds a foundation for commercialization, say entrepreneurs. “This is by far the hardest, hardest lift I’ve ever done in my business career,” said Burns of BioProcess Algae.
Two years ago, Seattle-based Matrix Genetics was spun out of agricultural biotech firm Targeted Growth to use cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, as a substitute for fossil fuels. Its CEO, Margaret McCormick, chairs the ABO’s board of directors this year, and she said the company is currently leveraging its biology for the nutraceutical and cosmetics industries for a commercial partner she declined to name.
Targeted Growth invested an initial $8 million in Matrix and the spinoff raised a Series A round last year. McCormick said she’s looking for additional partners this year to fund the company’s growth.
Both McCormick and Burns say their ultimate goal is large-scale production of algae for fuel, but getting there will require making other more easily marketable products as they refine their processes.
After a dinner of salmon amandine, quinoa, and beet salad, many
