Sept. 3, 2020

This paid piece is sponsored by South Dakota Biotech.

There has never been a better time to tap into what’s happening in South Dakota’s bioscience industry.

And there has never been a more convenient way to do it.

The annual South Dakota Biotech Summit will be held virtually, with sessions conveniently scheduled Sept. 28 and 29 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. both days.

“This has been an incredible year of innovation for our industry, and we wanted our members and the broader business community to be able to connect with what’s been happening without leaving the office,” said Joni Johnson, executive director of South Dakota Biotech.

Day one keynote speaker will be Gary Klein, a senior scientist at Washington, D.C.-based MacroCognition LLC.

Klein, whose career includes working as a research psychologist for the Air Force and forming his own R&D company, has developed several models of cognitive processes designed to describe how people make decisions as well as several research and applications methods. He helped pioneer the naturalistic decision-making movement, which drastically changed the way researchers conduct decision-making research.

On day two, the keynote will be delivered by Wade Krieger, a special agent of the NASA Office of the Inspector General.

Krieger has more than 30 years’ experience working with federal enforcement agencies based at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. His career has included handling numerous successful white-collar criminal and civil investigations related to product substitution, theft of trade secrets, grant fraud, lease fraud, conflicts of interest, conspiracy, embezzlement, theft and other procurement-related cases.

Other focal points of the summit include bioscience in a post-pandemic world and advances in manufacturing that are positioning South Dakota for further growth and innovation.

“Work is changing so rapidly that the topics discussed a month from now likely could evolve even from what we’re expecting today,” Johnson said. “If you have direct ties to the biotech community, this is going to bring you immediately up to date on what’s occurring and how you might support those efforts. And if you’re a business leader who wants to build relationships with our industry, the summit is the perfect place for you to begin.”

To learn more and register for this year’s virtual summit, click here.