SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT
PHOTO: COURTESY OF BAYER
Even in the internet age, which helps to
defy physical geographies, factors like
resources and infrastructure drive industries
to “cluster” in a well-defined geographic
space. These birds of a feather do
more than socialize; they take advantage
of a network of opportunities associated
with their industry cluster.
Tracy Shafizadeh is director of scientific
communications for Evolve BioSystems,
a Davis-based spin-out from the UC Davis
Food for Health Institute that produces
a probiotic to resolve disruption of the
gut microbiome in infants for long-term
health. She sees a wealth of opportunities
for businesses like the one she works for in
the Capital Region.
“The Sacramento region really is this
burgeoning hotbed of the food, ag and
health tech and biotech industry right
now,” Shafizadeh says. Being in the Davis
area and being able to network and
cross-pollinate, if you will, with that growing
segment is incredibly important and
very useful and helpful for us as a growing
company.”
Since the company first incorporated
in 2012, Shafizadeh says the network of
resources surrounding its headquarters
has been indispensable to the company’s
growth and success. Being adjacent to the
UC Davis campus allows the company to
work collaboratively with its founders and
advisers, minutes away from important academic
research shaping the future of the
biotech field.
Clusters can thrive through the agglomeration
of complementary businesses
and services in ways that an atomized
business would struggle to accomplish
alone. For clusters to grow organically,
though, they require within reach a skilled
labor force, access to finance and infrastructure
and a regulatory system conducive
to economic growth. By nurturing an
economic environment in which interrelated
businesses are able to prop each other
up — in its most simple sense, a farm
begetting a fruit stand begetting a cafe to
service fruit stand patrons — institutions
like UC Davis, regional governments and
economic development organizations can
act as an anchor and help encourage innovation
and expand access to capital.
This year, a study from the Brookings
Institute identified the six-county Sacramento
region — encompassing El Dorado,
Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba
counties — as having a “notable traded
cluster opportunity at the intersection of
food, agriculture, and technology.” By continuing
to develop the network of resources
that sustain and encourage this cluster,
the report suggests, the entire region will
be able to accelerate its rate of growth and
energize industry.
Evolve BioSystems is one of a constellation
of startups and companies spanning
the region working at the crux of health,
agriculture, food production and technology.
Based in Davis, its neighbors include
BioConsortia, Agrinos, Arcadia Bioscienc-
The Bayer CoLaborator is a 3,000-squarefoot
incubator space (with wet labs) for
agtech startups.
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