Aug. 19, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by South Dakota Biotech.

South Dakota’s biotech industry is growing up, which means opportunities for both those maturing companies and area manufacturers.

That’s why South Dakota Biotech is joining forces with the annual South Dakota Manufacturers’ Summit on Sept. 9 in Sioux Falls to bring a series of biotech-related presentations to the event.

“COVID highlighted many issues with overseas manufacturing, so the conversation within life sciences and the biopharmaceutical industry is how do we on-shore as much manufacturing as we can,” said Joni Ekstrum, executive director of South Dakota Biotech.

“It could take awhile for that to happen, but we need to start those conversations. We want our growing biotech companies to understand the capabilities of South Dakota manufacturers, and we want our area manufacturers to think about their ability to support this industry and its needs. So we’re hoping many businesses in both sectors join us for this event.”

With more than 25 speakers, numerous manufacturing- and business-related vendors and networking opportunities throughout the event, the Summit will be held at Southeast Tech and focus on the following areas:

• Workforce
• Automation
• Quality
• Supply chain
• Biotech

“To me, the biotech industry has been in research mode for years in South Dakota, but now we’re starting to see more and more of those companies starting to manufacture products,” said Don Cuperus, center director of South Dakota Manufacturing & Technology Solutions.

“So as they move into manufacturing, we thought this year would be a good opportunity to start a biotech track.”

The track will include discussions around creative strategies in supply chain management, development of innovative products with non-diluted money, how to protect your company from hackers and how to leverage the Giant Vision competition for ongoing funding.

“We see it as a huge opportunity,” said Morgan Larson, business adviser for South Dakota Manufacturing & Technology Solutions. “Hopefully, it will be the catalyst of additional conversations we’d like to see happen.”

The Summit’s keynote will be given by John McElligott, known professionally as a “vision caster and technical futurist,” who believes emerging technology represents incredible opportunity.

“John is a very energetic, dynamic speaker who talks about the future and is passionate about automation,” Cuperus said. “We continue to see a strong workforce challenge in South Dakota, and we believe automation is a key solution to that for a state with a small population.”

Automation also isn’t limited to large manufacturers, he added.

“We work with several companies who only have five employees but are working on automation, and we’ve been successful laying out automation plans to help them do that,” Cuperus said. “Most manufacturers we talk to say their sales are way up and limited only by the number of employees they can hire, so it’s a large issue they’re very much focused on right now.”

To learn more and register for the South Dakota Manufacturers’ Summit, click here.