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SynBioBeta Speaker

Richard Kenny

Hawkwood Biotech

Founder & Mng. Partner

After completing his thesis in bioengineering of enzymes for the production of specialty chemicals at University of Oxford, Rich spent the early part of his career in investment banking with Numis Securities in London, funding early stage companies. He moved to California in 2009 to study for an MBA at UC Berkeley. Joining Solazyme in 2011, Rich established Solazyme’s business analytics department, responsible for market analysis, strategy, and deal structuring for all of Solazyme’s business development activities. Prior to founding Hawkwood, Rich worked as product line director for AlgaPrime DHA, Solazyme’s highly successful omega-3 product.

Sessions Featuring

Richard

This Year

Lightning Talk

11:51 AM

-

12:00 PM

Business of Biology

Charting the Future of Industrial Biotech Investing: The BioAtlas

Jenny Rooke, PhD, of Genoa Ventures and Richard Kenny of Hawkwood Biotech unveil the BioAtlas, the first open-source map of industrial biotechnology. They explore what it reveals about the companies, products, and markets shaping bio-based manufacturing, how underwriting approaches to industrial biotech investments are evolving, and why this kind of visibility matters for investors, operators, and the future of the bioeconomy.

Featuring

Jenny Rooke

Genoa Ventures

Managing Director

Built AngelList’s top life-sciences syndicate, backs synbio toolbreakers.

Richard Kenny

Hawkwood Biotech

Founder & Mng. Partner

Techno-economic analysis for the bioeconomy

Lightning Talk

11:51 AM

-

12:00 PM

Business of Biology

Charting the Future of Industrial Biotech Investing: The BioAtlas

Jenny Rooke, PhD, of Genoa Ventures and Richard Kenny of Hawkwood Biotech unveil the BioAtlas, the first open-source map of industrial biotechnology. They explore what it reveals about the companies, products, and markets shaping bio-based manufacturing, how underwriting approaches to industrial biotech investments are evolving, and why this kind of visibility matters for investors, operators, and the future of the bioeconomy.

Featuring

Jenny Rooke

Genoa Ventures

Managing Director

Built AngelList’s top life-sciences syndicate, backs synbio toolbreakers.

Richard Kenny

Hawkwood Biotech

Founder & Mng. Partner

Techno-economic analysis for the bioeconomy

Breakout Session

4:30 PM

-

5:15 PM

Biomanufacturing

The Road to Commercial Scale: Capital and Market Demands Beyond the Pilot Plant

Scaling bio-based products to commercial production requires balancing technical readiness with market and financial realities. This session examines the capital investments, regulatory planning, and supply chain strategies necessary to move beyond the pilot stage. Experts will share lessons on aligning production capacity with demand forecasts, managing operational risk, and structuring partnerships that unlock funding and market access. Attendees will gain practical insights into navigating investor expectations, scaling efficiently without compromising quality, and making strategic decisions that ensure products can succeed commercially while meeting evolving market needs and sustainability goals.

Featuring

Per Falholt

21st.BIO

CSO, Co-founder

Launched ~200 enzyme products, industrial biotech scale-up expert

Vanderlei Bellettini

ADM

VP Precision Ferm. Ops

Bioprocess scale-up veteran turning fermentation into real-world products

Richard Kenny

Hawkwood Biotech

Founder & Mng. Partner

Techno-economic analysis for the bioeconomy

Verena Kallhoff

GHP

Sr. Dir, Global Life Sciences

Riccardo LoCascio

Novonesis

Partnering - Precision Proteins

Cindy Groff-Vindman

CINBIO

Founder

Breakout Session

4:30 PM

-

5:15 PM

Biomanufacturing

The Road to Commercial Scale: Capital and Market Demands Beyond the Pilot Plant

Scaling bio-based products to commercial production requires balancing technical readiness with market and financial realities. This session examines the capital investments, regulatory planning, and supply chain strategies necessary to move beyond the pilot stage. Experts will share lessons on aligning production capacity with demand forecasts, managing operational risk, and structuring partnerships that unlock funding and market access. Attendees will gain practical insights into navigating investor expectations, scaling efficiently without compromising quality, and making strategic decisions that ensure products can succeed commercially while meeting evolving market needs and sustainability goals.

Featuring

Per Falholt

21st.BIO

CSO, Co-founder

Launched ~200 enzyme products, industrial biotech scale-up expert

Vanderlei Bellettini

ADM

VP Precision Ferm. Ops

Bioprocess scale-up veteran turning fermentation into real-world products

Richard Kenny

Hawkwood Biotech

Founder & Mng. Partner

Techno-economic analysis for the bioeconomy

Verena Kallhoff

GHP

Sr. Dir, Global Life Sciences

Riccardo LoCascio

Novonesis

Partnering - Precision Proteins

Cindy Groff-Vindman

CINBIO

Founder

TBD

Session lineup still growing

Featuring

Speaker Coming Soon

Fireside Chat

12:00 AM

-

8:30 AM

Human Health

From Cells to Patients: Solving the Scale Mismatch in Virtual Biology

Drug discovery often measures biology at the cell level while interventions work at the tissue, organ, or whole-patient scale. This mismatch can make accurate cell-level predictions irrelevant in the clinic. This session dives into strategies to bridge that gap: multiscale modeling that nests single-cell dynamics within organ-level simulations, spatial transcriptomics that preserve context, and surrogate models that translate cell-level outputs into clinical biomarkers. Speakers will ask: how do we ensure virtual biology reflects not just what cells do in isolation, but how biology behaves in the real complexity of patients?

Featuring

Speaker Coming Soon

Previous Speakers Include