At this week’s Fuel Ethanol Workshop we had a very large panel discussion titled, “Research, Technology and the Future of Ethanol Production.” This was a pretty serious group of industry leaders and thinkers that was introduced by Tom Bryan, BBI International. Included were:

* Moderator: Per Falholt, Executive Vice President-Head of R&D, Novozymes
* Dave Vander Griend, CEO, ICM Inc.
* Rob Elliott, Processor Preferred Marketing Manager, Monsanto Company
* Neal Briggi, Global Head of Enzymes, Syngenta Biotechnology Inc.
* Wes Bolsen, Chief Marketing Officer & Government Affairs, Coskata Inc.
* Larry Johnson, North American Business Development, Inbicon
* Vonnie Estes, Vice President-Business Development, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol
* Jeff Broin, CEO, Poet LLC

I recorded the presentation and thought you might be interested to hear their thoughts in answer to a couple of questions. I’ve included their response to a few of the first ones, including:

How has your company changed within the last 18 months?
What about your company could you have not predicted a year and a half ago?
How will the ethanol industry look a decade from now?
How will it be transformed by both crop and production technologies?

2009 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Photo Album

You can listen to this segment of the panel presentation below: