After an exhaustive competition, Brazilian firm's North American HQs will head to 39° North District in St. Louis.
Article #1: Brazilian Sugarcane firm picks St. Louis over RTP for North American research HQ (05/02/18)
One of the world’s largest sugarcane technology firms has picked St. Louis over the Triangle for its North American research headquarters.
Brazil-based ag-tech Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira (CTC) had seriously considered Research Triangle Park, but announced its final pick Wednesday.
“After visiting multiple sites, our encounter with St. Louis was the perfect environment to attract talent, and access unique infrastructures and transformation expertise for our bold start in the U.S.,” stated Diego Henrique Souza Ferres, head of research and development. “CTC Genomics will advance techniques to develop sugar cane and accelerate development and yield gains over time.”
Initially, the company said it will employ 10 to 15 people.
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Article #2: Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira, the world’s largest sugarcane technology company headquartered in São Paulo, will locate its North American research headquarters in St Louis (05/03/18)
CTC Genomics will focus on developing new platforms for sugarcane which will allow substantial quality and productivity gains. The company plans to initially employ 10-15 people in its BRDG Park location enabling them to access some of the Danforth Center’s state-of-the-art facilities including the Center’s Transformation Facility.
“After visiting multiple sites, our encounter with St. Louis was the perfect environment to attract talent, and access unique infrastructures and transformation expertise for our bold start in the U.S.,” said Diego Henrique Souza Ferres, Head of R&D. “CTC Genomics will advance techniques to develop sugar cane and accelerate development and yield gains over time.”
“The region’s strength in agriculture research and development, deep talent pool and access to critical research infrastructure enabled us to win this very competitive selection competition,” said Sam Fiorello, Danforth Center COO & BRDG Park president.
According to company officials, St. Louis has created a thriving agtech startup ecosystem through a combination of home grown startups and companies that chose to relocate here from around the globe. Several organizations worked together on the recruitment effort including GlobalSTL, BioSTL’s international company recruitment arm.
“St. Louis has a world-class constellation of plant science assets that is perfectly matched for what CTC needs to transform sugarcane, one of the most complex crops to develop. CTC leaders made a wise choice of placing their bet on St. Louis to help them make sugarcane a competitive and valuable crop for farmers and consumers,” said Vijay Chauhan, GlobalSTL lead.