BIO announces Carver award winner

Mar. 29, 2012, Washington, DC – BIO
has named Steen Riisgaard as the recipient of its 2012 George
Washington Carver Award for innovation in industrial biotechnology.

A panel selected the Novozymes
President and CEO as this year’s winner to recognize his significant
contributions to the industrial biotechnology field. Under Riisgaard’s
leadership, Novozymes is creating tomorrow’s industrial biotechnology
solutions and improving the use of our planet’s resources, while
reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Riisgaard will receive the award and
also deliver a short address during a May 1, 2012 plenary lunch session
at the BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology & Bioprocessing. The conference is being held at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando April 29-May 2.

“I am honored to receive the 2012 George Washington Carver Award,”
Riisgaard said. “At Novozymes, we see biotechnology as a way to reshape
the world’s economy and create balance between better business, a
cleaner environment and better lives. This award is a mandate to
continue innovating with our customers, moving towards a world where
everyday products are made with organic materials instead of oil.”

The award honors the original vision of George Washington Carver, an
originator of the “chemurgy” movement who, more than a century ago,
achieved world renown by combining agriculture and science to produce
everyday biobased products, changing the nature of farm economics and
sustainability. Industrial biotechnology is the modern-day equivalent,
combining biotech innovations with renewable biomass to create solutions
that can revitalize manufacturing and energy.

"The field of industrial biotechnology has developed in ways that
Carver may never have imagined, but the work of industrial biotech
companies remains true to the goal of a sustainable biobased economy and
helps modern people achieve his dream," says Brent Erickson, executive
vice president of BIO's Industrial & Environmental Section. “The
award emphasizes Steen Riisgaard’s contributions as the leader of
Novozymes — one of the largest industrial biotechnology companies in
the world — to the progress of the industry and the vision of using
biotech innovation to develop sustainable bio-based value-chains.”

The world’s largest industrial biotechnology conference for business
leaders, investors, academics and policymakers in biofuels, biobased
products, renewable chemicals, synthetic biology, food ingredients and
biomass comes to Orlando, Fla., April 29 – May 2 at the Gaylord Palms
Resort & Convention Center. Please visit www.bio.org/worldcongress/ for additional information, or email worldcongress@bio.org.

Online pre-registration for reporters and editors is now open.
All breakout and plenary sessions at the BIO World Congress on
Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing are open to attendance by
members of the media. Complimentary media registration is available to
editors and reporters with valid press credentials working full time for
print, broadcast or web publications.

About BIO

BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic
institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations
across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members
are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare,
agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO
also produces the BIO International Convention, the world’s largest
gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading
investor and partnering meetings held around the world. BIO produces BIOtech NOW, an online portal and monthly newsletter chronicling “innovations transforming our world.” Subscribe to BIOtech NOW.