Controlling Our Future

Builder mentality helps Nebraska land $25 million grant to grow robotics and agriculture technology

BY DAN HOFFMAN (’88, ’97) Chief Executive Officer, Invest Nebraska Adjunct Instructor, College of Business

We must produce more food in the next 40 years than during the entire course of human history to date and must do so on a planet showing signs of severe environmental stress,” according to the 2014 AgTech report by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. And where did the numbers tell us agriculture innovation was being created to satisfy this future demand? On the coasts — Silicon Valley, Massachusetts, North Carolina.

Invest Nebraska was founded in 2002 to assist Nebraska entrepreneurs and attract venture capital to our state. At the time, Governor Mike Johanns and the Nebraska Legislature understood the importance of innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. Fast forward to 2010 and the Nebraska Legislature took a monumental step forward by unanimously passing the Business Innovation Act — four transformational funding programs, administered by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, to provide grants and seed capital to the state’s entrepreneurs solving market problems using technology and innovation. In 2010, what the Nebraska Legislature and Governor Dave Heineman saw was Nebraska ranked last in the country for venture capital investment with zero deals funded. Fast forward to 2021 and Nebraska has witnessed increased deal flow and private venture capital investment. According to Pitchbook, 40 Nebraska-based startups received more than $317.6 million in venture capital investment, catapulting the state to 32nd in the country.

Agriculture is the leading industry in the state with one out of every four jobs related to the sector. Nebraska agriculture accounts for 25% of the state’s labor income, 40% of the state’s economic output, and $23 billion in cash receipts, making the state the third largest agriculture state in the nation. Surely Nebraska entrepreneurs were starting companies to address ag problems using technology solutions? The 2019 Pitchbook data exposed a weakness. We were witnessing coastal agtech startups, led by “technologists” (with no ag backgrounds), raising millions of dollars of venture capital which did not address real problems faced by Nebraska’s agricultural sector.

Invest Nebraska decided to take charge of our own destiny. In 2019, we partnered with the University of Nebraska’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, the Nebraska Farm Bureau, Nebraska Innovation Campus and the Nebraska Corn Board to create The Combine — a statewide initiative supporting technology entrepreneurs in food and agriculture. The program consists of go-to market support through mentorship and a capital readiness program, networking events, a group of partnering producers across the state, as well as incubation space on Nebraska Innovation Campus. To date, six startups have completed the program raising $9.15 million of angel and venture capital with 10 startups currently participating in the program. Three of the startups to receive venture capital funding were in the agtech robotic space: Grain Weevil (Aurora), BirdsEye Robotics (Herman) and Marble (Lincoln).

The Kauffman Foundation quote continued to gnaw at me on the same level as a Nebraska football loss to Iowa. We can do better. The economist in me knew that to increase economic output, we needed more labor and/or productivity.

The pandemic wreaked havoc on the nation’s labor force and Nebraska bore the brunt. By December 2021, Nebraska recorded an unemployment rate of 1.7%, a historical low for any state in the country since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began the data series in 1976. If we can’t grow the state’s output with more labor, we would need to increase productivity through technology and innovation. Hence, the Heartland Robotic Cluster was born which focused on automation and robotics.

Led by Invest Nebraska, this project involved the UNL College of Engineering, UNL Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Northeast Community College, Metropolitan Community College, Nebraska Innovation Studio, the Nebraska Manufacturing Extension Partnership and The

Combine. Advised by an industry advisory council comprised of Nebraska manufacturers and robotic startups, the Cluster applied for a $25 million grant to the U.S. Department of Commerce — Economic Development Administration. In September 2022, Invest Nebraska received word that the Heartland Robotics Cluster was one of 21 awardees out of 529 applications nationwide.

This project involves four main pillars: Workforce/Education: The College of Engineering is exploring a bachelor’s degree in robotic engineering and the creation of a teaching robotic lab space. Metro Community College and Northeast Community College are developing robotic/automation curriculum for their students.

Community and Governance: Invest Nebraska will lead the cluster governance while Metropolitan Community College and Northeast Community College will conduct outreach to underserved communities and women to explore careers in manufacturing and focus on more middle/high school robotic competition teams.

Infrastructure, Research and Development: Nebraska Innovation Studio will create a robotics curriculum and lab space; the Manufacturing Extension Partnership will create an automation demo space and accompanying program for small to mid-sized Nebraska manufacturers; Northeast Community College will create an Automation Fab Lab for entrepreneurs; and the College of Engineering will create a research and development robotic lab in coordination with IANR.

Robotics and AgTech: The Combine will create a new entrepreneur program specifically for robotic startups in the agtech space.

Nebraska even has the intangible assets that lends itself to an automation/robotic focused project.

According to the Nebraska Public Power District, the state ranked fourth nationally in 2021 for the number of high school and middle school teams (per student population) participating in national and international robotic competitions.

In September 2021, Brookings Institution identified Lincoln as 1 of 13 “early adopter” metro areas (the only in the Midwest) that have shown above-average involvement in AI activities based on substantial university research and development and major commercial activity in close proximity.

The Milken Institute 2020 State Technology and Science Index ranked Nebraska 12th in the nation for the concentration of computer and information science experts per 100,000 workforce.

According to Blueprint Nebraska, the manufacturing sector in the state has the greatest automation potential followed closely by the agriculture sector.

So why should Nebraska focus on automation and robotics in the agriculture sector? We have the assets and the builder mentality. We have the private sector buy-in, and we now have the funds. Innovation is happening rapidly and Nebraska has the opportunity to build technology and innovation solutions and export them to the world. I don’t believe we want to wait and let others dictate our future.