BEAM’s 2024 Highlights
As we enter 2025, the BEAM Team is filled with gratitude for the partners who made 2024 a year of tremendous momentum for our regional circular bioeconomy. During BEAM Circular’s second year we:
incorporated as an independent organization after a successful incubation phase at Opportunity Stanislaus;
moved into our first office;
launched over $2.5 million in new resources for local students, educators, and businesses;
engaged over 1,000 local community members;
established the North San Joaquin Valley as California’s first Bioeconomy Development Opportunity Zone; and
secured $50 million in funding commitments for regional bioeconomy development to be deployed over the coming decade.
Below are a few of our favorite highlights from 2024.
Engaging our Community
The BEAM Team hosted 35 community information and education events in 2024, reaching over 1,000 community members with information in English and Spanish about the circular bioeconomy and opportunities to provide input on our regional economic development strategies.
In May, we hosted a landmark Community Symposium at UC Merced. Over 250 collaborators and community members joined us to explore the circular bioeconomy and to learn about CBIO Collaborative’s Innovation Engine plan, which was developed over the course of 18 months by contributors from over 60 organizations. Learn more about our partner community and sign up to become a CBIO Collaborative member here.
Launching New Career Training Programs
We were thrilled to support the launch of catalytic bioeconomy career training projects across multiple local education institutions in 2024. BEAM Circular awarded over $358,000 in workforce development grants through our Bioeconomy Early Career Exposure program, supported by California Jobs First, and CBIO Collaborative Workforce Pilot Grants, supported by the National Science Foundation.
BEAM Circular’s 2024 workforce grant awardees include:
CSU Stanislaus: Piloting a new innovation pedagogy program for K12 teachers.
Enochs High School: Biotechnology Career & Technical Education (CTE) program enhancements, including equipment updates, industry-recognized microcredentials, and field trip support.
Merced College: Development of a career pipeline for local students in collaboration with local K12 partners through leadership training, peer mentoring, and STEM career awareness and exploration.
Merced College: Purchase of industry-standard plant growth chamber to strengthen biology and biotechnology courses, with support for student training and faculty professional development.
Modesto Junior College: Faculty-mentored research and field trip to support bioeconomy career exploration for MESA students.
Modesto Junior College: Student Internships and Faculty Professional Development through Research Partnership with UC Davis.
Modesto Junior College: Campus-wide curriculum and bioindustry pathway analysis and roadmap development.
San Joaquin County Office of Education: Launch of a biotechnology summer camp for underserved students at Durham Ferry.
San Joaquin County Office of Education: Biotechnology curriculum and professional development for K12 STEM educators.
San Joaquin Delta College: Pilot of a new Introduction to Biotechnology course with sponsored internships.
Tracy High School: Biotechnology Career & Technical Education (CTE) Program Development.
Pictured: Modesto Junior College students participating in 2024 research internship program. Through this pilot program, 20 students gained industry-aligned lab skills while contributing to research led by UC Davis. Faculty also developed new hands-on course content that will be incorporated into MJC courses in biology and chemistry, impacting over 400 students annually.
New Resources for Local Businesses & Entrepreneurs
2024 saw the launch of BEAM Circular’s funding resources for businesses, including multiple grant programs for small businesses, technical assistance for farmers and food processors, as well as the BEAM Circular Accelerator, powered by gener8tor. These programs represent over $2 million in new resources available for businesses that create local jobs and advance environmental sustainability.
The first round of applications for these new programs opened in 2024. Initial recipients and new rounds of funding will be announced in early 2025.
Pictured below: Discussing local business needs on site visits with Bowles Farming (Los Banos), Terra Rossa (Turlock), Stanislaus Food Products (Modesto), SunBurst Labs (Turlock), Tracy Renewable Energy (Tracy), Delicato Family Wines (Manteca), and Carbo Culture (Escalon).
Building Capacity through High-Impact Field Visits
One of our favorite things to do is to facilitate hands-on learning opportunities that inspire deeper understanding of the circular bioeconomy and enable sharing of best practices by bringing diverse local partners to new places to learn from leaders in the field.
Two highlight trips of this year: 1) We took a delegation of educators and local government leaders from the North San Joaquin Valley to learn from our partners at the Joint Bioenergy Institute (JBEI) and the Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit (ABPDU) at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. The day included a deep-dive into the technologies being developed at LBNL, the companies they serve, and some of the Lab’s education partnerships. 2) A day-long field trip to Vacaville with 25 of our local workforce, education, and economic development partners to learn from Solano Community College’s successful bioeconomy training programs and to visit Mango Materials and LifeSpace Labs to explore how local public-private partnerships have supported the growth of new bioindustry activities in Vacaville.
Establishing the North San Joaquin Valley as a Rising Bioeconomy Leader
We reached a major milestone early in 2024 through the certification of the North San Joaquin Valley as a “AA”-rated Bioeconomy Development Opportunity Zone (BDO Zone). This designation established the NSJV as the first certified BDO Zone in California, and the first in North America to focus on the availability of tree nut crop residues as a stable and secure feedstock source for biomanufacturing.
We also advanced our region’s leadership, advocated for investment in the circular bioeconomy, and built cross-regional partnerships this year through a variety of state, federal, and global collaboration events. This year the BEAM Team traveled across California and to Nebraska, Colorado, Minnesota, Washington, D.C., and New York, delivered dozens of presentations to policymakers and industry leaders, and was invited to provide subject matter expertise to inform policy development by multiple state and federal agencies and commissions.
Just a few highlights from our field-building work this year included:
Recognition of BEAM Circular by Governor Gavin Newsom during his remarks at the California Economic Summit in October, where he noted our leadership in advancing the goals of the California Jobs First Initiative. BEAM Circular also led a breakout session at the Summit focused on “California’s Big Bioeconomy Opportunity.” We were excited to see the bioeconomy announced as a key statewide priority sector as part of the California Jobs First Economic Blueprint in November, and look forward to continuing to support and collaborate on the development of statewide bioeconomy opportunities that support positive outcomes for all Californians.
CEO Karen Warner joined CA Secretary of Food and Agriculture Karen Ross and leaders from California and Australia for a joint panel on biocircularity and sustainable agrifood systems as part of The Science Summit of the 79th UN General Assembly. You can watch a recording of the panel session here.
We were joined by partners from UC Merced and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to present on behalf of CBIO Collaborative at the National Science Foundation and Economic Development Agency’s landmark Roadmap Summit in Washington, D.C. Our Collaborative was invited to host a table as part of an event spotlighting examples of promising innovations emerging from tech-driven economic development investments by NSF and EDA across the country.
Growing the BEAM Team
In 2024 BEAM Circular graduated out of our incubation phase at Opportunity Stanislaus to become a fully independent nonprofit organization. As a newly independent organization, we developed our founding Board of Directors, made up of exceptional local and global leaders with complementary areas of expertise spanning biotechnology, agriculture, policy, infrastructure development, and public health. We also expanded our staff (4x!), bringing new perspectives and skills to our team to drive our impact across R&D, business development, community engagement, and workforce development efforts.
Onward to 2025!
We are so excited to continue expanding our partnerships, programming, and impact in 2025. Thank you to the many partners and advisors who have joined us to build this movement, to the circular bioeconomy innovators who inspire us every day, and to our community members who are working to build a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable future here in the North San Joaquin Valley. We can’t wait for the adventures ahead!
-The BEAM Team
