2025 Symposium Agenda

Registration

The Symposium is free to attend but registration is required.
Registration closes May 31, 2025.

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About the Symposium

Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences is hosting the second annual Technologies for Agriculture and Living Systems Symposium at the University Park campus on June 12-13, 2025. The theme of this year's symposium is "Closing the Innovation Gaps Between Discovery and Delivery," with an aim to bring partners across academia, government, industry, and other stakeholders together to help us refine our understanding of opportunities and challenges along the technology pipeline from discovery to delivery.

This year, we are excited to bring together partners from academia, government, industry, and other stakeholders to refine our understanding of the technology pipeline from discovery to delivery. Over two days, we will explore the current state of this pipeline from various perspectives.

Day 1: Engage with panelists working at different points of the pipeline to identify big picture challenges and opportunities. We'll frame discussions using our governor’s economic development pillars—robotics, manufacturing, energy, and life sciences—and their intersections with agriculture.

Day 2: Dive deeper into the pipeline with panelists sharing their experiences at specific stages, followed by intensive facilitated discussions to map contributions from discovery to delivery.

Symposium Agenda

Day 1 | June 12, 2025

Details on the sessions (session themes, presentation titles, and room locations) will be updated as the sessions are finalized with contributing participants.

Registration, Breakfast, Networking

8:00 | Animal Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Building (AVBS) Southeast Lobby

Welcome

8:30 | 102 AVBS

Session: Culture of technology changes and adoption

9:00 - 10:00 | 102 AVBS

10:00 | Networking Break

Session: Human interactions with technology and safety

10:30 - 11:30 | 102 AVBS

Keynote Speaker

11:30 | 102 AVBS

Lunch

12:00 | AVBS Lobby and 106 AVBS

Cultivate the Future: Aligning Agricultural Innovation with Robotics, Manufacturing, Energy, and Life Sciences

This afternoon series of four panels will bring together experts from across the agricultural innovation pipeline to explore major challenges and opportunities through the lens of Governor Shapiro’s economic development pillars—robotics, manufacturing, energy, and life sciences—highlighting how these intersecting sectors are shaping the future of agriculture and living systems in Pennsylvania.

Panel: Ag & Life Sciences

1:00 - 1:50 | 102 AVBS

Panel: Ag & Energy

2:00 - 2:50 | 102 AVBS

Panel: Ag & Manufacturing

3:00 - 3:50 | 102 AVBS

Panel: Ag & Robotics

4:00 - 4:50 | 102 AVBS

Day 1 Closing Remarks

5:00 | 102 AVBS

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Day 2 | June 13, 2025

Registration, Breakfast, Networking

8:00 | AVBS Southeast Lobby

Overview

8:30 | 102 AVBS

Early-Stage Research: Motivations toward Innovation and Industry Alignment

9:00 | 102 AVBS

Research Translation: What Does Success Look Like?

10:00 | 102 AVBS

Commercialization Scaling Up Research and Marketing

11:00 | 102 AVBS

Lunch

12:00 | AVBS Lobby and 106 AVBS

Breakout Sessions: Mapping the Technology Pipeline

Robotics/Automation
1:00 | Location TBD

Monitoring Decision Support
1:00 | Location TBD

Biotechnology
1:00 | Location TBD

3:30 | Break

Session Reports & Closing Remarks

4:00 | 102 AVBS

Reception

5:00 | Penn State Calorimeter and Armsby Building

Symposium Logistics

All events will be held on the Penn State University Park campus. Parking information will be provided to registrants. 

Lodging Logistics

The Nittany Lion Inn | 0.7 miles 
The Graduate | 1.1 miles
Hyatt Place State College | 1.4 miles
Scholar State College | 1.2 miles