N.C. PSI Welcomes Four Companies to Innovation Hub

How does Casimir Jones address challenges in agriculture?

Casimir Jones supports innovation in agriculture by helping clients secure and defend

intellectual property rights for new plant varieties, breeding technologies and agricultural innovations. Our attorneys have extensive experience in plant patents and plant variety protection,  as well as navigating complex regulatory environments to enable agricultural innovators to bring new products to market while safeguarding their competitive edge.

Why did you choose to be a member of the Innovation Hub?

We joined the Innovation Hub to collaborate closely with leading scientists, entrepreneurs, and industry partners in the agricultural sector. The Hub provides unique opportunities for ideation, networking, and access to cutting-edge research, enabling us to understand better the challenges faced by innovators and to deliver proactive, informed IP counsel that accelerates technology transfer and commercialization.

Does your company partner with NC State in other endeavors?

We partner with NC State in various ways beyond our Innovation Hub membership.  We work closely with the NC State Technology Transfer Office, preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications for new technologies developed at the university. Our attorneys provide strategic intellectual property counsel to help protect and commercialize innovations on behalf of NC State, supporting the university’s mission to bring research discoveries to market and maximize their impact.

What do you think about approaching grand agricultural challenges through interdisciplinary research and technology development?

We believe that addressing significant agricultural challenges requires interdisciplinary research and the development of innovative technologies. By combining expertise from law, science and business, and working alongside researchers and entrepreneurs, we can help drive solutions that are both innovative and practical. This collaborative approach fosters the creation, protection, and deployment of transformative technologies that can address food security, sustainability and other critical issues in agriculture.

How does The Traits Company address challenges in agriculture?

Agriculture is undergoing a profound transformation driven by climate change, resource scarcity and evolving market demands. At The Traits Company, we address these challenges by reimagining the traits pipeline from the ground up. We focus on high-value, underexplored phenotypes and use modern biotechnology to develop novel row crop traits that deliver real-world impact.

By harnessing systems biology, greenhouse automation, and molecular tools, we’re accelerating the discovery of traits that enable crops to thrive under stress and improve farmer profitability with minimal environmental trade-offs.

Why did you choose to be a member of the Innovation Hub?

Joining the Innovation Hub was a strategic choice for us. It places us in close proximity to a vibrant ecosystem of researchers, startups and industry leaders who are all working toward a shared goal — agricultural innovation. The Hub offers access to world-class facilities, talent and thought leadership, enabling us to scale faster and more intelligently.

It’s not just about co-location; it’s about co-creation — and we’re proud to be part of a community that believes in advancing agriculture through innovation.

Does The Traits Company partner with NC State in other endeavors?

We collaborate with NC State on a number of fronts, from applied research projects to student engagement and workforce development. The university’s deep expertise in plant sciences and its strong focus on translational research make it a natural partner for us.

We’re particularly excited about opportunities that bridge academic discovery with real-world impact, especially in areas like stress physiology, genetics and crop modeling.

What do you think about approaching grand agricultural challenges through interdisciplinary research and technology development?

We strongly believe that interdisciplinary collaboration is essential to solving agriculture’s grand challenges. Whether it’s climate resilience, soil health or food security, these issues don’t sit neatly within a single discipline.

At The Traits Company, we see the fusion of biology, data science, engineering and agronomy as a powerful force multiplier. A single technology alone isn’t the answer — nor is biology. But together, in a technology-agnostic manner, they can drive the breakthroughs agriculture needs. That’s why we prioritize global thinking, open innovation, curiosity and cross-sector problem-solving in everything we do. 

How does The NetZero Project address challenges in agriculture?

We tackle agricultural challenges through a multi-dimensional strategy that blends technology, agronomy and business intelligence. We enable companies and farmers to make smarter decisions by delivering AI-enhanced predictions, agronomic modeling and environmental performance insights.

Our farmer-centric approach ensures that innovation translates into adoption and real-world results — not just theoretical gains. We address key challenges such as soil degradation, greenhouse gas emissions, market inefficiencies and the slow scaling of regenerative practices.

Through our platforms and consulting services, we provide tools to accelerate product adoption, design regenerative programs, and unlock sustainability-driven business opportunities.

We believe the complexity of modern agriculture demands a new kind of thinking — one that connects the field, the environment and the market in one integrated strategy. By empowering action with data, science, and empathy, we help shape a resilient, sustainable, and profitable agricultural future.

Why did you choose to be a member of the Innovation Hub?

We deeply believe in the power of interdisciplinary collaboration to reshape the future of agriculture. The NetZero Project thrives at the intersection of agronomic science, data-driven technology and strategic market foresight. Being part of the Innovation Hub connects us with cutting-edge research, forward-thinking industry partners, and the vibrant innovation culture fostered by NC State.  It allows us to co-create new pathways for regenerative agriculture, climate-smart farming, and sustainable food and energy systems.

The hub’s spirit of collaboration perfectly aligns with our mission to challenge traditional agricultural models and scale actionable solutions. It provides us with a unique ecosystem where we can contribute our global perspective, our technology platforms, and our farmer-centric insights — while benefiting from the expertise, research excellence and visionary community that NC State has built.

Does your company partner with NC State in other endeavors?

Beyond our membership in the Innovation Hub, The NetZero Project actively seeks to build broader collaborations with NC State through research initiatives, field trials and innovation partnerships.

Our vision is to work alongside NC State’s world-class researchers and departments to integrate advanced agronomic science into practical, scalable solutions for regenerative agriculture. We are exploring joint projects around field-science data analytics, soil health improvement, and sustainability program modeling — leveraging our AI-driven platforms and NC State’s scientific leadership.

Additionally, we aim to contribute to interdisciplinary projects that merge plant science, data science and economic modeling to accelerate agricultural transformation.

We see NC State not just as an academic partner but as a catalyst for pioneering new systems thinking, new business models, and new global solutions for the challenges agriculture faces today.

Our partnership is fueled by shared purpose: driving real-world change at scale.

What do you think about approaching grand agricultural challenges through interdisciplinary research and technology development?

We believe that solving grand agricultural challenges demands an interdisciplinary approach that combines agronomy, technology, economics and environmental science.

The NetZero Project was founded on the idea that no single discipline — no matter how powerful — can tackle the complexity of modern agriculture alone. Through interdisciplinary research and technology development, we can build solutions that are not only innovative but also practical, scalable, and profitable.

We fully support NC State’s vision of breaking down silos between fields of study to address soil degradation, climate impacts, food security, biodiversity loss, and the evolving needs of global markets. By fusing agronomic insights with AI modeling, environmental monitoring, and business intelligence, we create holistic solutions that connect farmers, companies, and communities. We see interdisciplinary collaboration as essential not just for technical advancement, but for building a regenerative, resilient agricultural future that benefits all stakeholders — from the soil to society.