September 6-13, 2025 marked my second Trade Mission to India representing IowaBio with Governor Kim Reynolds and the State of Iowa, including Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, and Iowa Economic Development Authority Director Debi Durham, along with many statewide leaders representing their Iowa industries and organizations. I am more grateful and thankful to have been a part of this mission than I have the words to express. The support of the IowaBio board to represent the members in such a capacity, is certainly not lost on me.

Given federal and international headwinds, there could not have been a more fascinating political time to be doing state-level relationship building in India. Meetings felt even more meaningful, and the messaging more nuanced. But what wasn’t subtle were the clear successes of the mission. The foremost for Governor Reynolds was signing an historic Partner State Agreement with Maharashtra--the state where both Mumbai and Pune (two cities we visited) are located.

I was similarly excited to have culminated over a year of conversation in a Memorandum of Understanding with the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE), witnessed by Governor Reynolds. ABLE is a not-for-profit pan-India forum launched in April 2003, that represents the Indian Biotechnology Sector. The primary focus of ABLE is to accelerate the pace of growth of the Biotechnology sector in India, through partnering with the Government in their biotechnology initiatives to deliver optimal policies and create a positive regulatory environment, encouraging entrepreneurship and investment in the sector, providing a platform for domestic and overseas companies to explore collaboration and partnerships, forging stronger links between academia and industry and showcasing the strengths of the Indian biotech sector.

ABLE has over 400 members from all across India representing all verticals of the sector like Agribiotech, Bio-pharma, Industrial biotech, Bioinformatics, Investment banks and Venture Capital firms, leading Research and Academic Institutes and Law Firms and Equipment Suppliers.

These new agreements with Maharashtra and ABLE will serve as a formalized way to continue our relationship with India, and with its government and agricultural and biotechnology industries.

In addition, I was also fortunate to speak to an international audience at the DialogueNEXT event in New Delhi organized by the World Food Prize, which focused on bringing biotech solutions to farmers.

This mission felt successful on all fronts: political, professional, personal. I am excited to continue to build on the relationships with my amazing fellow delegates, and those we are forging and cultivating in India.