In 2018, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) partnered with Biofuels Digest to support the creation and launch of DigestData. This online database was designed to facilitate connections and the transfer of information between interested parties working in the biobased industry. The sponsorship by NCGA continues to provide free access for users to search research and find pilot-scale facilities.
This database allows companies, investors, and innovators to easily find facilities that they can contact to scale up their technologies as well as partners that can help commercialize their products. There is a large opportunity to utilize facilities located in areas with major corn production, creating an opportunity to tap the further potential of corn as an industrial feedstock.
“Thanks to NCGA’s support and the other initial sponsors, we’ve been able to hire freelancers twice a year to keep the database up to date as projects and products evolve, and to add new projects and companies,” said Jim Lane, Editor and Publisher for BiofuelsDigest. “We are up to 992 projects and 850 different companies active in or serving the bioeconomy. We’re expecting to do a promotional wave in the 4th quarter after our latest update is complete, and I would expect that we will continue to see traffic growth into 2021 and beyond. During that time, we’ll be featuring DigestData on DigestConnect, so keep an eye out for that.”
Since the initial launch of DigestData, there have been over 36,000 page views with 2,300 entrances, defined by an average of 15.8 page perusals, which means these users have really dived into the data. Just this month, there have been 1,076 page views of this ever-evolving and updated database.
“This database is a useful source of information for investors and research and development partners, but also is crucial for policymakers, analysts and the broader supply chain,” Dan Wesely, chair of the Market Development Action Team, shares. “This is one of our many efforts in the new uses and biobased product space, and we encourage folks across the value chain to sign up, take advantage and contribute to the tool.”
Biofuels Digest continues to receive suggestions for expansion of the database as people are looking to be able to generate reports that aggregate statistics such as capacity. They have also had requests to add people into the database so that the tool is not only tracking projects but key contacts.