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Juan Enriquez

Co-founder, Synthetic Genomics Inc.; Managing Director, Excel Venture Management.



A brilliant thinker and entrepreneur unlocking the extraordinary promise of the new life sciences —
and changing the world.





Juan Enriquez is one of those unique individuals who lives in the future and works on the cutting edge of discovery. He is an active investor in early-stage private companies in the life sciences sector, and is one of the world’s leading authorities on the uses and benefits of genomic research.
    Juan has recently coauthored, with Steve Gullans, an electronic book titled, Homo Evolutis: A Short Tour of Our New Species. The book takes you into a world where humans increasingly shape their environment, their own selves, and other species. By the end you will see a broad, and sometimes scary, map of life science driven change, a Homo evolutis, which directly and deliberately controls its own evolution and that of many other species.
Bio-science is beginning to affect the way we live, work, and do business, and Juan is an articulate and effective advocate of its promise. Synthetic Genomics, which he co-founded, is a company developing breakthrough genomic-driven solutions for major global issues. They are focused on energy and chemical solutions first but researching a wide range of business solutions in human health (vaccines) and food and water production and the environment.
    Synthetic Genomics was a partner and major funder of the
    J. Craig Venter Institute’s recent breakthrough — the creation of
    the first synthetic bacterial cell.
In addition to his entrepreneurial work in the life sciences, Juan writes and speaks engagingly about the profound changes that genomics and other life sciences will cause in business, technology, politics and society. He is a sought-after speaker, and his highly-anticipated appearances at TED and other venues are dynamic, funny, insightful, and illuminating. He has been named one of two guest curators — both global thinkers (the other is Bill Gates) for the 2011 TED conference.

His work has appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Foreign Policy, Sciences, and The New York Times.

What will The Century of Biology Mean to the Global Economy?

How extraordinary advances in life sciences are changing the way we live and do business.

Genetics and digital are becoming the dominant languages of this century. The genetic revolution and other technologies will have unprecedented political, ethical, economic, and financial impacts on almost every business. You can begin to see this in both the pattern of mergers and acquisitions as well as new investments. Gene data is already transforming how pharma, biotech, hospital, food, feed, fiber, insurance, chemical, and energy companies do business. This session will map out how these discoveries and applications will change your business and life.

Credentials
  • Co-founder, Synthetic Genomics Inc, a synthetic biology company
  • Managing Director, Excel Venture Management
  • Founding Director of the Harvard Business School Life Sciences Project
  • Author of the global bestseller As the Future Catches You: How Genomics & Other Forces are Changing Your Life, Work, Health & Wealth
  • Author of The Untied States of America: Polarization, Fracturing, and Our Future
  • BA, MBA, with honors, Harvard University

    Boards:
  • Cabot Corporation
  • Harvard Medical School Genetics Advisory Council
  • Synthetic Genomics, Inc.
  • The Visiting Committee of Harvard’s David Rockefeller Center

    Government—Prior Positions:
  • CEO, Mexico City’s Urban Development Corp
  • Coordinator General of Economic Policy
  • Chief of Staff, Mexico’s Secretary of State
  • Member of the Peace Commission that negotiated the cease-fire in Chiapas’ Zapatista rebellion


The revolution

As of 1995, we began to read the full gene sequence of . . .
Bacteria, insects, plants, animals, humans.
It is written in a four-letter code (A, T, C, G) . . .
If you change this code, just as if you change the code in a floppy disk or on a CD . . .
You change the message, the product, the outcome.

We are beginning to acquire
direct and deliberate control
over the evolution of all life forms
on the planet . . .
    including ourselves.