Descending into Discovery: Reflections from America’s Underground Lab
Descending into the Sanford Underground Research Facility revealed more than a historic mine turned laboratory. It exposed South Dakota’s quiet but powerful role in answering the universe’s deepest questions. From Ray Davis’s pioneering experiments to DUNE’s 800-mile neutrino beam, the state is building on generations of vision and partnership.
Real World Evidence for MedTech Startups: Insights from Ian Weimer
For early-stage medtech companies, proving value often comes long before a product is built. In this conversation, Ian Weimer shares how real world evidence is shifting from a niche capability to essential infrastructure, and what that means for founders building in a changing regulatory and funding environment.
Building Awareness Against the Silent Pandemic of Antimicrobial Resistance
The USD Discovery District recently hosted an insightful podcast conversation exploring one of the most pressing yet under-discussed global health threats: antimicrobial resistance (AMR), often described as a silent pandemic.
In this episode of the podcast, host Tung Nguyen sat down with Dr. Patrick Rynn Hogan, DHA, author of the newly published book The Silent Pandemic of Antimicrobial Resistance: Why the Next Global Health Crisis Has Already Begun.
Dr. Hogan, CEO of Prescient Healthcare, shared compelling insights into why AMR represents a system-level failure that spans healthcare, agriculture, supply chains, and innovation ecosystems. He emphasized that while AMR has been evolving for decades, its impacts are accelerating—contributing to hundreds of thousands of deaths annually through conditions like sepsis, UTIs, and persistent infections that were once easily treatable.
What the Governor’s Giant Vision Competition Reveals About South Dakota’s Startup Ecosystem
The recent Governor’s Giant Vision Competition in Pierre, South Dakota, offered a compelling view of the state’s evolving entrepreneurial landscape. Reflecting on the experience, Tung Nguyen—who previously participated as a finalist in 2022—observed a noticeable elevation in the event’s execution and the quality of ventures emerging from across the state. Events like Giant Vision reinforce the importance of coordinated innovation infrastructure as South Dakota’s startup ecosystem continues to mature.
Sharing the Inside View: Reflections from the USD Discovery District Team
The USD Discovery District has marked a pivotal year in South Dakota’s innovation landscape, but its foundation rests on decades of strategic vision. In this episode of Favorable Environments, host Tung Nguyen joins his fellow USD Discovery District leaders — Ryan Oines (President and CEO) and Marc Niamba (Director of Biotech Development) — for a reflective conversation on the District’s first operational year since launching Building 1 in January 2025. Their discussion reveals what it takes to build a research park from the ground up, why collaboration drives sustainable growth, and how South Dakota is creating the right conditions for bioscience to thrive long-term.
Advancing Nutritional Science From the Heart of South Dakota
OmegaQuant Analytics has become one of the most trusted names in nutritional science, but its story begins here in Sioux Falls. In this episode of Favorable Environments, Dr. Kristina Harris Jackson reflects on how a simple dried blood spot test grew into a global diagnostics platform used in more than seventy countries. Her conversation with Tung Nguyen reveals what it takes to translate research into tools people can use at home, why communication matters in science, and how South Dakota continues to create the right conditions for long-term innovation.
What Are Communities of Innovation — and Why They Matter for the Midwest
Across the Midwest, cities are re-imagining how people, ideas, and industries connect. Communities of innovation—also called research parks or innovation districts—bring together universities, private companies, and civic leaders to accelerate discovery, entrepreneurship, and job creation. These districts are redefining what economic development looks like. Rather than isolated R&D centers, they build entire ecosystems where researchers, […]
Cooling the Future with Liquid Ventilation
Dive into Favorable Environments’ latest: Orixha CEO Fabrice Paublant unveils liquid ventilation tech poised to transform post-cardiac arrest care, cooling patients to 33°C in under 20 minutes to curb $1.5B annual U.S. organ damage costs. With MIT-honed expertise, Paublant emphasizes lean funding and collective intelligence for medtech scale-up. Explore ROI potential for job-creating biotech hubs.
Stream the episode and connect with USD Discovery District for policy-aligned partnerships fostering regional growth.
Exploring Public Biotech Stocks
Unlock biotech investment intel in Favorable Environments: Wassim Laroussi reveals trends like $32.1B Q4 2024 M&A (PitchBook, +20% YoY) signaling job-creating consolidations in oncology/obesity amid rising rates. From his IQVIA roots, he advises valuing companies as full acquisitions for policy-aligned funding decisions.
Listen and connect with USD Discovery District to leverage data for regional economic impact and compliant growth strategies.
USD Discovery District Board Names Ryan Oines as President and CEO, Welcomes New Board Members
July 25, 2025 The University of South Dakota Discovery District has announced the appointment of Ryan Oines as its president and CEO. Oines brings more than a decade of experience in business development, operations and project management. He has served on the USD Discovery District leadership team since 2019, most recently as interim president and […]