CanBio Report Growing a Canadian bio-economy network The Bio-Economy Network (BEN) will focus on the entire bio-economy. By Fernando Preto he New Year is traditionally a time for reflections on the past year and resolutions for the years ahead. The past year was an exciting one for the bio-economy with advances across the board. Some notable projects from 2013 include: • Enerkem began commissioning at the world first full-scale mu-nicipal waste-to-biofuels and chemicals facility in Edmonton; • Nexterra, a global leader in en-ergy-from-waste gasification systems, announced a new turnkey biomass gasification system for a Birmingham Bio Power Ltd. 10 MWe facility in the United Kingdom; • Conifex secured project financ-ing for its 36 MWe bioenergy power project in Mackenzie, B.C.; • Iogen began construction of a commercial-scale facility, based on its world-leading enzyme technology, in Piracicaba, São Paulo. These Canadian companies along with many others in areas such as py-rolysis and torrefaction are taking to the world stage and showing that Ca-nadians are leaders in developing the bio-economy. We no longer need to look overseas for the latest and great-est. The best technologies are here, the vast biomass resources are here and with the right strategy we can develop a world-leading bio-economy here, in t Canada. A rapidly expanding bio-econ-omy will make significant contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and through operational synergies strengthen Canada’s primary industries while diversifying the Canadian econo-my as a whole. During the past year, CanBio hosted a number of workshops focused on the bio-economy: “Biomass to Biofuels and Bio-chemicals” in Sarnia, Ont.; “Cana-da’s Prairie Bio-economy” in Saskatoon, Sask., and, in conjunction with our AGM, a conference with the theme of “Creating Business in the Bio-economy” in Gatineau, Que. The latter conference hosted speakers on project financing and attracting investment as well as the latest technologies and research, and perhaps most significantly, an executive panel representing other leading associ-ations in the bio-economy. These speakers highlighted not only the vast potential of the bio-economy but also the need for a common voice to speak with government, at all levels, in developing a new strategy for Cana-da. This desire led these associations, in-cluding CanBio, to form the Bio-Economy Network (BEN). BEN is a cross-sectoral in-dustry forum that represents 800 mem-ber companies, sustains over two mil-lion jobs nationally and generates over $266 billion in total annual revenue. BEN members share a strong belief that the global bio-economy – based upon renewable feedstocks – represents an exciting opportunity to boost Canadian jobs and future economic growth. There are many drivers to a suc-cessful bio-economy, and Canada is well positioned to take advantage of world-class technologies, an abundance of sustainable feedstock and a robust banking/investment climate. The United States and the European Union have al-ready released their own bio-economy strategies in response to accelerating growth in global bio-based markets. Timely development of a made-in-Can-ada strategy is critical to ensure Canada is a world leader in this new and excit-ing marketplace. This is the goal of BEN and its members. The past year has seen a major shift at CanBio, created in 2002 as the Cana-dian Bioenergy Association, with a re-newed focus on the entire bio-economy. This does not mean that we have aban-doned bioenergy. In fact we recognize bioenergy as the foundation/bedrock of most bio-economy initiatives – we like to say we are in on the ground floor. We invite you to join us, become an active member of CanBio and help us drive the strategy to create the new bio-economy. To that end CanBio has revamped its approach and the values we endeavour to deliver to our mem-bers: networking, information and growth. Our new membership drive is un-derway – look for it and consider join-ing our community. • Fernando Preto is the executive director of CanBio . January/February 2014 12 Canadian BIOMASS
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