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Northern Ontario and the Boreal Boom

By Shawn Lawrence Biotechnology Focus

In our previous TBI regional spotlight we focused on the activity happening in and around Thunder Bay, this month we look at the bigger picture of biotechnology in Northern Ontario, focusing on the remaining major regions: Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins and North Bay.

Surrounded by the vast boreal forest, it’s no secret that the region’s greatest strength is in forestry sciences. In the words of Ryan Briggs, communications officer with IION, “the opportunities for bio-energy, bio-chemical production, and bio-prospecting are layered as thick as the trunk of an old growth spruce in Northern Ontario.”

Specifically biomass derived from the boreal forest can be used for multiple purposes, such as filler for tires, a replacement for rubbers and plastics, development of biofuels and even in terms of developing new medicines. Forestry science also provides opportunities in terms of high-value chemicals produced through green chemistry and bio-refining.

Overseeing much of this activity is Innovation Initiative Ontario North (IION), a non-profit Regional Innovation Network (RIN). IION was originally known as the Northern Ontario Commercialization Initiative (NOCI) which grew out of a workshop held in December of 2002. The initial workshop brought together researchers, companies and economic development agencies from across northern Ontario with expertise and interest in biotechnology. After several restructurings IION was formed with it’s primary goal as the diversification of the Northern Ontario economy, facilitating partnerships between industry and educational institutions as well as between industries whose synergies may not have been as apparent in the past; for example, the lumber and chemical industries.

“IION is an expert driven networking organization, as such we have a number of different types of partners,” state Ryan Briggs.

Among them are several key funding partners; Industry Canada’s FEDNor program (Federal Economic Development for Northern Ontario), The Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, NOHFC program (Northern Ontario Heritage Funding Corporation), The city of greater Sudbury, the city of Sault Ste. Marie and the primary founder of course Ontario’s Ministry of Research and Innovation.

Strategic partners for program delivery consist primarily of other localized economic development and technology transfer agencies including, the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC), NORCAT in Sudbury and as alluded to in last months BIOSCAN, the North Western Ontario Innovation Centre.

The SSMIC was established in 1999 as a catalyst for growth in knowledge based sectors. Located at Algoma University, it is focused on three core areas: business incubation, SME support services and market development projects.

With such a large geographic area, it can be challenging combining the interests of the many municipal jurisdictions into a common pan-northern set of objectives. Post secondary institutes also play a major role in helping with the incubation of biotech in the region. Among them: Nippissing University in North Bay, Laurentian University in Sudbury, Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie and as mentioned in the previous December Bioscan, Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.

“Our commercialization specialists are directly located and working within these organizations and institutions, this provides them with a direct link to the local technological community as well as other minds to help give shape to ideas and valuable local human resources and business infrastructure,” he said.

While the main focus of IION’s and Northern Ontario’s efforts have been directed towards bioproducts and bioenergy, there is also a move towards healthcare and the development of supportive infrastructure to build a natural health product sector. This includes a massive bio-prospecting initiative that Briggs hopes will uncover the potential of the boreal forest.

“It’s almost like the Amazon of the north and there is great potential for new compounds to be found that could have medical implications and purposes. Right now we’re getting some of the low hanging fruits like bio-energy, plastic replacements, but as we move forward we’ll be able to reach for the higher fruit on the tree, through things like the pharmaceuticals and chemicals,” he said.

The Boreal Bioprospecting Initiative (BBI), is a collaboration spearheaded by the Natural Resources Canada’s Great Lakes Forestry Centre (GLFC) in Sault Ste. Marie. It represents an exciting new project that could have a significant impact on northern life and science. Its aims are to unite researchers, industry and northern communities to create the infrastructure needed to process and bring the raw material from the boreal forest to the market place, while maintaining the intellectual property rights in the Northern Ontario. The success of BBI would bolster health research in Northern Ontario and generate intellectual property of potentially large monetary value that remains in the region.

Not surprisingly, commercial opportunities are being realized in this sector by two companies in Sault Ste. Marie, SITTM and BioForest Technologies. SITTM’s Greenstar Biorefinery System is a mobile, fully automated batch-type bio-diesel production unit while BioForest Technologies has developed an insecticide based on a natural chemical,

There are also research projects in Timmins and Sudbury that are looking to use mine tailings in crop growth. Scientists from the Mining Innovation, Rehabilitation and Applied Research Corporation (MIRARCO) have successfully used forest industry waste to grow corn and canola crop tailings. The goal, they say, is to produce crops which could eventually be used in the production of biofuels, while doing away with many of the controversies held by typical growth of such crops.

Examples of several other successful ventures in the North include Mikro-Tek in Timmins, a company that is dealing with microbial organism technology and carbon sequestration projects world wide and Vision Power in North Bay, a company that is setting out to produce bio energy through the use of wood pellets as material.

Similarly, Renewable Energy is big business, especially in the Sault Ste. Marie with the Brookfield Power Prince Wind Energy project, PodGenerating Group’s development of a 60MW solar farm and EnQuest Power’s three tonne-per-day waste-to-energy pilot plant.

The burgeoning health cluster growing in Sudbury is another asset states Briggs. Sudbury’s innovation park is also now home to the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT), a 60,000 square foot facility that opened in December. According to Norm Lavalle, chief operating officer of the new incubation centre, mining is going to be a strong part of what will be happening there but other bio-industries that will impact the North will also be tenants.

“There’s lots of promising opportunities here,” states Briggs, “We’re just sort of at that top of hill where it’s just going to take one or two big pushes to get the ball rolling over to the other side. If we play our cards right, we should be able to become a global leader in bioproducts and bioenergy just based on the amount of resources we have.”