News & events

The Canadian Embassy in Sweden organized an interesting Bioeconomy Summit in Stockholm, Sweden on 04^th April 2019. The event was hosted on the occasion of the visit of a delegation from Canada organized by Biomass North Development Centre and led by WBA Board Member Ms. Dawn Lambe.

The summit was an opportunity to learn from Canadian experts about the latest developments in the Canadian bioeconomy landscape. The session had an opening speech from Ambassador of Canada to Sweden Ms. Heather Grant who informed about the similarities between Canada and Sweden in their approach towards innovation in transition to a clean energy system. Following on the pathway of Sweden, Canada has now extended the implementation of a carbon price in four provinces – Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.  

Following the speech by the Ambassador, Dr. Murray McLaughlin (Senior Advisor to Canada’s Bioeconomy) had a presentation on Developing Canada’s Bioeconomy by building international partnerships with a specific case of the city of Sarnia and its transition towards bioeconomy from fossil fuel-based system. Sarnia has now become a hub for bio-based fuels and products.

The Canadian trade delegation had individual presentations including business opportunities for companies in the cannabis based products market, opportunities for technology providers or producers to enter or expand in the bioeconomy sector in Canada, partnership requests in the field of manufacturing of thermal insulation products and explore collaboration opportunities between Canada’s research institutes, innovation clusters, universities and unions in the bioenergy and bioeconomy sectors and European counterparts. The presentations were followed by a networking opportunity.

In conclusion, Canada is a global leader in the use of forest biomass for bioproducts and solutions. There are immense resources of clean energy including biomass in regions around Canada, highly concentrated population centers with demand for clean energy technologies and solutions, convenient transport options including rail/road/shipping along with high quality academia. It is a perfect time for European and other non-Canadian partners to explore and expand cooperation with Canada in promoting sustainable bioenergy as a renewable substitute for fossil fuels in energy and products.

The agenda is accessible here: Link

‘Save the Date’ for Biomass North Forum 2019: Link