Building Innovative Clusters
for Competitive Advantage:
Bioproducts and the Rural
Economy
Rural Development Conference, Collingwood
April 12th, 2006
Overview:
• About myself The Bioproducts
Business Network
• Bioproducts: Emerging Opportunities
in Rural Canada
• A cluster approach to building the
bioproducts sector
What is the Bioproducts
Business Network?
The Bioproducts Business Network is a
program of the Ottawa Life Sciences
Council, mandated with strengthening
and building the bioproducts and
environmental technology sectors in
Eastern Ontario.
It is fundamentally a group of
companies, organizations, institutions
and individuals working together to
identify new business linkages and
new uses for underutilized resources.
What are bioproducts?
Bioproducts is a catchall term for products manufactured using
energy, chemicals or processes derived from biological materials,
or biomass.
Biomass is any type of organic material that is available on a
renewable or recurring basis.
Primary sources of biomass include the forestry, agriculture and
aquaculture sectors, as well as commercial and municipal waste.
Related concepts
Ecoindustrial clusters: Networks of interrelated
companies that are concentrated geographically, with
strong buyersupplier linkages and shared institutions.
Biobased economy: an economy that relies on
renewable biological materials to supply energy,
chemicals, and other products.
“Waste”: It’s a bad word.
Waste
Primary drivers for the
bioproducts sector
Energy issues (cost and security)
Climate change
Issues surrounding the disposal of municipal,
agricultural and industrial waste
The accelerating development of enabling technology
Pain points in the forestry and agriculture sectors
The promise of enhanced rural economic development
The desire to capitalize on Canada’s “green
advantage”
PURE ECONOMICS!
The value proposition for
rural economies
Many predict that the 21 st century will see Canada
move to a bioba