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The World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing

Official Biotechnology Industry Organization Website

March 21-24, 2007, Orlando, Florida, USA

July 11-14, 2006, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Government of Canada Bioeconomy Kit Folder distributed at the World Congress

Factsheets from Kit Folder (2006 versions in PDF format)

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Bioproducts Development in Canada
Bioenergy and Biomass in Canada
Canada's Bioproducts Industry
Canadian Applied Research and Development Projects in the Industrial Biomass Supply
Investing in Growth and Performance

Article published in Natural Resources Canada's internal newsletter, "The Source":

October 6, 2006
Sharing Ideas and Solutions on Industrial Biotechnology

By Carrie Stephens

Toronto — Over 1000 delegates from around the world gathered at the third annual World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing to exchange ideas about the development of industrial biotechnology and bioprocessing.

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) planned the congress, which was held in Canada for the first time. The event took place in mid-July in Toronto. The second annual Agri-Food Innovation Forum, a coordinated effort of the Government of Canada and Ontario and Ontario Agri-Food Technologies, was held in conjunction with this event. The theme of the Forum, which opened the congress, was Celebrating Excellence in Canadian Industrial Bioproducts.

The success of this year's congress was marked by an increase of more than 500 attendees from the 2004 congress. Participants included business leaders, investors, researchers and representatives from government and academia working in biofuels, biorefineries, biomaterials, and biochemicals availing themselves of the many new tools agricultural and industrial biotechnology have to offer. The congress also had a strong federal government presence, which included representatives from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC),  the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), Industry Canada (IC) and NRCan (CANMET Energy Technology Centre [CETC] and Canadian Forest Service [CFS]). Canadian Biomass Innovation Network (CBIN), an applied R&D program managed out of NRCan, co-sponsored the event along with AAFC, and several US organizations.

The event included a plenary session, five concurrent streams with more than 200 speakers, a poster session and a showcase of biobased products, business partnering sessions and a fashion show, which featured clothing created by New York designers from natural fibres such as flax, hemp and organic cotton. These clothes were designed to raise awareness that natural fibres are viable alternatives to synthetic fibres that often require more energy and pesticides in their production.

The CFS and the CETC highlighted their use of short rotation forestry crops as bioenergy feedstocks. Several presentations were made on new biorefinery concepts for Canada 's pulp and paper mills that will allow them to add new high-value products to their product mix.

Nathalie Beaupré, Communications Officer in the Canadian Biomass Innovation Network (CBIN) program, and members of CETC's bioenergy group and CFS represented NRCan at the congress. Nathalie worked with the Federal Government Interdepartmental Communications Working Group to develop a Government of Canada kit containing fact sheets from various federal departments, and presented a poster on the CBIN program.

“The World Congress provided the opportunity to share CBIN's research and development (R&D) activities with an international audience,” says Nathalie. “It was important for CBIN and NRCan to be represented at this international event, for others to know of the tremendous capacity Canada has with respect to biomass supply, biomass conversion into energy, fuels and materials, and industrial biotechnology. Using PERD and T&I funds, CBIN is sponsoring over 50 applied R&D projects that are being lead by Canadian federal government departments, including NRCan (CETC and CFS), AAFC, NRC, IC and Environment Canada.”

Not surprisingly, biofuels – ethanol, biodiesel and butanol – was the most talked-about bioproduct at the event. The development of new biorefineries that produce many different product streams from agriculture and forest feedstocks was the focus of many sessions. Maximizing value from biomass is key to developing a sustainable new industry. Numerous examples of advances in biotechnology, including designing plants with special traits, converting cellulose into ethanol, producing high quality fibre and chemicals from straw, were presented. The area is exploding with new ideas!

The World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing showcased technological developments, and the challenges that need to be addressed to advance a bio-based economy. The event also provided Canadians the opportunity to build partnerships and share ideas, expertise and new technologies with other countries, while working with them to protect our natural capital, and develop renewable sources of energy, materials and chemicals.