Bioeconomy Week in Thunder Bay a great success

Last week was Bioeconomy Week in Thunder Bay – Canada’s first week-long event intended for organizations and individuals involved in Canada’s growing bioeconomy, and Nipissing University’s Biomass Innovation Centre (BIC) was heavily involved throughout the week’s events.

The BIC kicked-off Bioeconomy Week with a community seminar titled Waking the Sleeping Giant: Developments and Opportunities in Northern Ontario’s Bioeconomy. The session was filled with speakers representing a mix of government, First Nations, private sector, academia and non-profit industry associations. This mix provided the audience with an overview of biomass projects and initiatives occurring throughout the north.

Monday’s BIC session ended with the official grand opening of the Ontario Power Generation BioEnergy Learning and Research Centre (OPG-BLRC) at Confederation College. The OPG-BLRC will offer students and industry opportunities for demonstration, training and applied research related to biomass energy, including fuel quality, emission and combustion efficiency.

The flagship event of the week was the Canadian Bioenergy Association’s (CanBio) annual conference, on Wednesday and Thursday. The theme was Global Markets, Local Opportunities. More than 40 speakers presented on their respective organizations and projects, including the BIC’s Project Manager, Dawn Lambe.

Wednesday evening in Thunder Bay was the CanBio Awards Dinner. The Biomass Innovation Centre was extremely honoured to receive an award for their Achievement as an Outstanding Bioeconomy Builder. Another regional group, the Union of Ontario Indians (secretariat to the Anishinabek Nation), also received an award for their Achievement as an Outstanding Bioeconomy Builder for their efforts in signing an MOU with the Biomass Innovation Centre towards the development of a Bioeconomy Strategy for Northern Ontario.

The BIC wrapped-up the week with a training session titled Biomass to Bioenergy, structured for practicing (and soon to be) engineers and engineering technologists, architects and other professionals, to build the background needed for the development and use of bioenergy in Ontario. This training session was based on the content of the BIC’s education curriculum, which is currently being implemented in select colleges in northern Ontario. The BIC will be delivering another training session in Sault Ste. Marie during the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre’s upcoming Energy Opportunities Conference, November 4-6.

Additional Bioeconomy Week events included field tours to Resolute Forest Products’ co-generation plant, FP Innovations’ lignin pilot and OPG’s Atikokan Generating Station (former coal plant that has been converted to burn wood pellets), numerous tours of the OPG-BLRC, smaller workshops, and a trade show.

Overall, Bioeconomy Week in Thunder Bay was a great success in strengthening connections among organizations and individuals, providing ample opportunity to learn about existing and upcoming projects, and allowing for the time and space to build future alliances among stakeholders.

Further details on the BIC’s involvement within Bioeconomy week, including presentations, photos, and more, will soon be posted on the BIC’s website –www.biomassinnovation.ca