Montreal – FPInnovations’ President and CEO Stéphane Renou, today welcomed Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s commitment to continue investing in the competitiveness of the Canadian forest industry by allocating $251.3-million over three years beginning in 2020-21 to encourage the forest sector to continue growing and develop new technologies. In his budget, Minister Morneau announced that the funds will extend existing innovation, markets, and product diversification programs. More specifically, Minister Morneau announced $91.8-million for the Forest Innovation Program covering the same time frame.
Quotes
“FPInnovations, its members, and partners are committed to accelerating the development and deployment of innovation in the forest sector. Today’s announcement renews the Trudeau government’s commitment to forestry innovation — new products, new markets, and new bio-economy jobs.”
Stéphane Renou, President and CEO, FPInnovations
Quick Facts
FPInnovations is working on several R&D projects to transform the forest industry including:
- Increase the use of sustainable wood in structures and in building construction materials by $900-million by 2023.
- Develop fibre-based bioplastics solutions that will represent 5 % of the bioplastic used in North America by 2022 for a market value of $700-million.
- Develop wood-fibre-based biofuel solutions that will provide alternative solutions in a $2.5-billion Canadian energy market.
- Enhance market penetration of North American wood-fibre-sourced packaging to achieve a market value of $600-million by 2025.
- Integrate big data and high-tech into Canadian forest operations to create a safer and more productive environment along the value chain. By 2025, it will add value and generate savings of close to $1-billion per year.
- Improve the efficiency of the manufacturing process. This will increase fibre recovery by 30% and reduce co-products production by 20% by 2023.
- Introduce new biomaterials and biocomposites made from wood-fibre for use in everyday products.
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About FPInnovations
FPInnovations is a not-for-profit world leader that specializes in the creation of scientific solutions in support of the Canadian forest sector’s global competitiveness and responds to the priority needs of its industry members and government partners. It is ideally positioned to perform research, innovate, and deliver state-of-the-art solutions for every area of the sector’s value chain, from forest operations to consumer and industrial products. FPInnovations’ R&D laboratories are located in Québec City, Montréal and Vancouver, and it has technology transfer offices across Canada. For more information about FPInnovations, visit www.fpinnovations.ca.
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For more information
Marjolaine Dugas
FPInnovations
Communications Director
514-782-4595
marjolaine.dugas@fpinnovations.ca