BIC cluster receives $7.1 million funding boost

September 11, 2014, Burlington, Ont. – Bioindustrial
Innovation Canada (BIC) will receive $7,098,800 in federal funding assistance
to support the BioProducts Agriculture Science Cluster. The funding was
announced by Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz at a ceremony at the EcoSynthetix
Centre of Excellence in Burlington, Ontario.

“This initiative gives significant support and momentum for
the development of the Bioeconomy in Canadian agriculture and will be managed
by BIC in its ongoing role to generate exciting new business opportunities and
build bioproducts clusters across Canada,” said Dr. Murray McLaughlin, BIC
Executive Director. “We have already identified a number of projects and
activities that are ready to move forward with this funding. Our aim is to
support and lead this research through early stage development with a viable
focus on commercialization of the technologies to benefit Canadian
agriculture.”

Funding is provided through Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada’s AgriInnovation Program (R&D Stream). The federal government
assistance includes up to $5 million of non-repayable contribution funding for
several research projects across Canada and up to $2,098,000 of collaborative
research and development support for projects within AAFC research facilities.