According to the OECD’s Bioeconomy 2030 report, “the Bioeconomy will hit its stride in the 2025 – 2030 period with an estimated world market of between USD 2.6 and 5.8 trillion.”

But what is the exact role of government in realizing this potential? Will it require millions of program dollars, loan guarantees and tax incentives? Or, in a low carbon world, will the market drive demand for non-fossil based products and materials?

And when it comes to raising the billions of dollars of project capital that will be needed to see commercial facilities constructed, how will debt and equity be raised, and what role will venture capitalists, conventional lenders, and strategic investors play?

If you are industry, Scaling Up will give you the knowledge upon which to base a site selection decision in Canada, including how much subordinated debt you can access.

If you are government, Scaling Up will teach you what commercialization challenges the private sector faces and what you, as public servants, can do to ensure Canada stays competitive with the rest of the world,

And if you are an environmental group, Scaling Up will introduce you to a host of new tools for your GHG reduction arsenal, and provide you the occasion to work with industry to achieve your policy agenda.

Finally, all of us will learn what Europe and the USA are doing to ensure their citizens derive maximum benefit from the bioeconomy opportunity, and what Canada needs to do to stay abreast.

With 10 per cent of the world’s forests, tens of millions of acres of agriculture land, and supportive government policies, there is an opportunity for Canada to be at the innovative leading edge of the bio-based, low carbon economy.

Scaling Up will launch us on that path.

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