Niagara's Bioeconomy

Ontario is home to a diverse group of biobased industries, innovative new manufacturing processes, and exciting research activities.

Niagara has many unique competitive advantages perfectly suited to this emerging bioeconomy — a long-established agricultural and agrifood business infrastructure; institutional bioscience research; industry expertise drawn from a number of leading-edge companies; and abundant supplies of water, energy and biomass.

Collectively, these assets have attracted businesses in a variety of growing sub-industries within the bioproducts field, from waste-to-energy conversion to industrial fermentation.

THE NIAGARA ADVANTAGENiagara’s natural and man-made assets are providing a firm foundation for future growth and innovation in the bioeconomy making it the ideal location for your biobased business.

Workforce:•Highly skilled, experienced workforce

•Niagara’s post secondary institutions, Brock University and Niagara College, supply a steady stream of highly qualified graduates.

•Ontario is the main port of entry for highly qualified immigrants to Canada including scientists and medi-cal personnel educated outside North America and Western Europe.

Location:•Niagara is located on the Canada/U.S. border and

adjacent to Ontario’s pharmaceutical industry in the Greater Toronto Area.

•Easy access to U.S. markets through four international bridge crossings and a multimodal transportation network.

•Niagara is one of the most affordable locations in North America to do business according to KPMG International’s Competitive Alternatives Study 2010.

•Convenient air travel from Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo International Airports connects Niagara with North America’s research clusters.

Supply Chain Networks:•Niagara is a unique region in North America where the

key elements of cultivation, generic manufacturing, regulatory, research, distribution channels, and finance are concentrated into a compact geographic area.

•Home to one of Canada’s Top 10 Life Sciences companies, Norgen Biotek Inc.; and pharmaceutical drug manufacturers Biolyse Pharma Corp. and Pharmetics Inc.

•Niagara is home to a growing number of international biobased food ingredient manufacturers including, CASCO and Jungbunzlauer International, located in Port Colborne’s Carbohydrate Valley.

•Ontario has greenhouse structure capacity valued at $2bn, with additional annual investments forecast. Niagara’s greenhouse industry is focused on floral and hydroponic vegetable production.

•Ontario bulb producers account for 55% of the Canadian total. Niagara is the main horticultural region in the province with expertise and infrastructure for bulb cultivation.

Research & Development•Niagara is home to Brock University’s new Niagara/

Carins Family Health & Bioscience Research Complex that will open in 2012 and focus on biotechnology and green chemistry.

•Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, located in Niagara, is an international centre of horticultural research and industry-driven innovation.

•Niagara College’s School of Horticulture and Agribusi-ness provides education training and certification through teaching labs and practical experience.

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Niagara’s Bioeconomy

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bioscience

Niagara’s BioeconomyOntario is home to a diverse group of biobased industries, innovative new manufacturing processes, and exciting research activities.

Niagara has many unique competitive advantages perfectly suited to this emerging bioeconomy — a long-established agricultural and agrifood business infrastructure; institutional bioscience research; industry expertise drawn from a number of leading-edge companies; and abundant supplies of water, energy and biomass.

Collectively, these assets have attracted businesses in a variety of growing sub-industries within the bioproducts field, from waste-to-energy conversion to industrial fermentation.

THE NIAGARA ADVANTAGENiagara’s natural and man-made assets are providing a firm foundation for future growth and innovation in the bioeconomy making it the ideal location for your biobased business.

Workforce:•Highly skilled, experienced workforce

•Niagara’s post secondary institutions, Brock University and Niagara College, supply a steady stream of highly qualified graduates.

•Ontario is the main port of entry for highly qualified immigrants to Canada including scientists and medi-cal personnel educated outside North America and Western Europe.

Location:•Niagara is located on the Canada/U.S. border and

adjacent to Ontario’s pharmaceutical industry in the Greater Toronto Area.

•Easy access to U.S. markets through four international bridge crossings and a multimodal transportation network.

•Niagara is one of the most affordable locations in North America to do business according to KPMG International’s Competitive Alternatives Study 2010.

•Convenient air travel from Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo International Airports connects Niagara with North America’s research clusters.

Supply Chain Networks:•Niagara is a unique region in North America where the

key elements of cultivation, generic manufacturing, regulatory, research, distribution channels, and finance are concentrated into a compact geographic area.

•Home to one of Canada’s Top 10 Life Sciences companies, Norgen Biotek Inc.; and pharmaceutical drug manufacturers Biolyse Pharma Corp. and Pharmetics Inc.

•Niagara is home to a growing number of international biobased food ingredient manufacturers including, CASCO and Jungbunzlauer International, located in Port Colborne’s Carbohydrate Valley.

•Ontario has greenhouse structure capacity valued at $2bn, with additional annual investments forecast. Niagara’s greenhouse industry is focused on floral and hydroponic vegetable production.

•Ontario bulb producers account for 55% of the Canadian total. Niagara is the main horticultural region in the province with expertise and infrastructure for bulb cultivation.

Research & Development•Niagara is home to Brock University’s new Niagara/

Carins Family Health & Bioscience Research Complex that will open in 2012 and focus on biotechnology and green chemistry.

•Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, located in Niagara, is an international centre of horticultural research and industry-driven innovation.

•Niagara College’s School of Horticulture and Agribusi-ness provides education training and certification through teaching labs and practical experience.

The conversion of biomass, specifically waste biomass in the form of agricultural plant residues and livestock manure; organic municipal solid waste and aquatic residues; wood, pulp and paper waste; and food processing by-products to produce biogas is used to generate electricity and heat.

There are sufficient volumes of biomass in the Niagara Region to support major investment in waste-to-energy technologies. The local agriculture sector is recognizing the value of biomass for value-added opportunities by installing various technologies that generate energy from agricultural biomass to provide on-farm solutions.

While Niagara's agriculture sector has well-defined needs for more cost-effect fuel sources, there are also many other industrial businesses in Niagara that could also be potential users of biomass-based energy of heating and electricity generation.

PlanET Biogas Solutions, St. Catharines, ONwww.planet-biogas.ca

Designs, builds and operates anaerobic digestion systems that convert waste biomass to biogas. Two installed systems in the Niagara Region, both at local greenhouses, are serving the heating needs of both growing operations. Excess electricity is diverted to Ontario's “power-grid”.


Biomass & Biofuels

Abitibi-Consolidated Co. of Canada, Thorold, ONwww.abicon.com

Since 2002, Abitibi has been using biogas generated by Walker Industries to power 10% of manufacturing operations. In December 2003, the project was expanded to provide landfill gas for 25% of its steam requirements.

www.niagaracanada.com

A 335 kW Biogas PlanET "Mix" Dry Feeder System generates electricity at Vandermeer Greenhouses in Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON.

bioscience


Biopharmaceuticals/biotherapeutics are drugs (Health Canada approved) that are manufactured through a bioreactor such as a plant that has been genetically modified to produce a vaccine or through fermentation.

The Niagara Region is home to some of Canada's most innovative biopharmaceutical companies, including one of Canada’s Top 10 Life Sciences companies NORGEN Biotek Inc.; and pharmaceutical drug manufacturers, Biolyse Pharma Corp. and Pharmetics Inc.

Biolyse Pharma Corp., St. Catharines, ONwww.biolyse.com

Biolyse conducts R&D in the production of natural-based medical products and chemical

extracts and is Canada’s only producer of Paclitaxel for Injections, a therapeutic cancer treatment agent. Their fully integrated pharmaceutical factory is equipped with several state-of-the-art research and development laboratories, quality control laboratories, and a full scale purification facility.


Biopharmaceuticals /Biotherapeutics

NORGEN Biotek Corp.,Thorold, ONwww.norgenbioteck.com

NORGEN Biotek was founded in 1998 and is located in a 24,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility near Brock University. NORGEN is an ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 certified fully-integrated Canadian biotechnology company focusing on sample preparation. Norgen was recently recognized as one of Canada's Top 10 Life Science Companies.


bioscience


Niagara, Canada is an emerging centre for Bioproducts Research and Development (R&D). Together, public research institutions and their private sector partners are realizing leading-edge advancements and developments in the fields of bioproducts, functional foods/nutraceuticals, biopharmaceuticals/biotherapeutics, and environmental products.

Industry collaborations such as the Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network (GHBN), are successfully harnessing the collective resources of Niagara College, Brock University, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and private sector partners.

Niagara/Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex, St. Catharines, ONwww.brocku.ca/cairns-health-bioscience

Niagara is home to Brock University’s new Niagara Health & Bioscience Research Complex that will open in 2012, and focus on biotechnology and green chemistry.


Research & Development


bioscience

Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, Lincoln, ON www.vinelandresearch.com

Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, located in Lincoln, is an international centre of horticultural research and industry-driven innovation.

The new $111-million Niagara/Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex in St. Catharines, ON is scheduled to be completed in 2012.


The new $111-million Niagara/Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex in St. Catharines, ON is scheduled to be completed in 2012.

Niagara College School of Horticulture and Agribusiness,Thorold, ONwww.niagaracollege.ca/hort/

Niagara College's School of Horticulture and Agribusiness provides education training and certification through teaching labs and practical experience.

Niagara is home to Canada’s Carbohydrate Valley, a leading location for biobased manufacturing and food processing. Located in Port Colborne, Carbohydrate Valley offers low cost water transportation, accessibility to large volumes of clean water, and a growing mix of companies in the bio-business.

Carbohydrate Valley is the first site dedicated to new chemistry from plant-based feedstock. Established companies include Jungbunzlauer Canada Inc. (JBL) and CASCO. JBL has invested $100 million in its citric acid bio-refinery plant. The citric acid produced from CASCO's raw materials, are used to produce food, beverages, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. The JBL – CASCO partnership is an example of environmentally sustainable manu-facturing, where the waste by-products of one manufacturer are used by another to produce value-added products.

CASCO Inc., Port Colborne, ONwww.casco.ca

CASCO is one of Canada’s leading producers and suppliers of high-quality food ingredients and industrial additives. CASCO’s Port Colborne facility produces agri-based ingredients and additives through a refined corn wet milling process.


Biochemicals & Nutraceuticals


bioscience

Jungbunzlauer International Port Colborne, ON www.jungbunzlauer.com

Jungbunzlauer (JBL) produces citric acid through the microbial fermentation of waste, renewable carbohydrate feedstocks, such as by-products of the corn milling process at neighbouring facility CASCO. Citric acid is used in the food and beverage industry, cleaning, construction, textile, paper, and pharmaceutical industries


Niagara's Bioeconomy

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