By IAN ROSS
Northern Ontario Business
An environmentally friendly pesticide and injector system that stops the Asian long-horned beetle in its tracks may be the impetus for a Sault Ste. Marie bio-economy cluster now in the planning stages.
Some successful field trials in southern Ontario by BioForest Technologies Inc., a small Queen Street forest pest management company, may lead to new manufacturing jobs in Northern Ontario sometime soon.
“The pace (of development) seems to be accelerating very quickly,” says Joe Meating, BioForest’s director of forest health management. “We’re hoping to be commercial by next spring, selling our product in the U.S. and Canada.”
The infestation problems caused by the North American arrival of the Asian long-horned beetle and emerald ash borer, combined with the timely development of their EcoJect system, in collaboration with the Canadian Forest Service, could not have been better.
Using an environmentally-friendly insecticide derived from the seed extract of the Southeast Asian Neem tree, they have found a niche market among U.S. government agencies like the Department of Agriculture which has invited the Sault company back next year for a second round of field trials.
By that time, Meating expects they will be taking orders on their soon-to-be-patented pesticide and injection system with municipal clients and tree-care companies lined up across the U.S. and Canada.
BioForest is one of a stable of innovative local companies around which the city intends to build a bio-economic cluster of what Errol Caldwell calls
science convergence.
Caldwell, director of forest health and pest control at the Sault’s Great Lakes Forestry Centre, is one of the drivers behind a plan to create a forestry research and technology park there.
The initiative is gaining momentum with the recent completion of a business feasibility study and a new name for the former Science Works initiative - now dubbed Science Enterprise Algoma (SEA).
A logo and Web site will soon follow as the public-private partnership seeks to secure government funding to get some area projects off the ground.
The aim of SEA is to commercialize the innovative work being done, using natural resources by universities, colleges, research labs and private-sector companies, to, hopefully one day, create a “boulevard of science facilities.”
Caldwell says Northern Ontario could become a leader in value-added forest bio-mass opportunities.
Building an eventual bricks and mortar presence will be necessary, but the consultant’s report, prepared by MKI of Toronto, also addresses a long-standing gap in the commercialization of science.
“Longer term, that’s where the focus of the organization needs to be,” says Caldwell, who will soon be named SEA’s interim executive director.
The Sault already has some vital pieces in place, beginning with two world-class government forestry labs in the city - Natural Resources Canada’s Great Lakes Forestry Centre (GLFC) and the Ontario Forest Research Institute.
Collectively, they employ about 400 people and conduct more than $20 million in research annually.
But over the years, much of it has been commercially developed elsewhere.
SEA’s approach is to take government research, enter into commercialization agreements with private-sector interests and take a percentage of profits as royalties.
By establishing a portfolio of agreements over time, Caldwell says the organization can generate sufficient revenue to make it sustainable.
The building blocks of support are being laid with a number of local organizations and companies setting up a presence within the GLFC.
Algoma University College recently renovated some biology labs in the complex for their more advanced students.
They have been joined on site by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the Industrial Research Assistance Program, the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, alternative energy company DynaMotive Energy Systems along with a new venture, Forest Bioproducts Inc., a business development firm geared to non-timber forest products.
The DFO is considering moving its small and antiquated sea lamprey research lab from the Sault canal to new quarters nearby.
ULERN (Upper Lakes Environmental Research Network), a local not-for-profit conglomerate of government, academic and private corporations that promotes R&D in the natural resources sector, has also moved in as a strategic partner.
Caldwell says there are an abundance of research projects on the go in bio-energy/co-generation and government-private research activity into combating aquatic and airborne invasive species.
The Sault effort is part of a larger Northern Ontario biotechnology initiative, known as NOBI, which is identifying bio-medical, environmental technology and bio-product opportunities.
Caldwell will spend the next few months registering SEA for not-for-profit status and seeking two to three years worth of operating funding from all three government levels, as well as hiring bio-product market specialists.
The specialists will be assigned to “drum up” business by fostering the creation of new start-ups and helping existing business expand or take advantage of any research opportunities coming down from government labs and universities.
“We’re awaiting provincial decisions whether the Northern Ontario (cluster) - one of 11 throughout the province - will be getting funding to get this initiative off the ground.
Caldwell says they are not in any hurry to build a “white elephant” tech building in the hopes some outside private tenants will fill it, but are more interested in developing local synergies first.
“We expect this is going to be a successful venture, but it will take time to develop the capability and recognition outside the community.
“We’re trying to take a realistic approach with the funding agencies and when we have a good strong case to make, then we will make it.”
