By IAN ROSS
If this newfangled forest bio-economy grows any roots in Ontario, its research and commercialization hub will be Thunder Bay.
Lakehead University and Queen's Park are dangling a $25 million funding carrot to entice one or more industry partners to explore and develop the next generation of high value forest products.
In the provincial spring budget, the money was set aside ''towards a centre of research and innovation in the bio-economy."
If that sounds slightly vague on how it will be spent, Lakehead University president Fred Gilbert says it's because there's all kinds of options on the table.
What form or design this centre takes depends on what private company or companies sign on.
"There's no firm map at this point in time."
Ideally, Gilbert would like to see multiple pulp and paper firms collaborate with Lakehead on bio-refining initiatives. "We're working behind the scenes to facilitate some of those partnerships."
Ontario Research and Innovation Minister John Wilkinson calls it "catalyst" money to drive a partnership between Lakehead University, Confederation College and area industry.
Wilkinson says the government wanted to send the "strongest possible signal" to Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario that there's a bright future based on re-inventing the struggling forest industry.
"I can't think of a better place to build the new bio-economy based on forestry products than having it headquartered in Thunder Bay."
Lakehead University is already a major local economic catalyst with its wood science research expertise and established research partnerships in areas of value-added opportunities.
Confederation is in the mix as a future skills training provider for a new breed of workforce.
Lakehead has ambitious plans to build a $40 million "green chemistry" research facility called NORD 21. It would specialize in bio-refining technologies such as converting waste streams from pulp and paper processing into value-added products and study the production of bio-ethanol from forest fibre.
Gilbert cautions that provincial money has no direct link toward building NORD 21. At this point, they are separate issues.
"This is not money to make NORD 21 happen. I think the $25 million is virtual at this point in time."
Gilbert says capital funding for NORD 21 is on a different track and will likely come from government, since the industry is no position to invest other than provide in-kind contributions.
Lakehead is applying for funding through the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, which is accepting a new round of applications this year.
Gilbert would like see NORD 21 sited on campus on Balmoral Road near their Paleo DNA lab and Innovation Centre as part of a research park development area.
Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Bill Mauro says this is a different concept than the NORD 21 proposal which speaks to a physical building, hiring research staff and concentrates on the work done there.
"This is a broader in scope," says Mauro. "It would be a government-led initiative where we're trying to make this the biggest hit on the job side that we can. We want the money to leverage jobs."
Whatever shape a new research institute takes, Wilkinson says the creation of this new economy will be decided in Thunder Bay, not Queen's Park.
The money will flow based on the creation of the partners working to form the "strongest business plan possible."
"The money can't be spent unless we know exactly what it is we're purchasing."
Wilkinson hopes to make the picture clearer when he arrives in Thunder Bay this spring when scheduling permits him to formally present the money.
A Thunder Bay centre wouldn't work in isolation, but would be a key part of a larger Ontario-wide innovation network his ministry is creating.
And there are other funding pots and incentives available including the province's Next Generation of Jobs Fund and incentives such as 10-year corporate tax exemption for universities, colleges, research institutes and teaching hospitals that commercialize intellectual property.
