The Forest Innovation and Bioeconomy Conference (FIBC) brings together speakers and participants from government, forest industry and associations, start-ups, investment firms, First Nations, and international organizations from around the world in the research, development and commercialization of forest bioproducts. During the first two days, the conference programs will showcase the latest global innovative bio-product research and available commercialization opportunities in international and domestic markets, inspire research and business ideas, and bridge information exchange and collaboration between government, academia, industry and First Nations.
On the 3rd day, we will host an International Bioeconomy Innovation Day with invited representatives and businesses from Finland, Sweden, and France. Throughout the conference, you will also be able to see demonstrations and exhibits of the innovative bioproducts.
PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS
SPONSOR ORGANIZATIONS
FOREST INNOVATION & BIOECONOMY CONFERENCE 2023
Commercialization & High Value Applications
MONDAY JUNE 19TH
LOCATION: ROSEWOOD HOTEL GEORGIA, 801 West Georgia St, Vancouver BC V6C1P7
8:00 AM Welcome Reception and Registration
8:45 AM Opening Remarks
Session Chair: Gustavo Oliveira, Director, Innovation, Bioeconomy and Indigenous Opportunities, FOR
- Indigenous Welcome
- BC Government-Doug Routley, Parliamentary Secretary for Forests
- UBC BioProducts Institute – Orlando Rojas, Professor, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Bioproducts, and BPI Scientific Director, UBC
- FPInnovations- Stéphane Renou, President and CEO, FPInnovations
- BC BioAlliance- Davis Chiu, Director of Innovation, Paper Excellence
- Bioeconomy and bioproduct market overview- Gustavo Oliveira, Director, Innovation, Bioeconomy and Indigenous Opportunities, FOR
10:00 AM Coffee Break-Sponsored by BC Council of Forest Industries
10:30 Am Session #1-Innovation Research and Development
Session Chair: Orlando J. Rojas, Professor and Scientific Director of BioProducts Institute, UBC
- New sustainability leaps in forest industry pulping and web processes – Alina Ruonala-Lindgren, Co-creation Manager, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
- Bio-based materials for energy storage –Connie Ekelund, Chief Executive Officer and Scott Farnham, Chief Technology Officer, NanoTerraTech
- From Canadian birch forests to sustainable rubber – Josefin Larsson, Chief Production Officer and Co-founder, Reselo AB
12:00PM Lunch Break – Startup Pitches
1:00 PM Session #2- Bioproduct Commercialization
Session Chair: Gustavo Oliveira, FOR
- Commercial bioplastics from wood- Matyas Kosa, Bioproducts Lead, West Fraser
- Identifying and finding solutions for challenges when scaling up a circular textile value chain to industrial level- Paula Sarsama, Program Manager, Infinited Fiber
2:00 PM Session #3-Indigenous Community Bioeconomy Development
Session Chair: Emma Driedger, Manager, Indigenous Opportunities, FOR
- Overview of Indigenous bioeconomy development programs in BC-Emma Driedger, FOR
- Research and collaboration of biofoam for packaging – Yinka Dene Economic Development & BPI-Feng Jiang, Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Sustainable Functional Biomaterials, UBC
3:00 PM Coffee Break – Informal Startup Meet and Greet
3:30 PM Session #4-Indigenous Community Bioeconomy Development
Session Chair: Emma Driedger, Manager, Indigenous Opportunities, FOR
- Forest-based essential oils-Rodney Mulholland, Sales & Marketing Manager, Great Bear Rainforest Essential Oils
- Joint presentation on deadwood innovation-John-Paul Wenger, CEO, Nak’azdli Development Corporation and Owen Miller, President Deadwood Innovations
4:30 PM Break (Panel Setup)
4:45 PM Panel Discussion : Opportunities And Challenges In Bioproduct Commercialization
Moderator: Tim Caldecott, Senior Director, Sustainable Construction, Carbon and Market Economics, FPInnovations
- Opportunities and challenges in bioproduct commercialization with
- Paper Excellence- Davis Chiu, Director of Innovation
- Metsä Spring- Katariina Kemppainen, SVP, Group R&D
- VTT- Tiina Nakari-Setälä, Head of Business Development
- Performance Biofilaments-Gurminder Minhas, Managing Director
- Q&A
- Closing remarks
5:45 PM Cocktail Reception
TUESDAY JUNE 20TH
LOCATION: ROSEWOOD HOTEL GEORGIA, 801 West Georgia St, Vancouver BC V6C1P7
8:00 AM Breakfast and Registration
8:30 AM Session #5-Innovation Research and Development
Session Chair: Johan Foster, Professor & NSERC Canfor Industrial Research Chair in Advanced Bioproducts, UBC
- Commercializing smart bioinks for printing human tissue models-Professor Stephanie Willerth, Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Engineering, UVIC and founder, Axolotl Biosciences
- Cellulose nanomaterial applications in personal care products – Emily Cranston, Associate Professor and President’s Excellence Chair in Forest Bioproducts, BPI
- Bio-based oil absorbent in water, air, and soil: From lab to scale up in 3 years – Lars-Erik Sjoegren, Chief Executive Officer, BioSorbe, Sweden
10:00 AM Coffee Break
10:30 AM Session#6- Bioproduct Commercialization
Session Chair: Stefan Tack, Manager, Forest Industry Innovation, FOR
- Extracting value from Northern wood in Metsä Group’s innovation ecosystem – Katariina Kemppainen, SVP, Group R&D, Metsä Spring
- Future bioproduct innovations from lab to market – Tiina Nakari-Setälä, Head of Business Development, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
- Distributed manufacturing for slash utilization and carbon benefits- Marc Gaugler, Portfolio Leader, Distributed and Circular Manufacturing, Scion New Zealand Forest Research Institute
12:00 PM Lunch Break
1:00 PM Session #7- Bioeconomy Cluster Development
Session Chair: Jacob Atherton, Manager, BC Ecosystems, Foresight Canada
- Experience sharing from established bioeconomy clusters in other jurisdictions
- Centre for Research and Innovation in the Bio-Economy-Ontario (CRIBE)- Mike Barten, Nextfor Coordinator, Canada (Ontario)
- Paper Province & Region Värmland – Paul Nemes, Deputy Chief Executive Officer & Anders Olsson, Manager of Smart Specialisation, Sweden
- Bio-Industrial Innovation Canada – Meaghen Seagrave, Executive Director
- Suzano Innovability Hub: A Pathway to Accelerate Commercial Applications of Bioproducts- Gary Li, Executive Manager, Innovability Hub, Suzano Asia, China & Brazil
2:25 PM Coffee Break
2:55 PM Panel : Accelerating Forest Sector Transformation And Bioeconomy Development
Session Chair: Sandy Ferguson, Director, BioNEXT, Foresight Canada
- How to speed up forest sector transformation in bioeconomy development
- Bio Industrial Innovation Canada- Meaghan Seagrave, Executive Director
- Paper Province- Paul Nemes, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Sweden
- CRIBE- Mike Barten, Nextfor Coordinator, Ontario
- Scion- Marc Gaugler, Portfolio Leader, New Zealand
- Suzano Canada- Gary Li, Executive Manager, Innovability Hub, Suzano Asia, China & Brazil
3:55 PM Closing Remarks
WEDNESDAY JUNE 21ST
LOCATION: UBC ROBSON SQUARE, 800 Robson St, Vancouver BC V6E1A7
8:00 AM Registration and Coffee Reception
8:30 AM Opening Remarks
Session Chair: Gustavo Oliveira, FOR
- Indigenous community welcome and recognition of National Indigenous Peoples Day
- BC Government-Shane Berg, Chief Forester and Assistant Deputy Minister, FOR
- Swedish Government- Christina Keighren, Country Manager, Business Sweden Canada
- Honourable Tom Nyberg, Honorary Consul, Honorary Consulate of Finland, Vancouver
9:15 AM Concurrent Presentation and Matchmaking Sessions
| Session Chair: Shane Berg, Chief Forester and Assistant Deputy Minister, FOR 9:20 AM BioKraft Optimization and Bioproduct Development– Victor Padilla, Manager Thermochemical Processes, FPInnovations 9:50 AM Making Biofuels including Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and advanced materials from sustainable cellulose- Ron Hoffmann, Vice President, Business Development and Alejandra Enriquez, Senior Laboratory Manager, SixRing Inc. 10:20 AM Coffee Break 10:50 AM Mercer’s Mass Timber Development-Nick Milestone, Director of Mass Timber, Mercer International 11:20 AM The Transformation of the Canadian Forest Sector in the Face of the Emerging Bioeconomy – Gregory Smith, Director, Economic Analysis Division & Daphne Ho, Senior Bioeconomy Program Officer, Industry Relations and Innovation Programs Division, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) 11:50 AM Manufacturing Jobs Fund – Nicole MacLellan, Senior Manager, Program Delivery, BC Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation | Moderator: Sandy Ferguson, Director, BioNEXT, Foresight Canada 9:20 AM Bioproduct Start-ups One-On-One Matchmaking Sessions · Richter Life Science · Melker of Sweden · Tubesprout · Ecopals · Bright Day Graphene · Reselo AB · Biosorbe · 7 Leagues · SixRing · Earth Protex Inc. · Nova-BioRubber Green Technologies Inc. · Reforest Design · HEJMAS Agrifibre Technologies · NanoTerraTech · Titan Clean Energy Projects Crop. · Fortress Advanced BioProducts Inc. · Scion · Blue Goose Biorefineries Inc. · Seawise Innovative Packaging · BC Biocarbon · Region Värmland · Suzano · Bioindustrial Innovation Canada · CMPC Ventures · Metsä Spring · Chrysalix · Sting Bioeconomy And more 10:20 AM Coffee Break 10:50 AM Matchmaking Session Continues |
12:20 PM Non-destructive carbohydrate analytics for improved valorisation of lignocellulosic materials- Agneta Richter Dahlfors, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Richter Life Science
12:20 PM B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) Presentation-Ashely Callister, Venture Associate, CICE
12:50 PM Networking Lunch
2:00 PM Closing Remarks –Honourable Bruce Ralston, BC Minister of Forests
*Please note that the program is subject to change.