Scaling Up conference to address bio-economy agenda in Ottawa

Ottawa will play host from November 14 – 16 to the inaugural Scaling Up conference, at the Fairmont Château Laurier in Ottawa, presenting speakers and sessions focusing on low-carbon alternative energy and strategies for how Canada can compete with the USA and Europe when it comes to bio-economy opportunities.
The conference, titled “Scaling Up: Delivering Canada’s low carbon, biobased economy through sustainable innovation”, will focus on Canada’s opportunity to be at the leading edge of innovation in developing an economy that stresses cleantech over fossil fuels.
Canada has 10% of the world’s forests, tens of millions of acres of agricultural land, and a recently supportive government pushing a new innovation agenda, creating opportunities for Canadian companies to get in on the ground floor of a bio-based economy through the widespread adoption of new industrial practices producing bioplastics, biochemicals, bioenergy, and advanced biofuels.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May has been confirmed as a speaker, joining a long list of speakers, including Enerkem President and CEO Vincent Chornet, Sustainable Development Technology Canada Vice President of Partnerships Ziyad Rahme, Canadian Coalition for Green Finance Executive Director Lorraine Becker, Canadian Wind Energy Association President Robert Hornung, and many others.
Topics covered will include the decision-making process relating to site selection, raising debt and equity, and the role played by venture capitalists, conventional lenders, and strategic investors in cleantech.
In Canada, there’s a wide variety of commercialization challenges that private sector players face when it comes to scaling up a business focused on promoting the use of non-fossil based products and materials.
But if the OECD’s Bioeconomy 2030 report is anything to go by, “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.”
The benefits of a bio-economy firing on all cylinders are forecast to improve health outcomes, boost agricultural and industrial productivity, and normalize environmental sustainability in business practice.
Harnessing the full potential of the bio-economy, however, will require fully coordinated action between government policy and opportunities for business to capitalize on that transformation.
Early-bird registration is open until October 14, 2016.