Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) and Innovation et Développement économique Trois-Riviéres (IDETR) in Quebec have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop greater business relationships between their respective networks, work together to support and fund the development of a hybrid chemistry cluster in the Trois Riviéres and Bécancour region in Quebec.
Funded by federal government agencies with matching support from the provinces, Sarnia, Ontario-based Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) is a national not-for-profit organization. With a goal to help the country become a globally recognized leader in the field of sustainable technologies, BIC provides critical investment, advice, and services to early-stage companies with clean, green and sustainable technologies.
Innovation et Développement économique Trois-Riviéres (IDETR), is a provincially funded economic development agency with a mission to help business leaders successfully implement their projects in Trois-Riviéres, Quebec.
According to a joint statement, both BIC and IDETR recognize that they share a “mandate and priority” to provide services to early stage, Canadian companies developing sustainable, chemistry-based technologies.
The goals of this partnership, which takes effect immediately, are to develop greater business relationships between their respective networks, work together to support and fund the development of a hybrid chemistry cluster in the Trois Riviéres and Bécancour region in Quebec and jointly promote each other’s activities to federal and provincial funding agencies.
From the first visit to the region in 2017, we recognized that the Trois Riviéres and Bécancour region had a real opportunity to develop a strong hybrid chemistry cluster. We look forward to working together to establish a Centre for Commercialization of Sustainable Chemistry Innovation (COMM SCI) which can support early stage companies to successfully commercialize within Quebec, said A.J. (Sandy) Marshall, Executive Director, BIC.
Together, BIC and IDETR offer an enhanced, integrated services package to small-medium enterprises (SME) clients and enable them to accelerate commercialization within this regional hybrid chemistry cluster.
In recent years, BIC has helped position the City of Sarnia as an international leader in environmental technologies, a niche that is currently emerging in both Trois-Rivières and Bécancour. This new partnership will help take our regional ecosystem to another level, said Mario De Tilly, Executive Director of IDE Trois-Rivières.
