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Sarnia-Lambton: Canada’s Chemical Valley commits to biotech

Traditionally a Canadian hub for petrochemicals and refined petroleum products, the Sarnia-Lambton area has expanded its commitment to research and innovation into the bio-products sector as well. At the forefront of this activity is the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership, a public/private sector body whose membership includes industrial, education and municipal interests across Sarnia-Lambton. George Mallay is the organization’s general manager.

“The mission of the organization is to increase the attractiveness of Sarnia-Lambton as a place for investment, especially in terms of biotechnology,” states Mallay.

According to Mallay, the partnership’s strategy is focused around transforming Sarnia-Lambton into a place that’s a leading area for industrial bio-products, alternative energy technologies and a blossoming health sector.

“Everyone knows our reputation as Canada’s chemical valley, but we’re also a strong agricultural area with strong processing capabilities. We’re part of the manufacturing heartland of southern Ontario and what we’re trying to do is marry the competencies of all these areas,” he said.

For example raw materials are also produced in Sarnia for other industries such as pharmaceutical, health and plastics. Mallay cites the strong community effort in making the transformation work.

“Much of the growth and movement towards bio-based products has been industry lead, but all parties including academia and government are all taking part,” states Mallay.

Drawing on the area’s strength as the country’s largest cluster of chemical, plastics, allied manufacturing, petrochemical and research and development facilities, Sarnia-Lambton’s pre-existing infrastructure has given it an edge in establishing itself as a centre for biotechnology research.

“We have docking facilities, rail facilities, high pressure gas and steam already here, a well trained workforce safety facility available, contractor training programs, there’s a lot of infrastructure that a bio-based company can take advantage of, which they could not get elsewhere. That’s a competitive advantage,” he said.

Also driving innovation in Sarnia is the Sarnia-Lambton Research Park, a joint venture between the University of Western Ontario, the County of Lambton and the City of Sarnia. The Research Park offers unprecedented resources including the expertise of world renowned scientists, talented undergraduates, cutting edge equipment, facilities and fully equipped labs. It is expected that by 2014, the Park will have worked on entrepreneurial projects that will spin off about $1 billion in bio-based business investments.

The park will eventually be the home to Canada’s Bioindustrial Innovation Centre. The centre is expected to attract new bio-industrial plants to Sarnia-Lambton and create 1,000 jobs. At the same time, it will facilitate the commercialization of large-scale industrial biotechnology ideas.

The region is also home to a convergence centre, linked to and developed by the Southwestern Ontario Bioproducts Innovation Network (SOBIN). The centre acts as an incubator for innovation in bioproducts and biochemical development.

Additionally, other complimentary projects such as the Ontario Food and Agriculture Technologies are undertaking a lot of bio-based work. There is also BioEnterprise, which is focused more on the venture capital side and of course the Bluewater Sustainability Initiative, an industry group with about 40 member companies.

Plans are also in place to harness agriculture for the production of biomass fuels like ethanol. In fact, Canada’s largest ethanol plant is located in Lambton County. Owned by Suncor energy, it currently produces 200 million litres of fuel-grade ethanol per year and is a shining example of how industry has taken a lead in the area’s transformation

Another bio-innovation related project underway in the area is Greenfield Energy’s 1,005 MW power generation facility. An exciting provincially sponsored Hydrogen Fuel Cell Demonstration project that is currently being conducted by the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership and Lambton College-with Sarnia-Lambton being the first community to receive funding under the Ontario Fuel Cell Innovation Program.

There are still challenges ahead in completing the transformation states Mallay, specifically that there aren’t many innovation institutes outside of the park in the area and the fact that Sarnia-Lambton isn’t a very big cluster relative to others in Ontario. But that doesn’t damper his excitement for what lies ahead for the area.

“I guess the one thing I would say about our community in terms of bio-based investment is everyone is rowing and steering in the same direction to make it happen. There’s strong coordination between education providers, local government, industry and labour. This is the vision that the community has for itself and that’s key to making it happen. I think there’s a lot of blue sky here,” he said.